<p>Well, I'm definitely going to major in International Studies but I really also want to major in Theatre. I was also thinking about minoring in Chinese probably sometime during sophomore or junior year. Anyway, I was just wondering would it be better for me to major or minor in Theatre? How time consuming would it be and in general how many more credits would I have to earn? Would I have any time for clubs and organizations? I'm not sure yet how I'll handle the course load as a freshmen but I just wanted a general idea.</p>
<p>You’re gonna want to enter a BA program as opposed to a BFA if you want to double major or even minor.</p>
<p>Not true rpraderio. CMU and UMich and I’m sure other programs as well let you double major and still obtain a BFA, although it might take a year or two longer.</p>
<p>Good heavens, kcjchdreamer, your plan is to major in BOTH International Studies AND Theatre, AND minor in Chinese, PLUS participate extensively in clubs and organizations!!!</p>
<p>My thought is that if you try to do ALL of these things, you will end up not being able to give much attention to any of them, and so not do any of them well.</p>
<p>I can tell you that directing plays in college I was NOT very happy when student actors would whine to me that I had to let them skip a reahearsal because they had signed up for a ridiculously huge courseload and had fallen behind. This will not endear you to your fellow theatre students. If you are seriously participating in theatre, you should expect that to take up pretty much 20 hours or so a week in college, mostly evenings. (When I was an undergraduate, my fellow theatre majors would say “Why do I have an apartment? I’m hardly ever there. I get to school at 9:00 am and don’t leave until rehearsals are over at 11:00 pm. They should just set out cots for us to sleep!”)</p>
<p>The American “BA” degree lets you take a huge variety of courses beyond those in your major. Usually, half the credits must be in your major, and half from pretty much your choice. You don’t need to “dual major” or “minor” to get to study a huge variety.</p>
<p>Figure out what degree, what piece of paper, is actually going to help you the most for your career. I will tell you, that a degree in International Studies is probably more helpful then a degree in theatre–because for theatre jobs, it’s always more important what you can actually do then what degree you have, many people are succesful in theatre with no degree at all. I would suggest majoring in International Studies, then filling up your elective slots with as much theatre and Chinese as you can. Then if you actually get involved in theatre productions, that will take up a lot of your “clubs and organizations” time.</p>
<p>Another approach is to be an undeclared major as a freshman. Then you can pretty much take any courses you want. And when it is time to declare a major, have a look at what you have done and you can say “Hey, I’ve taken a lot of International Studies (or theatre, or Chinese, or whatever) courses, I should make that my major!” (Then with a BA degree, the other courses you’ve taken fill the “non-major” part of the degree)</p>
<p>That’s my thought, I’m pretty much sure that people will disagree. Maybe violently.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>I meant realistically a double major BFA will be difficult. It’s just the truth.</p>