<p>My parents are making me double major. The first major I want to do is piano performance, and I have to pick a 2nd one too. Here are the ones I'm considering: Economics, History, International Studies, and Political Science.</p>
<p>Is piano and one of those 4 an odd or normal combination? Are those hard combinations? any opinions or experience with those? I'm a high school junior by the way so I still have some time to think about it... Thanks though!</p>
<p>First, I don’t know why your parents are “making” you take a second major. It is fine to major in music performance. Tell your parents that 66% of music majors are accepted into medical school, the largest proportion of any single major. A BM is a platform just like any other bachelor’s, to go on to whatever you like, in terms of career or grad school, though, of course, many instrumental majors do seek to go on to jobs in music performance.</p>
<p>Second, I don’t understand why you are trying to decide on a major when you are only a junior in high school. If you are going to be a junior next year, this is even less appropriate for your age and educational level. Many people go to college undecided, and most schools don’t require you to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year, and it can be changed later. </p>
<p>If you, yourself, want to explore subjects other than music/piano, fine, but take the time to enjoy the exploration, when you are in college. Many people do this.</p>
<p>Are your parents letting you apply to conservatories, or requiring that you go to college or university? Do you have any autonomy about where to apply?</p>
<p>Conservatories where you can double major include Oberlin and Bard (Bard requires a double major); Tufts has a BA/BM with NEC, there are others that provide this opportunit, that others can tell you about.</p>
<p>Your user name, “Iluvpiano” says a lot. I hope that if you want to devote yourself to piano, you are allowed to do so, and then again, if you yourself want to explore another area of learning along with it, that you find a way to do that too. But either path is wonderful. </p>
<p>Maybe someone can talk to your parents for you: a teacher perhaps? an admissions person at a conservatory? Good luck!</p>
<p>p.s. Have your parents go to the Peabody Institute site and read about double majors, BM’s and BA’s… a great explanation there as I remember…</p>
<p>I think the statistic is that 66% of Music Majors that apply to Med School are accepted. I don’t think 66% of all music performance majors go to med school.</p>
<p>My son plans to double major with music performance as well simply because he loves another subject and wants to continue with those studies in college. I know with a music performance major it is VERY difficult to do both - but I think it is realistic to look to pursue something else with a music degree with the uncertainty of employment post graduation. My son talked to some very prestigious music schools and they did not frown on it - in fact some even encouraged it. So if your heart is set on double majoring, then I would see how difficult it is to do so at each of the schools you are considering. It will probably take longer than four years to complete but I think that’s easier than completing a BM and then deciding a few years out that you want to go back and get a second bachelor’s degree. And while it is difficult to double major, many schools have advisors dedicated to helping you succeed in doing so. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to double major DON’T DO IT! If however you have an interest in another area (a lot of musicians also are into philsophy or mathematics) then do a double major, ultimately it’s your education do with it what you like.</p>
<p>There is a difference between double-majoring, and getting two degrees. If you are pursuing a BM degree in Piano Performance, then you will be seeking a second degree as either a BA or a BS. If instead of pursuing a BM in performance, you choose to get a BA in music with a performance emphasis - such as at most liberal arts colleges - then it is much easier to double major - you just get a BA in Music and Subject 2.</p>
<p>As compmom said - check out Peabody’s site. And there is a thread on this forum with all the links listed for info about the differences between different degree pursuits.</p>
<p>“…66% of Music Majors that apply to Med School are accepted”</p>
<p>I have been curious about this statistic. Do you think it’s specific to those with a BA in music, or is it general in that it would include those with a BM in music? I have been looking into the degree differences, and I just don’t see how a BM gets you there unless you spend an extra year taking the requisite sciences. I would appreciate some help in understanding this, since my son is struggling to figure out in which direction to go.</p>
<p>Note that I don’t have an issue with him pursuing a BM, I just want him to understand which doors it will open and which doors it will not open.</p>
<p>Your parents are probably concerned about the practicality of making a living at music. Have you worked out a long term plan for what you would do after graduation that might reassure them? Are you hoping for a star-studded performance career, or do you have a vision of teaching privately along with performing? Forming an ensemble with friends and performing worldwide? Your folks probably want you to do what you love…but don’t want to see you working at Starbucks all day so that you can afford to play the piano at night.</p>
