Hey everyone! It’s been forever since I was on. I really appreciate all the advice - thank you all so, so much.
It’s a good point as to what financial stability means. I understand that no job is truly reliable, but nonetheless, I enjoy the prospect of being hire-able with a set of “office” type skills.
In addition, I’ve been doing more thinking and I don’t think I could ever manage going to just a conservatory. For one, I don’t lack the singleminded passion to go into just music,and furthermore, I have a serious passion for learning in general and would therefore love to attend a truly well-rounded college. Among other things, my interests include Philosophy, Mathematics, Computer Science, Psychology, Neurology, etc. Pretty much anything is fascinating, actually. I love to learn. Of course, I also love piano… and lately, organ and jazz studies.
I’m thinking that my best course of action will probably be studying the piano independently while at a liberal arts college as well as getting involved with their music scene. I would love to take lessons - I’m afraid of regression - but honestly, I’m sure some colleges would be willing to extend the opportunity to non-music-majors; I’m currently looking at University of Rochester and their free lesson program with Eastman, which looks amazing. This is probably what will end up being the best path for me, though I’ll make sure to keep my mind open and not think in a “straight line” as earlier posters were saying.
Now I’m in the process of trying to find intellectually invigorating environments that still have good music programs that I would be interested in and wouldn’t be too costly. I’ll be keeping on these forums and looking at advice. I had temporarily forgotten about making this account, and was greatly relieved to find even more responses upon my return!
Thank you all so much, once again. I’ll try to stay on the forums more often. 