<p>A fair percentage of double degree students at Oberlin eventually decide on one and drop the other, but a fair percentage also complete both degrees. Combining Bio with a music degree may be a bit of a challenge due to labs and ensembles both being scheduled in the afternoon time frame. </p>
<p>The current Dean of the Conservatory is an alumnus of the program with degrees in both English Lit and Tuba Performance, so there is support for double degree students at the highest levels. You will want to consider your choice of voice teacher there very carefully, because some of them will not take students in the double degree program. That is a good topic to explore if you visit and have sample lessons.</p>
<p>"Combining Bio with a music degree may be a bit of a challenge due to labs and ensembles both being scheduled in the afternoon time frame. "</p>
<p>Now that you mention it, I can see how that could be a huge problem. A biology major has to take a large number of courses that have very time-consuming associated labs. There’s the bio courses themselves, and then chemistry courses thru Orgo and maybe biochemstry, even intro physics will have labs.</p>
<p>I know that labs are over by 4:30 in the afternoon, and the impression I’ve gotten from friends in the con is that most ensembles meet at 4:30 or later – is that incorrect?</p>
<p>There are quite a few double-degree students in the physical sciences (I can think of a half-dozen off the top of my head, including two who [were</a> just named Goldwater Scholars](<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/home/news-media/press/detail.dot?id=1825679]were”>http://new.oberlin.edu/home/news-media/press/detail.dot?id=1825679)), so it’s clearly not impossible. I’d recommend contacting professors in both areas and asking about their experiences teaching and advising double-degree students; they may be able to put you in touch with current students who can tell you more.</p>
<p>The orchestra, chamber orchestra and wind ensemble all meet from 2:40 - 4:30 either two or three days a week. The contemporary music ensemble meets from 12:30 to 2:25 three days a week. Those groups account for most or perhaps all of the required large ensembles that most instrumentalists must take each semester. It is a bit easier for singers because choir, chamber choir, women’s chorale and the collegium musicum all start at 4:30.</p>
<p>It appears that most science labs run from 1:30 to 4:20 one day a week, so it should not be much of a problem for singers, but instrumentalists would need to do a lot of planning and get some co-operation from both the Con and College concerning which ensemble and which section of labs they are assigned to. It could get kind of hairy for instrumentalists who are trying to fit in two lab courses and a large ensemble in the same semester.</p>
<p>Just checked, that old “double Degree” article in the alumni magazine quoted a graduate who was going to be an opera singer but wound up as a physician, I assume he managed to get those prerequisite lab courses in somehow. A few double-degree grads who were physics or chemistry majors were also quoted.</p>
<p>How realistic is the dual degree option? That is, I assume such students must be extremely busy-- and I wonder what percentage of students can actually complete the dual degree without dropping out of one. I am particularly interested in vocal performance and science dual degrees.</p>
<p>From the article:
"Historically, about half the entering students continue with the program, which usually takes five years; the others typically drop one degree for the other. "</p>
<p>VP majors have an easier time coordinating with a science at Oberlin than most instrumentalists. For one thing, practice time is a bit less for a singer. For another, the required large ensembles for singers meet after science labs have finished, while those for instrumentalists mostly happen at the same time as the labs. If you take five years to complete the double degree program, your average number of credit hours per semester could wind up a few tenths of a credit hour below someone completing a single degree program in four years. Note that some of the voice teachers there do not want double degree students in their studio, but others are fine with it.</p>