<p>I've wanted to be a doctor for a long time, and never seriously considered a career as a musician. But I've been playing piano for 10 years and I really, really love it. I'd hate to lose what I have right now, so I've planned on continuing my musical endeavors by taking private lessons in college. I don't think I'm that amazing at piano, so I didn't think of ever attempting to major in music either. I've planned to major in some sort of Neuroscience/Human Behavior major, depending on which college I go to. But lately, I've become more curious about becoming a music major. I've heard there are higher acceptance rates to medical schools if the applicant is a music major. And I'm not sure whether being a music major is doable/enjoyable as a pre-med student. Does anyone have any opinions or knowledge about this?</p>
<p>Please do a search on this topic under this site. It has been discussed on recent threads.</p>
<p>As Lorelei says the search feature is your best option. In fact, I just did this and found one thread per month for the last 6 months on this topic! (Can the moderators combine them into a sticky?)</p>
<p>Briefly, being a pre-med music major is do-able but is not easy. I think you first have to decide if you are planning on making music at least a side career. If the answer is no then you have more flexibility such as getting a BA vs a BM in music. If you need to audition then that would require extensive preparation obviously. You would need to decide if you wish to pursue a double degree, a music major plus a minor, or a music major with just taking the extra courses. Whatever path you decide it will likely take you more than 4 years. Some universities are good at working with students like this (such as helping you schedule your labs around your ensemble rehearsals, one of the biggest hurdles you will have) and others are not. Your AP credits may or may not help you. For example, I am not sure if med schools will honor your AP Chem or if they prefer to have you taking first year chem at the university, please check into this. Don’t count on too many of your summers to catch up on course work, as you will need to demonstrate your passion for medicine by doing research and community or overseas volunteering.</p>
<p>Music majors spend a lot of time doing theory and musicology courses. If this is not your thing, you could consider a non-music major at a university where there are many valuable opportunities to perform or learn for non-music majors. (BTW there are many notable professional musicians who received non-music degrees at the undergrad level then went on to music for graduate studies.)</p>
<p>I think one reason why there may be more music majors admitted to med school is that clearly these are super bright young people who not only are very interesting but also have clearly demonstrated their ability to handle huge challenges. </p>
<p>I follow this topic pretty closely and have not seen anyone post on this forum who is actually doing premed as a music major. (My guess is they are TOO BUSY). So to answer your question on whether this is enjoyable, I think if you are the kind of person who thrives on excitement, challenge, problem –solving, lack of sleep in addition to your passion for helping humankind then YES, go for it! Just be prepared for the scenic route.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>I’m admittedly ignorant about pre-med, but I do want to suggest that you be creative with your curriculum.</p>
<p>If you don’t see yourself having a career in music, I don’t know that I would be a Bachelors of Music major. the BM degree is typically too concentrated in music, and with almost no electives that you could use for med school prerequisits.</p>
<p>I would be thinking more along the line of maybe a BA in Music with a minor in something med related, or a BA in something med related (either what you suggested or Chemistry or Biology) and a minor in music. Or possibly a duel degree or double major in Music and something med school related. </p>
<p>I think that the BM degree would honestly be a heck of a lot of work for little benefit because most of the extra six or eight combined chemistry and biology classes (and possibly even phyics) that your probably really need as prerequisits to med school would be on top of your BM requirements and would add extra classes to an already hecktic music school schedule.</p>
<p>This semester my son is currently taking 11 different classes for his BM degree, in terms of credit hours earned it’s not that much (17), but it’s a heck of a lot of class and practice time and a lot of different classes to keep up with. Two of the classes he is taking are zero credit hour classes that are required for all music majors and thats fairly common of most music curriculums. he is also taking a one credit and a two credit hour class. </p>
<p>His 3 credit hour “applied music” class (primary instrument private lessons) takes two hours a week in the classroom plus a minimum of 15 hours of individual practice, and thats on top of the two ensembles that meet for 6 hours each. Just doing the math, in actual performance classes, thats only 5 credit hours, less than a third of his curriculum this semester, but it takes up 29 hours a week.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! You’ve all been really helpful.</p>