Double Majoring in Drama and __...steering towards pre-law?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Was that just an absurd title? And I apologize for posting here even though it's not exactly MT related, but the school in question is Tisch, and other places that have a studio focus in theater.</p>

<p>I'm currently a Junior in HS, and I am just really trying to get a sense of where I want to go for college. I really would like to be a student at Tisch and eventually get a BFA in Drama/Theater, something long those lines. But I seem to get mixed messages about double majoring Tisch or any sort of theater related degree in a college. Would it be completely out of the picture to double major at Tisch? I've been told that the course load for your major is only about 50% of the curriculum, and Tisch gives you the option of double majoring in something at the College of Arts and Science...I am also very interested in their pre-law program. </p>

<p>But on the other hand I happen to come across someone commenting on another board that at Tisch the "Studio takes up three out of the five weekdays from 9am-6pm. Along with that, there's outside rehearsal time and, once you're in your second year, any school productions that you might be in. Think carefully if you REALLY want to double major in something, then maybe Tisch isn't for you."</p>

<p>I do know that I want something to fall back on if my BFA in theater doesn't get me anywhere. My mother on the other hand won't exactly be thrilled about Tisch or a BFA in drama--which isn't a real factor in my decision. But I really do have that sense of not being able to make it if I focus purely on theater. I always try to envision where I would be happiest, and certainly that would be on stage, but when I just think about the probability of it all it scares me. Money I know will be a huge deciding factor in it all since I’m raised by a single parent, and we don’t exactly make that much.</p>

<p>Ideas? Comments? Advice? Other schools I should be looking into? (Any CUNY or SUNY that would be fill the void.) Any sort of feedback would be nice. It's totally in my head that Tisch is a very competitive program to get into, but I'm just trying to get a grasp if it's something I should be stressing over.</p>

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<p>A senior partner in a law firm that I know, who is a member of actor's equity, is a good role model. He is about to do a one-person show here in Westchester County where he plays Clarence Darrow in a show he wrote. Here is a link to his website <a href="http://www.cgmlaw.com/henrydoesdarrow.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.cgmlaw.com/henrydoesdarrow.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I have seen him in court and his acting skills make for outstanding summations. It may be that ultimately you should go to a BA program, do theater while you prepare for law school and then play it by ear as you go along as.</p>

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<p>I totally agree, I am in a BFA acting program and there is ABSOLUTELY no way you can double major AND take the required Drama classes. I myself am considering moving to the BS (yes,, I mean BS) for more flexibility so I can do more dance, art and etc....</p>

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<p>I don't know much about the program, but I know in the past few days someone posted about it. Have you considered American University? There sure are a lot of lawyers in Washington DC!</p>

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<p>There is no pre-law curriculum per-se & I'm not even sure it's a major at a lot of places. I majored in sociology & know folks who majored in english, history, business, political science & many other fields who attended law school with me.</p>

<p>I am not aware of folks who majored in Fine Arts, but can see that training as an actress/actor could be very useful for a litigator. Actually I know several attorneys who do act in local community theater & my cousin actually loves acting & has had several parts (as an extra). He would love to only act, but law pays the bills. You are wise to consider the financial aspect of career choices. Some attorneys take classes in acting to help improve their speaking skills & provide a more dramatic presentation in the courtroom.</p>

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<p>In my opinion, YOU are best suited at a school where you do a BA (maybe even in theater) where you can double major or at least do significant liberal arts courses to prepare you as a law school applicant, should you pursue that direction. A BFA program is so heavy duty and not like a BA degree in terms of the amount of courses in the "major" and it takes up a considerable amount of your coursework (varies from school to school but is significant everywhere). At a place like Tisch, you could minor in a liberal arts subject and so that is a possibility for you. But I think a BFA degree program is best suited for someone who really wants to put all their energy into going for a degree and a career in theater. Many make it in theater who do a BA degree in theater and so I think by doing that kind of degree, you will have more options like you seem to want and flexibility. It allows you to not put all your eggs in one basket. I think a candidate for a BFA program really has to ONLY want to go for theater (for now) though might want to take liberal arts to become an educated person (thus some might lean toward an NYU, UMich, Syracuse, Penn State type program as examples over some schools like Boston Conservatory or CMU) but they are still putting their major focus into theater training. </p>

<p>I don't know what kind of student you are or anything else about your college criteria but if you went to a place like Vassar, Yale, Conn College, Brown, Muhlenberg, Indiana, Tufts, Sarah Lawrence, Northwestern, etc. you might be able to do lots in theater, even major in it, but also pursue liberal arts more so than if you were doing a BFA degree program. </p>

<p>Susan</p>

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<p>I sincerely thank you all for the feedback. A BA does seem a lot more practical.</p>

