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[Cyman]

I would recommend taking a year break before going to college to teach yourself how to program and think about what you really want to accomplish in college. Stanford has programming courses and lecture videos you can download for free, and you don't have to be a student of theirs.

[Nix]

Pretty much every university (in the US at least) will let you change majors. Many don't even require you to choose a major until a few years in. So if you want to take a year off to soul-search, fine, but there's no real reason to take a year off to decide what you're interested in because you can do that while in school with a few more resources available (like professors) to help you decide.

[EBrown]

As far as Private Colleges go, I took the ACT earlier this year, and the result pretty much set me up with a very good scholarship, as well as some other special funding, and then the FASFA did me some more good. Grades can definitely help you get some aid, and often they can help you get in, but they can't do it alone. It takes some other things to go along with it.

Nix is probably right about Majors. I know I can change mine any point during my Freshman, Sophomore or Junior years. I think a lot of colleges here follow the same idea.

As far as what Cyman said, it's difficult to take a year break after high school, and then try to go to college. A lot of people don't make it back into the mode of going to college. Many of them get a job, not necessarily a good one, but a job none-the-less, and just don't make it to college. Also, you lose a lot of what you learned in High School, and then when you have to take your general education classes, it causes you to fall behind.

I don't quite know about getting a job in the Game Development Industry though, as I have never really gotten one, but I am sure that having a Portfolio, and Mixing College Experience, will do you quite well.

Thanks,
EBrown

[Cyman]

I can understand falling out of school-mode, but it may be good for some people:

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2010/07/20/8-things-to-know-about-a-gap-year

"Occasionally students are admitted to Harvard or other colleges in part because they accomplished something unusual during a year off. While no one should take a year off simply to gain admission to a particular college, time away almost never makes one a less desirable candidate or less well prepared for college."

4. Plenty of schools would love you to experience a gap year. Harvard is so high on the benefits of a gap year that it's been proposing this opportunity in the acceptance letters for decades. Princeton University launched a bridge-year program in 2009 that allows some admitted students to participate in nine months of university-sponsored service work at one of four international locations.

5. A gap year won't jeopardize college plans. Experiencing a gap year can be a blast. Who wouldn't want to monitor eagles in Swaziland or perform Shakespeare plays in England for a few months? Will students, who get these fantastic opportunities, ever want to buckle down and study again? While research is scant, anecdotal evidence suggests that students return to school more focused and mature and ready to start their college career.

[Fallsburg]

I changed majors 4 times throughout college, and graduated on time with a double major.  That's not to say that it didn't result in taking more classes, but shit that's what you're there for. 
Actually, that goes back to my earlier point, if you go to college, take advantage of it.  The people that go and take 12 course hours a semester (4 classes) are inherently getting less out of college than the people who take more classes.  I wouldn't recommend doing more than 7, and 7 can be extremely shitty depending on the work load of those classes.

[theweirdn8]

What did ya double-major as?