So I am a sophomore in high school who is a player of mostly all saxophones and clarinets. I am being pushed by my private teacher to learn flute as well. I heard a lot of similarities are between the saxophone and flute fingerings, however I am quite aware that the tone producing is a lot harder on flute because I know flute takes more air than a tuba even! (Coming from a college student I'm assuming this is true since when you first start, players tend to get lightheaded.) Also, I heard that playing flute will be useful for future pit orchestra performances, since I am a woodwind player. However, I am just worried that I'm spreading myself thin - and that my goal of a college education will be screwed over because of playing too many woodwinds. So basically my questions are:
1) Wil learning flute hurt my chances of practicing for college auditions? (I plan to pursue saxophone)
2) What is the hardest thing about the flute besides the breathing?
3) Any tips on buying a flute/kinds?

Thank you!

You might want to post your questions and concerns on a great site that is mostly for jazz, studio, and pit musicians: Sax on the Web.

Their flute forum is very active with these sorts of questions.

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/forumdisplay.php?138-Flute-Piccolo&order=desc

I started out playing flute and decided to be in jazz band with alto sax this school year. I am no professional but with flute, learning how to blow the instrument and make its sound come out was one thing that took me a while as a beginner. Fingerings are pretty close for a lot of basic notes. I did go through the buying process for a step up flute and my tips would be to pick a brand that is good and an instrument that doesn't come with any problems with keys or leaking. You don't necessarily need one with lots of the extra keys that come with a step up mode if you don't plan to go into college. I would say it just depends on how far you plan on going with flute, and if you don't know, talk to your teacher and parents and pick a budget too.