<p>A little about myself- I am currently enrolled in Waubonsee Community College. I graduated high school 11 months ago. I am in the Chicago land area. After the semester I am currently enrolled in I will have 49 credits completed. I do not have a declared major at this point. I graduated high school not wanting to go to college, but decided to get a 2 year degree. Once I got to college I actually really enjoyed it and have turned myself around. I started high school very poorly but gradually got better and cared more. I managed to graduate with a 3.0. Once I got to college my entire attitude about schooling changed. I think some of it has to do with not staying in contact with many of my bad influence friends. I currently have a 3.9 GPA, made the deans list twice so far and joined a honors society. I have decided I want to continue my schooling. In high school I accidentally was assigned acting classes, but ended up really enjoying them. So much that I hope to pursue a BA in Acting. I would like to double major in possibly English or business. This is where my trouble begins.</p>
<p>All my research is hitting dead ends, and I am not finding any schools that offer a double major with theater. I do not want to do musical theater, but want to get involved in commercials or things along that line. I honestly do not even know where or how to search for schools. After countless hours of research, here I am. I wish I would have payed more attention or cared more in high school. I am willing to go for more than 4 years if that is what it will take. </p>
<p>How do I find schools offering this? </p>
<p>Also, does my ACT score at this point matter when applying for schools as long as my GPA is community college is good? I got a 24 (yikes!), but know for a fact I could do better now. ( I guessed on many sections thinking it didn't matter. I am REALLY kicking myself now.) </p>
<p>Is this type of situation even practical? Should I just get a theatre major? Can I even get a theatre degree since I am a transfer student? Another problem is that many acting programs only offer a 4 year program.</p>
<p>Would it be a possibility to get a minor in theatre, and still get involved, that way I could still get an agent and have experience.</p>
<p>Do you mean you are looking for a school that explicitly offers a double major of this type in its list of majors? That’s not how it works. Double majoring is typically just a matter of declaring the two majors and taking the courses required to satisfy both. So if you’ve found schools you can afford that offer both Acting and English majors, you’ve found the right ones and should move on to a meeting with their Admissions offices to discuss the practicalities of your intended double major. The real challenge of double majoring is finding a way to fit all the needed classes into four years, and this may be particularly difficult when Acting is one of them, since participation in theater productions can consume massive amounts of time. If you’re lucky, some classes may count towards the requirements of both majors. For example, in your case, a class in contemporary American plays might check off a requirement for both English and Theater–or it might not. </p>
<p>How your ACT will figure into the admissions process will vary by school. The application requirements for transfer students, found on their websites, should give you some insight.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your upward trajectory, and best of luck in pursuing your dreams.</p>
<p>I have found many schools that offer both English and Acting, but all say that they can not be combined. I think that Truman State is the only one I found that might offer it.</p>
<p>Unless the Acting program is a BFA, you should be able to double major or at least major in one and minor in the other. Sit down with the graduation requirements for the two majors, and see how difficult it will be to fit everything into just two more years. If that doesn’t work, figure out whether this can be done with just an extra summer session or semester.</p>
<p>You should post this in the Theatre forum to get more responses.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what schools you’ve looked at but many BA Theatre programs do allow for double majoring. However, it may be difficult for you to graduate “on time” as a Transfer…it would definitely be easier to minor in Theatre.</p>
<p>But at the same time, if you are hoping to make a living performing in commercials, I have to ask if you have any experience beyond some HS acting classes? Because without experience, it will be VERY difficult for you to get an agent. And truthfully, even WITH a BA in Theatre it will be difficult!</p>
<p>Still, you don’t need to major in Theatre to be a performer and I’m sure there are many acting classes you could take in the Chicago area. Why not try a Commercial Acting class over the summer to see if you even like it?</p>
<p>UIC has both a BA and a BFA in theater arts as well as majors in English and several business fields. I don’t see anything on the theater page that says you can’t double major, although it is probably easier to double major if you do the BA as opposed to the BFA. Loyola Chicago has both a theater major and an English major; they also have minors in actuarial science and operations research (which are both related to business). Valparaiso offers majors in several business fields as well as theater.</p>
<p>DePaul has a conservatory-style theater school; their BFA in Acting does not allow a double-major, but their BFA in Theater Arts does. You can also minor in other areas or you can major in business or English and minor in theater. DePaul looks like an excellent place to study theater; you get nine guaranteed castings in student productions and only BFA and MFA students are allowed to act in their theater productions.</p>
<p>And of course there is Chicago (which offers majors in English and theater & performance) and Northwestern. Northwestern specifically says that their theater major is a combination of performance training and an analysis of the history and literature of theater.</p>
<p>And that’s just in Chicago…at most schools that aren’t conservatory-style BFA programs with grueling schedules, you can double major in English and theater or business and theater.</p>
<p>You can double major with a BFA Acting at DePaul and nearly every other program I know. It’s more a matter of the student’s personal work regimen than any hard rule against it. They often recommend not to because the strenuous schedule but if you can manage it, they aren’t going to tell you no.</p>
<p>@questioning2015: Well, yes, that’s theoretically true. Here’s what DePaul has to say:</p>
<p>Some programs make a double major possible. For example, our BFA in theatre arts has the flexibility to allow students to double major in programs outside of The Theatre School. Other programs, such as our BFA in acting, are more rigidly structured and do not offer students as much flexibility. In all cases, double majors require approval of the student’s academic advisor.</p>
<p>I think if a student KNOWS that they want to double major, they probably shouldn’t choose as a first choice to go some place that recommends against it or implies that they may give you a hard time about it. There are plenty of schools that are more welcoming/open about the idea.</p>
<p>However, you could minor! And honestly for OP’s interests - it doesn’t sound like OP wants a career as a professional actor, but rather wants to continue to seriously study acting (and perhaps do some acting in commercials or community theater as a side gig) while potentially preparing for some other career. If that’s true, OP, then a minor in acting may satisfy your itch.</p>