Thank you everyone for so much help! I’ll respond in order I guess.
Firstly: Thank you all for letting me rant on this forum, it has helped me considerably as has your advice. I think I will be going to the LAC I got in to (Macalester, don’t know why I’m hiding it.) To my understanding they have a good music program with multiple a capella groups (which I love). I guess I was just doubting everything as usual, I know Mac’s not a bad place to be, plus they’ve sent plenty of people to good master’s programs. In the end I guess having regrets can be a good thing, it helps me solidify my confidence in my choice.
@musicamusica (to your first and second comment)
I’m not opposed to singing classical music, nor am I opposed to singing tenor, but I should clarify. My end goal is to be able to sing well and sing for a living, and I understand how falsetto would be the harder path, but I don’t think it should be disregarded as an option because I enjoy it and although difficult, it is possible. Regardless of my decision on where to go for this year, which is pretty much definitely Macalester, I do plan on having a voice teacher, which Mac has available for both classical and jazz/contemporary, so that’s good.
Macalester. Don’t know why I felt a reason to not say it. They have plenty of vocal instruction available and I’m sure it’s great, I just tend to doubt everything. I plan on taking a double major, and the other one could be dance (or even theatre and dance) or something else, I don’t know yet. I have never taken a dance class, I’m not good at dancing but I do like it. We do choreographed numbers in the choir I’m in and I’d say at that I’m not terrible, that’s the extent of my experience. As for the dance, voice, and acting thing, I’ve considered musical theater as an option and I would need to look more into it/try it out to see, but I did some looking around and unfortunately Macalester puts on a musical only once every few years, but I can’t imagine not being able to find that sort of opportunity in the twin cities.
@classicalsaxmom and @bridgenail
Yes, they do have a B.A. in music and they offer multiple ensembles, with 2 classical ensembles and a few (4 or 5) a capella ensembles that seem pretty cool. I watched them perform and the classical ensembles are clearly more put together but they are all good (although I couldn’t find videos of their larger chorale). I’m going to wait a bit to find a voice teacher since I’m moving soon, but after I move I will seek one out. I’ve gotten more confident in the music program via my research, so I’ll just take theory I and learn about the department that way. I think I will email one of the theatre or dance professors though, since I’m interested in trying those subjects out and I’ve never done them before, so I don’t know what the atmosphere is like. Side note: I went to a summer camp in architecture and the classroom atmosphere was just perfect, it was collaborative and creative and open but also with a lot of advising and guidance. That’s the sort of atmosphere I love, even though I’ve since decided against architecture. Anyway, maybe I should reach out to the vocal coach/es there too to learn about how I can do there.
Thank you all very much, this has been very calming and gotten me excited again about the process rather than scared. I really appreciate everything everyone has said.