So I am currently a freshman who recently decided what he wants to do with his life. I also decided I want to triple major in Theatre (Acting), Dance, and Music (Voice). These majors at my university are a little intense, but I can finish all of them if I took an extra year in college. I can’t minor in any of these because they are not offered as minors. I was wondering is it worth it to pursue this crazy dream of mine and take an extra year in college?
Looks like you want to do musical theatre. Have you looked into possibly transferring to a school that offers that?
Can you afford the extra 2 semesters (especially if financial aid or scholarships run out after 8 semesters)?
The other thing to consider doing is to major in one and just add the courses of interest in the others, without worrying about fulfilling the major requirements for the others.
I was thinking about it, but personally, I think they do not go in depth enough with the dance section of my interests.
I just looked up the financial aid length and it says it runs out at 150% of the “allotted time” which would 6 years. If you go by credits taken, that would be 180 credits. I would be under both of these, so I do not think that would be a problem.
Certain forms of financial aid run out at 150% of the allotted time, which usually goes by credits taken (not calendar years). However, your institutional aid may not abide by that - so if you are getting any grants from the school itself those may only be good for 4 years. Also, there are limits. If you have federal Direct loans those are capped at $31,000 total for undergraduate studies. The current limits are $5,500 your first year, $6,500 your second year and $7,500 after, but after 4 years that puts you at something like $27,000, which leaves you only leaves you with an additional $4,000 for a fifth year.
Consider that college is not really designed to teach you everything that you need to know to be successful in X career. There is always going to be some pre-professional training, some of which is done adjunct to college (in internships, part-time jobs, or extracurriculars) and some of which may be done after college (in on the job training, graduate school, or personal classes taken). Majoring in theater and adding additional coursework in voice and dance may be enough to get you started as a background dancer in musical productions, for example; your additional skills acquired dancing in those productions coupled with extra lessons in voice and dance may be what helps you advance to a principal role.