I just got into music at the beginning of my senior year, but too late to get involved with the music program there. I took up bassoon and love it.
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I'm now coming to the end of my freshman year of college and am really torn up about music. Iv'e fallen in love with it more than i thought was possible. I want to jump to the music room and practice all the time. I don't sleep well on days i don't practice, and i hum my music everywhere. I wish i could play every day.
If i had joined my high school band way back when, i could've been playing for two hours every day with my friends for four years. Now that i've graduated high school, i'll never get an opportunity like that again. My high school had one of the best music programs in the state, and it's not like i can go back there. Now in college i'm stuck rehearsing with a tiny club that has only about a dozen of us and no one except me practices. I'm so bummed that i missed such a huge opportunity for music and music education.
I'm also angry and frustrated that musical opportunities shrink dramatically after high school unless you want to major in music. Which is something that i'd like to do but can't because that requires having experience from high school. it's stupid. Why is music reserved for high school students?
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I really want to be learning more and playing more, and if i could i'd major in music. But i don't know much about getting involved in music. Any advice would be awesome. So in short i missed my highschool music program and am woefully depressed about that and need help. Pleaase give me a hug and tell me it's not a big deal and how to fix it.

You obviously haven't taken your college logic courses yet. Your argument/statement is not correct.

Here's what I think you need to know.
Be glad that you found music at all. And be glad that you have a group to play with. There is a very good chance that if you had started music earlier you might have learned to not like it from all those band rehearsals and such. You didn't start it sooner because you weren't ready for it, and now you are. Missing the high school experience could be the best thing for you.

There are a surprisingly high number of community bands and orchestras in a lot of communities. I have found that musical opportunities grow after high school.
Things that you can do for playing opportunities:
Check for community groups in your area.
Place an ad in your local paper or Craig's list about getting a woodwind quintet together.
Check the local library, junior college, regular college etc for postings of groups wanting to get together and post your own.
Contact your friends from high school - get a group together.If they are not near ask them to ask their friends about people they might know in your area.

There are quite a few free online resources to learn about music theory and history. There are also some good pay a fee courses available. If there is a school of music or department of music at your school and you have some extra units available take some courses and talk to the music teachers - - take some private lessons and your teacher might be able to get you into a group.

Don't think you have missed out on anything. Although this doesn't happen everyday, I know of an individual who studied math and physics in college and became a professor of physics at a major university. When he turned 46 he decided to pick up and learn an instrument. 18 months later he auditioned for and won a position with a major symphony orchestra. He quit his college teaching job and became a full time musician.

Be glad you are still in college. There is a music department there, right? Well, get in touch with the head of it, or with a woodwind professor, and explain your situation. Make arrangements with them to begin private lessons with the bassoon instructor. You will probably have to do it privately, that is, outside the college situation. If you prove to have ability, things will happen for you. You will get to know about other groups in town, and probably you will start getting calls to sub for groups, etc. It will take awhile but you are in the best place, i.e., a college situation where things are happening.

Most of us who are long beyond college age have to do these same things when we move to a new location: research the music scene in our new location, get set up with a private instructor or use some other ingenious method to hook up with other musicians. Yours is not a unique situation.

Thanks guys, i was really in a bad place when i wrote that, having just found out the particulars of my high school band, mainly that i could have joined anytime, where i had been thinking it was audition only. It really hurt, but i'm feeling alot better now.
You guys are awesome because you seemed to read my mind. My post was rather enflamed and begging for coddling wasn't it, but what i really wanted was to know what to do next, and you gave a bunch of suggestions for that. Musicians are awesome! particularly bassoonists
My college has no music department, but that among other complaints has caused me to drop out and apply for transfer to the state university, which has a huge music program. I'm now finding that private lessons can give me just as much as the high school band if i stick with them. At the State college, both the concert band and marching band are open to everyone, with dozens of audition based groups available.

Well, there you are then. Most things have a silver lining if you keep trying to find it!