Hello! I’m a current high school sophomore looking into selective colleges and universities that would allow me to major in both mechanical engineering and theatre (or at least participate in theatre without being having to be a theatre major). I can’t see myself without STEM in the future, but I also would not be able to live without the stage.
Does anyone have any insight into this sort of situation, or any suggestions? Thank you so much!
The double-major might be tough, since Engineering programs are some of the most demanding, with little curricular flexibility. You’d probably do best at a college ore university that does NOT have a separate Theater school, so that you an become involved as a non-major. I certainly know techies who were active in stage crews as college students. You might want to check out each individual college you’re interested in, though. Carnegie-Mellon, for example, has one of the best Theater schools in the country, along with illustrious STEM programs. They might offer some crossover, but you should check. I recommend identifying a list of target Engineering schools, and then inquiring about opportunities for involvement in Theater at each.
I doubt that you’d be able to double major in those two majors because each is a high-time-demand major. Eng’g majors have a lot of lab time plus a lot of study/homework time. Theater majors have a lot of rehearsal demands outside of the classrooom.
I know that my kids’ undergrad has a theater group for the College of Engineering. It’s called CoE does ART. They put on 2-3 performances per year.
As most posters have mentioned, both engineering and theater are demanding in terms of time. Also, the best theater programs are auditioned, which means that in addition to your regular application requirements you will have to audition to get a spot in the BFA program. So, If being a performance artist isn’t your career choice and just something you really enjoy, why not look for schools that have a strong engineering program but also have student run theater groups? Theater can be an extra-curricular activity for you. For example, Tufts University has an engineering school–it also has a number of student-run theater groups, e.g., Torn Ticket (musical theater) or Cheap Sox (improv group). That’s just one example at one university. If you look, I’m sure you’ll find others.
Just might be a match for you.
My D is at Lafayette College and that might be an option. Excellent engineering and it is is easy to get involved in theater productions regardless of if they are theater majors or not. In addition, many students at Lafayette double major (or if a double major doesn’t work out you could always minor in theater). My D is a science major with a minor in theater – the sciences will be her career, the theater is just something she loves.
That said, as a high school sophomore it is too early to really pinpoint schools.
Both ME and theatre tend to be high volume majors, so that doing a double major in them would be very difficult to do, unless you enter college with lots of useful credit going in (probably lots of college courses taken while in high school that specifically apply to these majors).
You can major in ME and use theatre courses for some of your humanities breadth requirements and join performing arts groups as extracurricular activities. It is certainly possible for those in engineering or other technical careers to be part of performing arts groups outside of their jobs. That may be a less stressful career path than attempting to make a career out of performing arts (many trying to do that have a day job in something else because they cannot support themselves on just the performing arts).
This is very doable at Northwestern, though it would take you five years to complete. Like previous posters have said, that academic path would likely make you very busy, but since the university itself is telling people that the program is doable, it probably is.
Dual Degree link: https://www.communication.northwestern.edu/programs/dual_communication_engineering (note: Theatre is part of the School of Communication)
Mechanical Engineering: http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/mechanical/
Theatre: https://www.communication.northwestern.edu/programs/major_theatre
Hope that helped!