<p>Is it difficult to study Music and do Pre-Med at the same time? How much free time would I have or how busy would I be?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not even in college yet but I learned that many (idk how many that is, significant I guess?) music majors dual-degree for that “back up” degree. </p>
<p>I also know that there are many (again, i don’t know how many, but enough to walk the path and for you to ask I guess) who have majored in music for undergrad, and then went to med, law, business, etc., instead for grad school.</p>
<p>Sorry I can’t say much else but I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>I guess it also depends on the school. For example, this BPA business program I was looking at UM only needs 45 business credits. The other 95 ish required credits can be anything you want! </p>
<p>Especially if your school mentions a dual degree, they will be more likely to let you do it than a program where it isn’t mentioned. In my case they did mention it, and I can easily fit another degree in to fulfill all those other 95 credits.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how pre-med works though. It sounds like it’s not actually a degree but just classes to get ready for grad school. In that case, the usually 30 ish non-music classes that are required could be used to fill up some of your pre med classes.</p>
<p>It depends what kind of music major you want to be. If you are in a college of arts and science (CAS) you can major in ‘music’ and also be pre-med. If you want to study ‘music performance’ or ‘music composition’ or ‘contemporary writing and recording’ it will be a lot harder to take all the prerequisites for music while staying sane and getting med-school-acceptable grades. Music in a CAS environment requires less ensemble time, less individual practice time and more liberal arts classes. Music in a conservatory-ish environment is more intense musicially, and you would also want to be networking with others in your field in between rehearsals, practicing and studying. </p>
<p>Some music majors choose to intensely study music in undergrad, but take an additional post-graduate year to catch up on med school req’ts like organic chemistry before applying to med school.</p>
<p>Snowflake is dead on target, if you are talking getting a BM in performance and going pre med (which, btw, is not a major per se, it is a pre professional program, pre meds major in other things, like Chemistry, Biology, or pretty much anything come to think of it, it involves taking major courses plus taking pre reqs for med school, including several years of chemistry, biology and I believe physics and math…) it would be extremely difficult.</p>
<p>First of all, if you wanted to go to a conservatory, it would mean trying to get into one of the joint programs (NEC/Harvard, NEC, Tufts, Hopkins/Peabody) which is extremely difficult and a pain in the neck to schedule once in, you are talking a handful of students do this. </p>
<p>If you went to a music school in a college, such as Rice or U Mich, in theory it would be easier to ‘double major’, get a BM in music and a BA in something as part of being pre med, though I hear that with Rice and some other places they actively discourage doing so…</p>
<p>More importantly, though, being in a BM program is intense, talk to any of the parents of students in such programs or the kids themselves, and they will tell you it is a full day and then some, between ensemble playing, lessons, theory, ear training and so forth, plus the many hours of practice (and trying to find a practice room!), and then to do that with a full academic load of a BA/BS program in pre med, where not only are you taking core courses and courses for the major, but also taking science courses that have lab, lab lecture and recitations which I can tell you means things like having Friday 8am classes …:). </p>
<p>As others have pointed out, the requirements for a BA in music generally are less then that of a BM from what I know (YMMV), and it could be more doable…or if you simply want to be able to take lessons and play music without necessarily wanting to go into it, many schools offer non music majors the ability to take lessons and play in ensembles and such, lots of doctors and lawyers and the like play in amateur or semi pro groups:). </p>
<p>I think what Snowflake offered up may be a good alternative, if you want to try a BM program. Basically, go through the BM, and then if you decide music isn’t for you, once you graduate, take a year to catch up on the pre med requirements (music students going to med school is not unheard of, believe me) and then apply to med school.</p>
<p>In general, adding another major or degree to a music degree (especially a music BM program) is going to make you very busy. I’m currently doing a BM in Piano Performance & BA in History…so I’m very busy on the music side, and then have to take some extra liberal arts/history classes for that degree. I don’t have quite the load of probably combining music and pre-med majors, but I can tell you that you will be very busy and you have to carefully plan out your classes each semester. I’m taking probably 5 years to do that…</p>
<p>I have heard of people doing music + pre-med but it’s tough. Definitely consider the BA music degree instead…I agree with what the previous posters said about that (less requirements). If you’re really serious about music too and really want the BM degree, then you should consider taking 5 years…whether that’s doing the BM in 4 and then an extra year for pre-med requirements or just doing all of it in 5 years overall.</p>
<p>BA music requirements are definitely less than the BM program. For example, at my school, the BA requires less than half of the number of music credits that the BM degree requires (whether it’s a BM in performance or composition or the BME degree). For my school, the BA music majors take the same 4 basic theory classes and the same 2 basic music history classes but less of the 300-level theory and music history classes, 2 semesters of piano instead of 4 for non-piano majors (there is a different requirement for piano majors for BA and BM), only 4 semesters of ensembles instead of 8, 30 minute lessons instead of an hour, not required to take lessons on a minor instrument, only 6 semesters of recital attendance instead of 7 (which are for no credit but still required), and they don’t have to take any conducting, pedagogy, or music lit classes.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why people consider BM+pre-med to be so hard. Yes, BM is busy, but the 5/6 hours you spend practicing are not that much more (and can even be less) than the time other college major spend studying.</p>
