I am a HS junior who is looking to double major in musical theatre and something more practical as a backup plan, most likely either physical therapy or pre-law studies. Are there any schools with good MT programs that offer the ability to double major (preferably in 4 years)?
It’s very difficult to double major. Can it be done? Yes. In four years? If you come in with a significant amount of AP/IB/DE credit, it would help. The biggest problem would be scheduling conflicts with bfa classes and having to pass up performance opportunities.
^ You can NOT pass up performance opportunities at some schools. At UMich you MUST audition and you MUST take the role except second semester of senior year.
That is indeed another consideration. If a program is that inflexible, it certainly wouldn’t be wise to put it n the mix.
As the parent of a BFA Acting major who also majored in French, I would say that if you really intend to double major as a BFA MT, you’re going to have to come into college with a strong academic background and many AP or early college credits that the school will accept, AND find a really perfect school that would accommodate that. My daughter went into college with 47 credits, and at her school, that wiped out pretty much all of her core/gened requirements, so it freed up some room. As compared to BFA Acting though, BFA MTs have so many more requirements for their major (voice classes/lessons, vocal performance seminars, dance requirements, sometimes piano classes, music theory, etc…) so you have to keep that in mind. At her school, the Acting dept and the French dept were small and she made herself known to the professors and also worked in the language department. The trouble came toward the end of her college career when there were required upper level classes that were only offered at one time slot and maybe not even every semester that interfered between the two departments. The French department took pity on her and actually changed the time of a class to accommodate her but that’s not likely to happen in general.
At my daughter’s school, and another school that my son now attends, if you are a BFA, you must audition for departmental shows and you must play as cast. You can’t opt out.
The other thing is to decide why you want to double-major. You mention pre-law and physical therapy. Pre-law isn’t going to guarantee admission to law school (some have said that pre-law students actually get into law school less often than other majors, but I don’t have statistics on that, just from articles I’ve read) and there are many majors (including performing majors) that could be an entry into law school if you decide to fall back on something. And physical therapy is academically demanding, so to double major in PT and anything else in college would probably be pretty hard.
I’m not saying it can’t (or shouldn’t) be done, but you’ll really have to find a perfect storm to make it all work for you.
Good luck!
Check out MT BA programs rather than BFA, as they may have more flexibility.
There have been several discussions on this topic through the years. It might be worth doing a search. My D did a double major at Tisch. It was a lot of work but it is probably more possible at Tisch than at many other schools simply because of the way studio time is structured there. Several of my Ds friends and classmates also did a double major. Having said that, the double major at that time was possible in the College of Arts and Science. My guess is that something like physical therapy is unlikely at many schools because it is probably a major that you must apply to get into from the start, similarly to theatre. As for pre-law, it really isn’t a thing, or at least not a useful thing. You can get into law school with any major. 
It’s best to check to see what the current possibilities are at the schools you’re interested in. Things do change and my D graduated several years ago.
I teach in an auditioned, professionally focused BA MT program. We do have some students who double major and graduate in 4 years, particularly those that come in with AP, IB, dual enrollment. It is possible, but difficult, and sometimes some of the students do have to pass up opportunities to take additional recommended training classes that they want to take, or dial back on participation in productions. Others are able to manage it, some take an extra year or semester… some eventually drop the other major in order to graduate on time.
It really can depend on the student, and the 2nd major they are trying to complete, some majors are less credit intensive and have more flexibility than others.
As a side note, I am not sure what it is like at other schools, but where I teach Pre-Law and Pre-PT are not majors, but professional school prep programs with suggested course work and pre-professiona school advising. Both require post undergraduate school education. I know some of our Dance majors are also Pre-PT, so I think that would be doable here. I looked at Pre-Law those additional courses would also be doable here because there is a lot of fllexibility.
You may want to spend some time looking at different schools that interest you in order to get a sense of what might be possible at which schools.
I’m a current high school senior looking for the same types of things in my college choice. I can post the list of schools I am applying to so you can get some ideas. Also, some advice: if you want to double major your list is going to look very different than other MT kids lists. This is totally fine, because everyone is different so don’t get caught up in the cookie cutter lists that seem so common in MT. My list looks the way it does because there aren’t a lot of traditional MT programs that allow you to double major. I ended up looking at some acting programs, some BA, etc so I’d have a balanced list of reach, safety, and match. Anyways, here goes:
NYU Tisch (I visited there and they are very accommodating for double majors, definitely doable in 4 years if you have
AP credits)
UMichigan (They have a dual degree option listed on their website, might take 5 years if you do MT and another major, but maybe Acting is doable in 4?)
American (BA MT, but feels more like a BFA, just a bit more flexible)
Chapman (BFA Theatre Performance, with lots of opportunities to take voice and dance classes. Their opera/classical voice training is great from what I hear)
Muhlenberg (really flexible with creating a MT major, double majoring, etc.)
Northwestern (BA Theatre with MT certificate program, flexible with double majoring in 4 years)
Sarah Lawrence (basically create your own program, you can take theatre, dance, voice other classes, and they don’t have “requirements” per se for majors. You just have a concentration)
Stanford (BA Theatre with room for voice and dance classes, really into double majors, I visited when I did the in person theatre audition, they really are into you being a well rounded actor/ knowing about the world)
Wagner (BA MT that feels like a BFA, again which provides more flexibility, they said a minor in 4 years is definitely doable, double major might take 5 years)
UC Irvine (BA Theatre with the option of auditioning into the BFA MT program, definitely possible to double major if you have AP credit)
Penn State (BFA MT)
Also some backup schools that I’m applying strictly academically.
Hope this is helpful!
Thank you so much!! These are exactly the types of responses I was hoping for when I posted this! Thank you all for your help, I feel like I have a lot more information now