<p>Someone with better internet skills than I have will probably come along and post a link to the Peabody Conservatory articles about doing a double degree. You should read them.</p>
<p>As an answer to some questions on here, my parents are making me do a double major because they are concerned about how I will make money with just a music degree, and they also want me to do another major because I’ve done well in school and they don’t want that to go to waste either. I like other subjects as well, but I’ve just explained to them that piano ranks above those other subjects. No, I’m not thinking of just a performance career, because as my parents have also pointed out, most people don’t make enough money to live on with that. I will probably teach piano also, after grad school.</p>
<p>sort of in the same boat
im a high school senior - already decided to go to fsu as a piano perf major
however, i do have a quite of interest on med - pharmacy
any stories/suggestions about double degree in piano and pharm?</p>
<p>if not, im thinking about doing a minor within the music area…
such as piano tech , composition, and accompanist</p>
<p>Just to clarify that I did not mean to imply that 66% of music majors apply to med school, of course! That oft-repeated percentage refers to the proportion of music major applicants who are accepted. So, if 300 music majors apply to med school, then 200 would be accepted, if that percentage is true. I have also wondered what exactly the term “music major” means in this instance, but it is a handy thing to say to people to make a point.</p>
<p>I have been looking at want ads recently, and most of them just say “bachelor’s degree” required. A BM fits that bill, as well as any other degree.</p>
<p>I believe that many students who major in areas other than sciences, have to take prerequisites before med school. English majors, anthropology majors, music majors, whatever. Apparently (and I don’t want to misquote something again, but I have read…) English majors often make very good physicians too!</p>
<p>My daughters are music and dance majors, respectively, and I can understand the financial worry. But I am a whole lot more worried about the dancer than the music major…And I do believe their degrees will hold them in good stead for lots of different pursuits.</p>
<p>BTW - there are quite a few from the music school who go to law school, too. No science pre-requisites there. GPA and LSAT are what matter. Others go to grad school in business. Same thing. GPA and test scores. The choice is not destitute musician or doctor. 
</p>
<p>There are a lot of things you can do with the BM if you choose to pursue other paths afterward. And as compmom says, most ads for non-technical general hiring just want a bachelors degree. Performance degrees actually do develop a lot of skills attractive to companies if you point them out to them. However, we believe that having the BM gives the best chance of being successful in music first. That is why we encouraged DD to pursue it at a top school. If she does something else with that degree that’s fine.</p>
<p>I am new to the music side of things thanks to my 15 year old son. However I have looked atr the curriculums for several of the BM programs at universities. I do know the medicine side of things well. I don’t see anyway that a BM enables you to meet the prerequisites for medical school. WHen medical schools say a bachelors degree they mean that plus all the science prerequisites which usually means a year of physics, chemistry, biology plus math. I think if one wanted to do it they would have to double major and likely spend more than the usual 4 years doing it.</p>
<p>First, double majors of music and something else are often 5 years. Programs like Bard, Tufts and Oberlin require the 5 years, in fact.</p>
<p>Second, if what you say is true, then only science majors would be doctors. As various people said on this thread, applicants do need to take some science prerequisites. But some of the best MD’s were humanities majors, and many people with BM’s (as also stated above) who apply to medical school are accepted.</p>
<p>I believe people get their BA. BM, BS, or BFA in whatever field as an undergrad, and then, when they decide to go to medical school, enroll in science courses. People transitioning into nursing school do the same thing.</p>
<p>I know a dancer who is going to med school this fall, in fact. He has danced for a decade, has a BA in English as well, and is now accepted in medical school.</p>
<p>Life is a lot more flexible than people think…</p>
<p>Having reviewed many residency and medical school applications, I am well aware that a substantial number of successful medical school applicants do not major in science. I was a nonscience major and went to medical school. There was a classical pianist in my class, as I recall she went back and completed some of medical school prereusites after comleting her music studies. </p>
<p>In reviewing curricula for BM degrees and reading various university websites I have seen the BM described as a performance degree. In reviewing the BM curricula it appears that there is precious little time in the scheduled alloted for electives or course outside of music. I am guessing that someone that wanted to prepare for medical school and simulateneously pursue the BM would need to fit the prerequisite courses in those spaces.
