Double Majoring

I am applying to college and I am very interested in doing musical theatre, but I am also interested in doing graphic design. However, I’ve heard that BFA MT majors are extremely rigorous and difficult to do a second major with. I know that certain BAs are designed so that you can pursue a second major, but I would rather do a BFA (I am up for the challenge) and some of the schools I am interested in don’t offer graphic design as a minor. So, is double majoring while pursuing a BFA in musical theatre possible?

Look at some of your colleges’ catalogs. How many credits are required for the BFA? How many for Graphic Design? How many for gen eds? From that total, subtract whatever college credits you might already have. How many does that leave you to take? I’m going to guess too many to fit in 4 years.

My DD’19 wanted a Parks & Rec BS plus a Theatre BA. She came in with 22 credits of gen eds done. It might have fit, if she took nothing extraneous and all of the scheduling worked perfectly. Throw in a multitude of rehearsals, 4 extra hours of theatre shop every week, and that major dropped down to a minor pretty quick. She probably won’t finish the minor. She is now looking forward to adding some electives in Parks & Rec instead and/or graduating early. I’m guessing a BFA would be even more difficult to add a second major to.

Would it be possible to just take some graphic design classes as electives? Might be a good idea to do first semester so you can see which major you prefer. DD started out her college search leaning toward theatre, then equally interested in both majors when starting college, and now after being involved in both from the start on she is much less into theatre and way more into Rec.

My DD’17 got an AAS in graphic design at a community college. Possibly you could take some cc classes on the side after undergrad is over.