Riot, I need help, I want to learn animation

So I am a junior in high school, and like any sensible human being I've been thinking about my majors and future career and what would suit me best. After thinking for a while I found that animation fits literally everything that appeals to me. It combines art and story telling (im a writer), 2 of my favorite things, it can be very expressive and entertaining at the same time, often pays pretty well, its a fun job I would think (not just an all day party though im sure), often times you could work from home and many places give you pretty flexible work hours. correct me if im wrong on any of that btw. anyways, the college im planning on attending if possible, BYU, is one of the top animation schools in the country, its pretty cheap, and it has connections with Pixar if I end up wanting a job there. however, ive heard their animation program is a tough one to get into. that's where my problem comes in: I haven't had the chance to try out animation yet.

my high school has a few animation classes, but all of them are either "animation" where you basically make the color of a word change in photoshop, or it requires 4 engineering/computer/architecture prerequisites. I am at a complete loss for what to do, but I do have the capability to get the programs needed. I really need advice, I want to try out animation and actually develop my skills asap, but I have no clue what to do from here. Please advise, I would love to get some advice from someone who works on animations at Riot, but anybody who can help is welcome to comment. TY :D