I think it's a lot about which country you live in. I live in Norway, and went to a music oriented high school (I'm not terribly talented myself, but only half the places were set aside for people doing well on audition, the rest of us got in on grades). A good deal of my classmates became professional musicians of various sorts, two got orchestra jobs. But Norway isn't the best country to be a full time classical musician at all - apparently there are far more positions in Russia and Eastern European countries.