I'm having a bit of a crisis.

College Majors
1

<p>Well, to say that it is a crisis would be an understatement. I am having a mental breakdown of sorts as I attempt to decide on where to apply and what to apply for.</p>

<p>I am currently a Junior; graduating 2012. My grades and test scores are very good, and I have extracurriculars and community service abound, so the issue is not whether I can get into a good college and more of what in the world I am going to study. Unlike a majority of teenagers at my school that "don't know what to do with their life", it's not that I don't have any interests that I would like to pursue. It's actually that I have far too many.</p>

<p>For the purpose of keeping this post organized, I will number my interests and elaborate (these are not in order of preference whatsoever). </p>

<h1>1 - Biology/Pre-Medicine: I'm pretty interested in Biology. I've always found DNA, genetics, and the study of life to be pretty interesting, and I'm taking AP Biology next year as an extra science (even though graduation only requires that I have 3 science courses). What has always interested me about medicine is the idea of helping people. I'd really like to become a pediatrician and help children (and more importantly, help their parents). I'm also really attracted to the money, I'm not going to lie, though that's not the deciding factor in this case. My mom is most attracted to this choice, because she studied drama and is now a housemother, which is not what she wants for me. She wants me to be rich because she believes this will make me happy, and to some degree, I agree with her. I'm just not sure where to go from here and whether I should give up all dreams of performance and go ahead with my decision to prepare for Medical School as a Pre-Med student.</h1>

<h1>2 - Choral Performance/Music: Choral performance/music is one of the few things that has been consistent in my life. I have been performing in choirs since early elementary school, and for the most part, I can't imagine my life without music in it. I am in our school's A Capella Choir (and will be next year), I will be taking AP Music Theory next year, and I have consistently made All-Region and All-State choir (35th chair All-Region as a Sophomore, 5th chair All-Region/36th chair All-State as a Junior). I am applying to be Soprano Section Leader in our choir next year, and I am also in a small audition ensemble choir within our choir. Without a doubt, I would be happy studying music and singing 24/7 if I could. Choir is the one class that I am never unhappy in. One big question here: If I go this path, should I limit myself to Vocal Performance and attend a Conservatory (like Peabody) or should I study general Music and still have the ability to prepare myself for Medical School in the event that I should not be able to make a career (other than teaching, which wouldn't be so bad) out of Music?</h1>

<h1>3 - Drama/Musical Theater: I have grown up on the stage, literally. I have been on stage since I was in the womb, because while my mother was pregnant with me, she was also simultaneously performing in four shows and directing a show. My birth was pretty much concurrent with my parent's entrance into graduate school, so drama was what I knew, even as a young toddler. Both of my parents hold Master of Arts degrees in Dramatic Literature and Criticism. My father holds a master of Fine Arts degree in Lighting and Scenic Design and he also teaches Lighting and Scenic Design at Northwest Arkansas Community College. My mother holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting and Directing. She used to teach a high school Drama class at Alma High School, and she was also the Alma High School Forensics Coach for the 2001-2002 school year. Drama was a big part of my life during my adolescent and pre-teen years, but as soon as I showed an extreme interest in it, my mother found a way to sort of remove my desire to be on stage because she felt it would be detrimental to where she thought I should head in life. Recently, however, I've somehow found my way back into it. I starred as Helena in our school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last year as a Sophomore and this year I performed as Miss Dorothy Brown in Thoroughly Modern Millie. After the show, I received so many compliments. Many people asked me if I planned to major in drama or musical theater in college, and I felt strange saying no. My mom and I recently had a serious discussion about my life plans, and she confessed to me the real reason why she never pushed my interest in acting: Without any formal training, she believes that I am better than over half of the people that she studied with in college. She told me that if I really want to pursue drama, it wouldn't be a waste because I could get into difficult programs with ease. My mother is brutally honest and typically not biased towards me. If I suck at something, she tells me. So to hear this from her caused my entire college plan to flip upside down. I don't know where I want to go anymore. (One thing I worry about here: If I go with this, should I limit myself to Musical Theater or go into general Drama?)</h1>

<p>I applied to Arkansas Governor's School this year in three areas: Natural Science, Drama, and Choral Music. I was accepted into drama, along with my friend (which my drama teacher at our high school says is unusual - usually AGS accepts only one person from each school in drama).</p>

<p>I can't decide what I want to do. </p>

<p>There are so many factors that go in here, so if anyone actually reads this and responds, I will be very grateful.</p>

2

<p>sounds like you need to put U Southern Calif at the top of your list.
they have

  • the Thorton school of Music- you can minor in many areas of music.
  • the USC School of Theater
  • the School of Cinematic Arts
  • an outstanding Science program/ the Keck School of Medicine
    Does you PSAT score qualify you for NMF in your state? If so, you’ll automatically qualify for a 1/2 tuition scholarship at USC.
    Going to a large U like USC, located in LA, one of the entertainment capitals of the world, which offers such a wide range of schools, majors and minors,
    [University</a> of Southern California](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/]University”>http://www.usc.edu/)
    will give you the opportunity to decide if you want to prepare for med school while not giving up your artistic passions.</p>
3

<p>I think your best bet is to find a liberal-arts university with good music and drama departments, but where you can take the premed requirements. You don’t need to major in science to qualify for medical school: you do need to take 2 years of chemistry (intro and organic), 1 year of physics, 1 year of calculus, 1 year of humanities, and 1 year of biology. (And you need to do very well in them, obviously.) It’s not that hard to fit these courses into your curriculum even while majoring in something else. At UVA, where I teach, a lot of the music and drama majors go on to med school, and I’m sure this is true at many schools.</p>

<p>Alternatively, you could major in music and/or drama with the intention of making it a career, but you should realize that these are hard, uncertain, and typically poorly compensated career paths. Some people are just better at dealing with high levels of uncertainty, and living on small amounts of money, than other people are: you need a certain risk-taking personality, as well as lots of talent.</p>

<p>YOU DON’T NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT NOW, and in fact one reason you’re having a “crisis” is that you don’t yet have all the relevant information to make a sensible decision. If you go to a school that has strong departments in a lot of areas and does not require early specialization, you will have plenty of time to figure things out in your freshman and sophomore year. You may well find the decision being made for you by your performance, good or bad, in the introductory courses of the fields that interest you. It’s very, very common for people to find out that they are not as talented in some areas as they thought they were in high school. Fortunately, they also discover their true talents and interests, often in fields to which they haven’t been previously exposed.</p>

4

<p>Geez, the time to worry isn’t now. What will you be like this time next year? You don’t need to figure everything out now. College is a time to explore different opportunties.</p>

5

<p>keeidy / moderators - there is a lot of personally identifying info in your post, that should be edited out. We don’t need to know exactly where your father teaches, exactly what roles you’ve played – not good.</p>

6

<p>Calm down first of all, most people dont solve this question until a year or two into college. Also: if you apply for biology take classes ehile you take other classes/ join clubs for music or drama you will eventually decide which one you love most.
Biology def pays best tho…</p>