As I said it would be very difficult (not imposible) for most to fit that into a 4 year program. Such a feat would be signfiicantly more attainable with a bachelor of arts in music or an extended program. Most medical schools require 1 year of biology, physics, calculus and two years of chemistry at a minimum. The BA in music seems to allow greater flexibility. Usually nonscience majors use the spaces alloted for thier GE requirements and or elective spots to fulfill the medical school requirements.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people decide they want to go to medical school a few years after getting their BM or BA or BS for something else. So they do the prerequisites through continuing education, entirely separate from their undergraduate education.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine doing undergrad BM, say, for piano, (or studying English, for that matter) while simultaneously preparing for medical school. I’m sure there are students out there doing this, (perhaps through a double degree program?), but I wouldn’t think it would be the norm.</p>
<p>Medical school as a goal often does come later, and I feel, personally, that those people may have more authentic motivation than those who want to be a doctor when they are 14!</p>
<p>I know people who have worked for the one or two years they take the med. school prerequisites, in their 20’s. They make great candidates for medical school with some real world experience and some breadth to their interests.</p>
<p>See that’s my dilema with my son. He is interested in architecture and BM in voice. When we went to the performing arts college fair there was very little support for such a thing. He was told he would have to do them seperately or was being steered to a BA in music if he has substantial non music interest. He was told he probably would not even be able to access many of the undergraduate architecture classes as a non major. Which makes me wonder which fields can one double major in with a BM. I see that some of the schools offer the programs, but even so some of them do not seem to be overwhelmingly supportive of such a thing. Is it simply unrealstic for most to attempt to double major while pursuing a BM?</p>
<p>I agree music majors or non-science majors in general make great candidates. They bring a different perspective, often without even knowing it. Also I think older students make great candidates for the same reason, plus they are more mature which is invaluable.</p>
<p>Architecture may be a particularly difficult field to combine with a BM. Of the schools like Bard, Lawrence and Oberlin that are most supportive of dual degree programs, I cannot think of any that have an undergrad architecture minor. That leaves mostly programs where there is less institutional support for the double degree, or else in programs that while supportive generally accept very small numbers into the program. Another problem is that both architecture and music are very time intensive degrees to pursue, and both can have highly demanding peak periods when projects are due at the same time juries are being held.</p>
<p>Bard requires everyone in their BM program to pursue a BA at the same time, and about a quarter of the students at Oberlin are in that dual degree program, so it is obviously possible given the right student, the right major and the right school. Sciences can be difficult, but I know several Oberlin students (including the current Dean of their Conservatory) who have made that combination work. I cannot think of anyone offhand who has completed a dual degree program as an architecture and music student, but I happen to know at least one very musical architect.</p>
<p>at UCLA the music and architecture program is one school, School of Arts and Architecture… thats probably a thing to consider.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that medical schools look very favorably on the music major and there are some who major in music simply to look good to medical schools. (It’s true.) It is definitely possible to major in piano performance and take the necessary premed courses without formally declaring a second major, and go on to medical school. I know quite a few people who have done this. A very close friend graduated from a fine arts institute with a B.F.A. and after a very successful career in fine arts, suddenly decided to go to medical school and took the necessary courses in a local college. She is now chief of her department at a major hospital. Another friend, a successful pianist in our area, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon with the B.M., is in medical school now.</p>
<p>For law school, there is no major requirement or course pre-requisite. I believe the same is true for Business School. In fact, it is possible to start almost any profession late in the game, with one exception: musical performance. </p>
<p>So you can apply to law school or medical school with a B.M., a B.F.A. or any degree you like, as long as you meet the course requirements for the professional school.</p>
<p>Your options might be opened simply by attending a conservatory that is connected with a university or college, like Oberlin, Peabody or Bard, where you have the opportunity to take regular classes, without applying to a double degree program. </p>
<p>Some other programs and options that haven’t been discussed in this thread are the double degree programs with NEC and Tufts, NEC and Harvard, Columbia and Juilliard, Peabody-Johns Hopkins; then there are conservatories and music schools connected with regular campuses like Indiana, Rice, McGill, Northwestern, Boston University, etc. If you search past threads on this forum, you should find quite a lot of discussion about the various options.</p>
<p>While I understand your parents’ hope for your future, the truth is that the people who have the greatest success are generally those who love what they do–they will hang in with the extra long hours and out of sheer passion will effortlessly go the extra mile in every aspect of their work. I hope you can convince your parents of the extra demands on a performance major in terms of long practice hours, and that it could be worth it to give you the chance to show what you can do in music knowing that this will not, in fact, close other opportunities for you later on.</p>