<p>What initially drew me to Tisch was their NYU affiliation, the fact that it is in the city and I guess I misinterpreted what they mentioned about minoring/double majoring in something else. </p>

<p>My dream school has been Yale for quite some time. I do know that I need to get my SAT scores up in that case. I don’t even hit the 2000 mark on the new SAT. (But this is based on diagnostic test I took at a Princeton Review practice test, so I hope to really do well this January.) So I’m not even sure to consider it a reach school. 1890 is my best score as of yet. (Math 630, Critical Reading 640, Writing 610. I certainly know my writing score can go up, because I just have such identifying grammar errors) </p>

<p>A bit about me...
Rank: ??? My school doesn’t rank until the end of Junior year, but I can safely say I’m top 25%, based on who made the honor roll.
GPA: I don’t really know how to calculate it on a 4.0 scale, but all my classes are honors, and I’ve been taking an AP since sophomore year. My cumulative average is above a 95, but not currently higher than a 97.
SAT II: Biology (Molecular) – 720 (I seriously don’t know how I managed that, but I did.)
AP: European History – 3 (sophomore year, I should have studied)
Extra Curricular:
Moot Court/Mock Trial
SING (Our school’s winter performance. It is basically competition between the grades, so everyone involved takes a part in writing the play, choreographing, constructing really crappy sets, if you can even call it that, etc. for your own grade’s 30 minute performance.)
Grade Leaders/Senate (Basically student government…but I’m not class president or anything noteworthy)
Spring Performance (usually Shakespeare, don’t normally have a huge part, maybe I will this year, but it sort of interferes with Mock Trial and Soccer.
Soccer (On the Varsity team since freshman year, but I’m not ungodly good, and I so not have any notable ranking on PSAL.)
Art, the school newspaper/literary magazine…but those are really sporadic EC’s because I sort of really didn’t take part in them, but I am theoretically involved.</p>

<p>Volunteer Work: 100+ (maybe 140?) hours at Housing Works (organization that helps homeless people with AIDS in NYC, but then again I volunteered at their bookstore), 120+ hours at a musical theater workshop for little kids, I was a set-intern, so I help construct the set and paint the backdrop, loads of fun. </p>

<p>College Class: Drama 100 (studio class) at CUNY</p>

<p>Summer Experiences: Shakespeare Lab Jr. at the Public Theater (Summer ’05)</p>

<p>Hooks: I take three languages at school…Spanish, French and Latin. I’m Asian. (Which I know really doesn’t help at all.) We're sort of low income.</p>

<p>My school only offers 11 APs, and you can only take three per year, I sort of regret not taking two APs this year (I could have taken Art History, Environmental Science, or Psychology in addition to AP US) Next year I plan to take AP Spanish, Government and Politics, and Calculus or Statistics. It is a requirement to take Humanities Seminar on the CUNY campus my school is located on sophomore year, as well as an additional college class.</p>

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<p>Will,</p>

<p>Some thoughts on schools where you can probably steer towards pre-law, but also have an attentive focus in drama/theatre are Tufts and Denison. Both are small enough to provide great academic attention. Both have many performance opportunities where all students of the school may audition.. We've seen Tufts shows and several of the cast, including leads were not majoring in theatre. Our son has some friends who just started at Boston University and Ithaca. Neither is majoring in theatre at all, but are quite talented. Both are actually now cast in shows for this fall - so perhaps another option as well. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I've heard great things about Boston U - probably another excellent idea. At Ithaca, my impression is that if you are in MT, the outside courses taken are fairly limited. That is interesting if they use non-majors in productions.</p>

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<p>I'd be very surprised if non-majors are cast in mainstage shows at Ithaca. </p>

<p>and</p>

<p>I think Ithaca's req. are like this:</p>

<p>Credits outside the major:</p>

<p>Dramatic Literature or Shakespeare 3 credits
Script Analysis or Academic Writing I 3 credits
Academic Writing II 3 credits</p>

<p>Elective credits -- general education:</p>

<p>Self and Society 6 credits
Science, Mathematics, and Formal Reasoning 6 credits
Human Expression (may be taken from major courses)
From area 1, 2, or 3: 6 credits</p>

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<p>Will,</p>

<p>Regarding my note on other possibilities, I don't believe the Ithaca production that the nonmajor is in is a mainstage show. However, we do know she has a sizeable role and was w/in a group of auditioners who included theatre majors and non. My point was to alert you to opportunities w/in a program where perhaps you're not majoring in theatre or perhaps doubling. The options for performance, at least, are out there.</p>

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<p>willact4food, joining this late, just wanted to add that, re: Tisch, as per the Dean, student who double major typically use their 4th year to do so rather than spending their 4th year in studio (only three studio years are required)</p>