Maybe electives can be taken simply for the challenge or lack thereof for each individual class. Maybe a student will figure that business classes could augment their capabilities as a performing professional.
What about the student who is not quite sure of which electives or minor would be best. Are there classes that would be wise to consider say if the student decides to later apply to med or law school or other - a class that would have to be taken as a remedial class at that point - a class that “might as well” be taken as an elective earlier if the student was open for elective ideas anyway?
For med school, I believe that there are certain core courses you must have, organic and inorganic chem, and a couple of others, maybe anatomy and physiology and the like. For law school, there really are no specific classes, but classes that help with writing and critical thinking skills can’t hurt.
My son will be taking a BFA in technical theater production and he is thinking about taking a basic business class for non-majors.
There are specific prerequisites for med school and they wil be listed on any med school’s website - it’s typically 4 semesters of biology, two semesters of chem, two of organic chem, two of physics, math through calculus, and maybe some others specific to different schools Every university will have a premed advisor available to help you figure out what needs to be done to fulfill those requirements.
There aren’t prerequisites for law school, but there are somethings you can do to make yourself more attractive. Make GREAT grades in whatever you study, be able to write well and demonstrate that skill in your essay in a way that will catch the attention of someone reading essay after essay, and master the LSAT. There are very specific techniques to taking that test so that you can get a very high (in the 170s) score.
Bottomline - it’s not hard to do either profession with a music major if you plan a little and do very well in your chosen major.
Many conservatories now have classes in entrepreneurshio, but not necessarily electives. Still they may cover business-related topics.
I think an undergrad student should take what interests them.
If med school becomes a possibility, some do the prerequisites postgrad.
4 semesters of biology would seem like a large chunk of work to do postgrad if it could be sprinkled in undergrad - unless some of these courses are so time consuming and rough weed-outs that they would disrupt a focus on music.
D is adding an Arts Management minor, which requires accounting and econ, with HR, marketing as optional electives,… Seems practical whether it is for managing her own activities as a performer, or working in an organizational structure as an administrator (plan B)
Science classes will be time consuming because of the lab requirements - usually an additional 3 hrs+ per week on top of lectures and precept. Might be tough to schedule on top of ensemble rehearsals. Could consider adding science classes over the summer. As long as credit is obtained, I don’t think the med schools care if it is from the primary institution or one closer to home.
I’m a doctor who did my premed requirements post-grad, so I can speak with some authority on that. I completed them all in one year (that’s a lot of science classes each semester!) so it can definitely be done.
Two semesters of bio minimum and all the chem and physics have labs and are terribly time consuming. Chem and especially organic chemistry are often the “weed-outs.” If you need a semester of biochem, that will also be difficult, but it can often take the place of one of the bio requirements.
However, if someone knew they wanted to go to med school, he could take one premed requirement per semester and one each summer and be in great shape. If it was not something they were certain of I would rather spend those hours on a second major.
Doing internships can help build career skills in the area of arts management.
As for medical school, I have often quoted something I read (but lost the citation for) a few years ago, that music majors have the highest admit rate to med school of any major. At the time I read that it was at 62%.
There are post-bac programs to do the premed prerequisites. I happened to know about Goucher/s http://www.goucher.edu/graduate-programs/post-baccalaureate-premed-program
I googled to find a list https://students-residents.aamc.org/financial-aid/article/postbaccalaureate-premedical-programs/
The link is not working right now…
If you google “postbaccaulareate premedical programs” there are a lot of listings, including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Bryn Mawr, UCSD…others
There are also postbac nursing programs and of course physicians’ assistant programs.
Don’t mean to get off track too much here for musicians. The more general point it that there are a lot of career choices available after 4 years of focusing on music. With or without more schooling.
Great advice above. I would suggest that he focus on banging out requirements freshman year…any math course for example that would be easier while still “in the groove” of math study. And then let him explore. My D’s UG had a very good retail merchandising program that she got interested in. She wouldn’t have known this in high school. She started writing for an on-line campus magazine targeting girls and then joined the retail mgmt “club” sophomore year. BUT she had a hard time getting into the first class due to scheduling. She was working madly on figuring out a potential minor. Finally second semester she got into the class…and then she turned lukewarm on it all. I’m not really sure why…but I think it’s common enough. Still she learned a lot in that one business class (had to analyze a business etc). And some of the experiences informed her on her survival job. So not sure of my point…lol…except let them explore and maybe scheduling classes can be more difficult than anticipated particularly if your kids is performing a lot.
Second @bridgenail with the notion of taking required courses while they are in the groove (esp math), although sometime what counts as math or science in a requirement sense for the BM is a pretty generous stretch 
I think it’s great to follow interests. The musician in our family acquired a love of art history during college and it greatly enhances the music she writes. For a jazz musician, some history classes could be interesting…
A lot is going to depend on the program and what they offer and what the requirements are. Keep in mind with a BM program on top of electives, your S would also be taking things like theory and ear training potentially (I don’t know jazz curricula, but I would bet they have their own requirements) plus ensembles and practice and so forth. Your son might be able to take chem as a science elective, but keep in mind with most core courses you don’t take many credits in any one area, and while at NYU I recall they allowed me to take economics to fulfill a philosophy requirement, more than a semester of chem may not fulfill any requirements. The hard part of pre med curricula might be the labs, chem, organic chem and bio have labs associated with them (I think I still smell the formaldehyde from the specimens we dissected), and are time consuming, not to mention lab lectures and recitation sections…and may be tough with doing the music stuff.
Pre law might be easier, the requirements there are a bit less rigid, friend of my S’s who is graduating with a BM from a conservatory is going to law school, has two pretty much full ride offers from an ivy law school and one of the big schools in the boston area, so yep it is doable.
My take? Let the kid take what interests him with the core courses and see where that leads him, at this phase trying to figure out what may be practical may be a waste of time, one of those you find out that when you go there. My son had his interest in music theory even further pushed along and he enjoyed the liberal arts classes he took at the conservatory he went to, and one of this choices with his current search for a grad program is about the academic side, one of them has a big adventage over the others in that regards, but musically might have its downsides…in any event, my take would be to take the required courses that interest him, and take it from there.