I am currently a junior in highschool with a passion for music and science. I want to major in Musical Theatre but I have taken no dance lessons or private vocal lessons. I am planning to audition for our school musical next year and I have been in an outside school choir for 9 years now. My current GPA is not the best, with two Cs in freshmen year and two Fs in sophmore year due to dealing with family problems and depression. However, this year I finished my first semester with three As and three Bs. Because my parents are worried about financial issues from majoring in music, I want to double major in musical theatre and a science so I have something to “fall back” on. I would greatly appreciate advice on my chances of musical theatre with my lack of lessons in dancing and singing and how difficult a double major might be with music and science. I would also like to know if there are any college options with good musical theatre and biology programs that allows dual majors. Thank you guys so much. 
Hi there!
I think I can help advise you as a parent of a soon to be graduate in Music Theater and as one who teaches physiology to undergraduate students. First, you should be very proud of yourself for pulling your grades back up. And as you go forward make sure you keep those grades up and make sure you take both the SAT and ACT, as generally students will do better on one test than another (if you are oriented towards science, then you may do better on the ACT).
Now let’s talk about double majoring and such. Based on my daughter’s experience, and as a biology professor, I think it would be very difficult if not impossible to do this. It would of course depend on the specific program, but with my daughter’s BFA program the number of classes and her schedule would not have permitted any kind of double major. and if you wanted to do a science major, with all the labs that you’d have to fit in with the core classes you’d need for a biology major, I would be surprised if there was any school where you could get both done. If you wanted to double major, what I would suggest is that, rather than pursuing a musical theater BFA, you look at doing a BA in theater and then the dual major with a biology or other science discipline. The BA in theater would still give you performing opportunities and theater training although not as rigorous as what you would get in a BFA curriculum. Or you could major in one and minor in the other. I don’t know the colleges specifically that have strong biology and theater programs. I would say though that Ball State, where my daughter attends, is one of them!!
What seems to be driving your question is your parents’ concern over the marketability of a music theater degree. I was right there with your parents when my daughter was a high school junior! But when I researched things, what I found is that students with a background in performing arts have a number of professional options available to them, not only in the theater world (for example, casting directors) but also outside the performing arts world. The work habits students pick up in music theater (ability to work creatively, independently, collaboratively; ability to work under deadlines; ability to present) are all desirable characteristics for many careers. Feel free to have your parents contact me via PM and I’d be happy to discuss those with them.
As far as getting ready to apply to BFA programs, know that it is very competitive. If I was going to advise you on that, I would suggest a couple things. One is to take dance, specifically ballet. Many programs do a dance call as part of their audition, and while you don’t have to be a dancer since you were in diapers, programs will want to see that you have potential there. As far as voice and acting, what I would advise you do to is, if you can, find someone in your community that is a professional in the performing arts, and ask if they could assess your skill level. We did this with my daughter, and it helped confirm for me that she had the ability to do this for a living, and that it was the correct choice for her. Ask for honest feedback, and be prepared to hear things you don’t necessarily want to hear. Some folks here would advise on line coaching, and while that can be very helpful to prepare for auditions and the like, it may require some convincing with your parents.
The other thing I would tell you is that your interest in music could be channeled into other areas that are not the BFA degree. The example I would give here is my younger daughter, who is a freshman in high school. Also a performer like her older sister, but she does not want to go into the BFA track in college, Music is her passion, but she plans to fulfill that by either becoming a music teacher or becoming a music therapist. There are careers out there you can explore where your love of music can also be used without going the BFA route. You may want to explore those with a college counselor (my wife is one of those) or guidance counselor at your school.
I hope these comments are helpful to you. I am confident you will have a very bright future, and keep us in touch with progress!
Thank you so much for your response! I am currently studying and practing the SATs and ACTs. Also, I am thinking about a double major in Teaching and Musical Theatre/Vocals since my parents want me to have a government for stability of a job. Because of this, I am thinking about studying teaching and Musical Theatre/Vocals so I can be a music professor while looking for a profession in music alone as well.
I am going to meet with my drama teacher this week as well so I can assess my ability as a musical theatre actress and a singer in itself.
I am curious to your opinion on difficulty if I did a double major in music and teaching instead? Thank you again so much for your reply, it is helping me a lot! I plan on showing my parents your reply and I will tell you what they think or I will have tham PM you.
Thanks again!
Hi @cloewater … an Education degree involves student teaching and I think it would also be impossible to double major in Musical Theatre as a BFA and Education. It would be MUCH easier to double major in Theatre and Education if you were seeking a BA.
I remember years ago hearing that the best college roommates were either Music or Theatre Majors … because they were literally never in their room. (And it would be almost like living in a single.) And I think that’s true for the most part - those majors (Music, Theatre, Musical Theatre) are a HUGE time suck. Sometimes it’s hard to have a life outside of the major - never mind trying to double major.
Good for you for seeking out advice here! If you have any other questions - please don’t be afraid to post. (And tell your parents the same.)
NYU Steinhardt offers a BM in MT and an MA in Music Education as a 5 year program. Perhaps other schools do this as well. Basically as undergraduate seniors, the BM’s begin to take some graduate courses in education.
Thank you for your reply @KaMaMom! I asked my drama teacher at school and she also told me the difficulty of musical theatre itself and how hard it is to find a career after college. She recommended me to major in vocals instead and see if I still want to do musical theatre afterwards since vocals do share some classes with musical theatre. I’m not too knowlegable on where vocals would lie on a BFA or a BA spectrum. To my understanding, BFA are for acting and theatrics correct? I might do what you suggested then and try a for a BA and an Education degree if that means vocals and educations.
Hello @uskoolfish! Is NYU Steinhardt a branch NYU? It sounds like a great program but with my current gpa, I’m afraid about applying to NYU since they are also academically challenging.
@cloewater - yes, Steinhardt is part of NYU
As a teacher, I just want to say that secondary school teaching - especially in drama or music - is not at all a ‘safe’ or ‘practical’ career anymore. It is certainly not a career you’d go into as a backup plan or because you think it’s reliable income, and the job itself is not what you probably imagine it to be. Lots of changes in our educational system these past 10-15 years or so. PM me with any questions.