Best for grad school: dual degree or double major in music?

Graduate School
1

Hi everyone,

I’m a current high school senior and possible music major trying to decide which college to attend. I have the option of completing a double degree at one school–in music performance and a science field–which means that I would come out with a bachelor’s of music and a bachelor’s of science degree in 4, possibly 5 years.

Another school, more highly-ranked, only allows me to complete a bachelor’s of music. I could double major at this school, in music performance and a liberal arts field, but I would only get a bachelor’s of music in 4 years. I could be on a pre-professional track (pre-medical, probably) as a music performance major as well.

I’m really, really torn between these two schools. Cost-wise, they are equal, so I would be tempted to go for the higher rank, but I’m just nervous about only completing a bachelor’s of music. I would love to enter the classical music industry professionally, but I know it’s hard to make a living, and I have other interests as well. This is why I want to attend medical school after college (and maybe down the line graduate school for music), but I’m not 100% sure about my plans yet.

Will I be shooting myself in the foot for grad school if I just get a music degree? If I don’t decide to go to medical school, can I still go into another type of graduate program with a music degree? Engineering school? MBA program? Will it be very, very difficult for me to get into these types of schools with a music degree if I settle on those options?

My decision must be made by May 1, and I really am panicking at this point! Thank you so much to everyone who might be able to offer some insight.

2

If you are taking the same amount of coursework and double-majoring in, let’s say, music performance and physics - it won’t matter whether your BA only says “B.Mus” or whether it’s a dual-degree. You still have all the coursework you need to go to medical school and work in physics. It’s the coursework that’s important, not the letters of the degree itself.

But I will say that it’s usually difficult to be a serious music performance major and an engineering major at the same time.