Career in music?

[fifthelegy]

Hi, I'm not sure which category this question would go in so I hope it's the right place. I've been confronted with a slight problem and just wanted a little advice or so...

I've just turned 16 a few days ago and live in Australia. A few weeks ago I gained the Licentiate of music for AMEB, but prior to my exam, I recieved a few masterclasses from a teacher who was actually the teacher of my current piano teacher, if that makes sense. Afterwards, she said that I had a talent and the potential to go really far in music if I wanted to, and would really like to take me as her student for the next 2years only if I was really focused in music and wanted a career in it.
After the 2 years, I would have finished school and she would send me over to America to study at the Colburn School in L.A. where there's a conservatory of music and I can get a Bachelors degree in music, and possibly eventually become a concert pianist.

My problem is... I've always seen playing piano as a hobby that I really love but never considered that I would take it seriously. Although I can seen it as a potential career path, I don't think that I could base my life upon it. I've always had a problem with lack of confidence and doubting myself, because at the moment, I really do not think that I can keep up with the high standards of expectation that I would receive and when I go to the school in America, I'll be surrounded by such talented people and feel like I'm not good enough.
If I go, I'll only have just turned 18 and out of school with hardly any experience and all alone on the other side of the world with no one I know.
However I do certainly see this as a very great opportunity and I'll never get one like this again, and my parents and teachers believe that I should take it. It's not like I'm very interested in anything else because I really love music and I don't know what else I would do. But I'm unsure if I have the dedication or motivation to continue to keep practicing and keep up during those years because I know I can be very lazy. I think this all just goes back to my problem of lack of self-confidence even though I'm being told in the face that I have talent.
And what would happen if at all the end of this, I decided not to come back to Australia and just live in America... that would just be very life-changing.

A lot of people after school still don't know what career they would like so I thought that I could wait possibly a few years before I decided but now it seems maybe not... I have to make this decision very soon.

Sorry for my rambling, but if you managed to read to the end of this, I'd love some opinion !

[birba]

I think if you have the least doubt in what you're doing, you should drop it.  I would be curious to hear you.  Why don't you post something here?  Music, or anything for that matter, takes 100% conviction.  You have to do it.  Period.  No questions asked.  From the tone of your letter, I gather this isn't so in your case.  Like your teacher said "only if you're really focused and want a career in music."  No one ever urged me to study music.  On the contrary, I was urged to first get a bachelor's in something "practicle".  In the end, it was MY choice to continue in music.