<p>Pre-Med is: 1 year of biology; 1 year of general chem; 1 year of organic chem; 1 year of English; 1 year of calculus; 1 year of physics. Now if you took AP Calculus B/C and AP Physics B/C, most med schools will let you do only one semester of each calculus and physics (like Harvard).</p>
<p>You could plan your all that like:</p>
<p>Freshman year: general chem
Sophomore year: organic chem
Junior year: 1 semester of calculus+1 semester of physics
Senior year: biology</p>
<p>Some schools like Vandy med school require 1 semester of biochemistry which you can easily take during the summer. If you plan things like this, you will only have to take one class in addition to your regular schedule. Unless you are majoring in an orchestra instrument, their should be no conflict with orchestra. And if you are, you just have to make sure you go register really early and get into a section which does not conflict with you time (intro science classes+lab usually have many many section since people have to take them for general ed requirements+pre-med+most science majors). If you were to work hard during the summer to place out of things like ear training, piano, and maybe 1st year of theory, then you would not even be taking any more credits than your peers. The 1 year of English requirement is probably part of your BM anyway (as I reckon is calculus). Also some music schools will let you take science classes instead of the regular BM general-ed or “humanities” electives so really, it’s no additional work.</p>
<p>You should probably have taken your pre-med prerequisites before you apply to med school, because they’ll have more info about your and also it will help you for the MCAT which you definitely need to take before you apply. If you were to work in a biology lab either during the summer or during the year if you feel like you have enough time (these positions are fairly easy to get), you could enhance your knowledge of biology, show your proficiency in it (important since the grade wouldn’t yet be on your transcript), show your interest for science and present yourself as somebody who did not only do the pre-req stuff, and get 1 extra recommendation letter.</p>
<p>In a word: it’s not (that) hard. Tons of people are non-science majors and that’s how they do it.</p>
<p>
FYI, why BM requires more work is not just the “5/6 hours…practicing” you mention…we do that PLUS other written work/reading…so THAT’s why it’s more than non-music majors.</p>
<p>Thank you all SO much for giving me all these informations and insights into your own personal experiences and opinions.</p>
<p>I initially planned on studying a BM in Composition or Voice but I will thoroughly consider studying a BA in Choral Music now instead because I can become a choir director(which is what I want to work as part-time if I become a physician in future) either way. I suppose a BA is less rigorous from what most of you are telling me.</p>
<p>Another reason is because I don’t want to be so busy in college that it would hinder me from having a real social life and everything. I want to have time to join student clubs, attend parties, hang out with buddies and just immerse myself in the “college experience”.</p>
<p>I’m currently doing a BM at one of the 2 very top east coast schools, and I think it’s fair to say that homework isn’t that heavy… Maybe some theory assignments take up a lot of time, but most of us have max 5 hours of classes a day, 5 days a week and the main assignment is to show up. Adding 6 hours of practicing to that makes up for relatively alright days, and one can easily find 1 extra hour for homework (but I doubt I actually know anybody who takes a full hour of their own time everyday to do homework. If you get one of the sweet jobs such as library or computer room, or various office work-studies, you can bring homework with you and get paid for it). Anyway, IMO it’s fair to say that most BM kids do not spend that much time on readings and homework, asides from the occasional all-nighter or week-end spent on a big essay or theory project. I don’t understand the “so much work” and “always busy” stigma associated to BM. Surely BS Engineering at MIT, BA English at Yale, BA Biology at JHU cannot be that much easier. Or maybe I’m doing it wrong, but I feel like there is plenty of time for work-study, being in research lab, taking one 3 credits random class/semester (either pre-med requisites or a crazy class that interests you), practicing and having friends. And I didn’t even pass out of ear training, piano and theory and had to take an additional English class because I’m not a native speaker. Maybe you don’t get to sleep 9-hour nights or have hour-long lunch breaks, but then in college who does? Do not let anybody tell you that you won’t have enough time because in my opinion, you just have as much time as you are willing to take :).</p>
<p>I’ve heard that one problem is that music ensembles are often scheduled in the afternoon, which is also when the science labs are scheduled.</p>
<p>Yup, my son has classes basically every other hour from 8am to about 2pm, then he has a Mon/Wen/Fri ensemble and a Tues/Wends/Thurs ensemble (two on Wen) so his latest class doesn’t get at til 6:30. </p>
<p>His required zero credit hour recietal class and his studio class both require him to attend frequent concerts which typically start at 7pm and end at around 8:30pm or 9pm. Sometimes he can get his individual practice time done between classes if he doesn’t do his reading/home for other classes during those breaks, if not he is doing his individual practice til 10pm or 11pm.</p>
<p>It’s a very full day, but thats a good thing.</p>
<p>I still have reading for other classes…I had 1 gen ed (freshmen writing class) last semester and 1 class (history) for my other degree, which required quite a bit of reading and writing homework.</p>
<p>Yes, ensembles are usually scheduled in the afternoon. I don’t think any of our ensemble rehearsals start any earlier than 12:30…I have one that’s Tuesday 4:05-5:35 and Thursday 6:00-7:30 pm.</p>
<p>I too have the zero credit recital attendance requirement that imagep mentioned. We have to attend 14 concerts a semester, which do typically start between 7-8 pm like imagep mentioned.</p>
<p>My classes start as early as 9 am and end as late as 9 pm.</p>
<p>I see. I guess it varies from school to school, year to year, and people to people.</p>
<p>Not to be the “odd man” again but about the orchestra/lab conflict, a lot of the top schools (eg HMS) will officially waive the lab requirement if you participate in extra curricular research (like SURF, REU and other fellowships or just during the year in some professor’s lab). Now is the time everybody is setting up stuff for summer fellowships and spring semester research btw. Some school might not state it but be willing to wave it if you ask, or have you take one of these semester long 5-6 credits intensive labs instead. Good luck.</p>