Please help me decide!

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Okay, I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.
For the last three years, I had always wanted to become a doctor as I have a passion for medicine and specifically, in biomedical engineering. Yes, I posted this in the right forum (it gets better). I've also LOVED acting and performing in improvs and have done that for three years- I am a senior. However, recently I have contemplated studying theatre in college but I'm literally freaking out. The dramatic arts is such an incredibly difficult field and though I'm confident in my acting abilities, I can't sing for dingle. Now I know that medicine is no walk in the park either but I have no idea what to do and have to make an important decision.
To make it easier for myself, I was hoping to gain insight from this forum. What schools (if any-- I sure hope so) that I have on my somewhat definitive list excel in engineering AND acting (I'm looking for BA programs not BFA). Here is a list of the schools I have and want to apply to:
1) MIT
2) UPenn
3) Harvard
4) Duke
5) Johns Hopkins
6) Vanderbilt
7) Washington University in St. Louis
8) Case Western
9) RPI</p>

<p>As you can tell this epiphany to study a little bit of theatre just happened yesterday. I know what you're probably thinking...this kid clearly doesn't care that much if he just realized he wants to study theatre now but trust me I have always had a love for the stage and improvs. So I guess my main question is of those schools, which have the best combination of engineering and theatre? Or are there others that I should consider applying to? I have a 4.0 GPA, 34 ACT, lots of ECs relating to drama (president of drama club and have done it for 3 years) and medicine (volunteer at hospital for last three years and ambulance corps volunteer).<br>
Yeah so any guidance would be so helpful! Thank you all so much in advance!</p>

2

<p>You should have no trouble finding a first-rate college with strong opportunities in both science and performing arts. I don’t think RPI has much going on in terms of theater. MIT occasionally has some very exciting art projects, but I’m not aware of theater being a strength. It is in Cambridge, though, where you have a wonderful repertory theater. Harvard has some terrific theater opportunities available, although it does not enjoy the same reputation as Yale for theater. Columbia College and the Columbia School of Engineering are not strong in undergraduate theater, but students can take classes at Barnard. Carnegie-Mellon and Northwestern have legendarily strong theater departments, as well as superb science programs. I don’t know anything about Vanderbilt, Hopkins,WashU, or Case Western for theater (although I seem to recall some discussions about Vanderbilt in this forum), but I’m sure that all of them stage productions and offer some undergraduate courses. You should probably consult their websites, and go on threads for the individual colleges here on CC. I understand that Penn has excellent theater, and Philly is an exciting city for it.</p>

3

<p>My S looked at Case early on because of its solid theater program and related scholarships. He didn’t care for the campus and would rather be somewhere without a master’s program, but we did read some good things about it. University Circle is a cool area, and Little Italy is right next door and awesome–just not my son’s cup of tea, but my D lives in Cleveland and we like it in general. If you like the school, definitely check into the program–I might be remembering incorrectly, but I have a feeling they have some audition-based scholarships for acting. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thank you both so much. I have a question though: If I decided to double major in engineering and theatre at any of those above schools wouldI have to audition if I listed engineering as my first choice major?</p>

5

<p>Why wouldn’t you consider Northwestern? It fits your bill exactly. Plus you can also study Improv in the finest programs in Chicago if you wanted to. I’m assuming your grades are good enough given your current list. No audition for the theatre program at all but I’m not certain which school you should apply to; you’d have to research that a bit.</p>

6

<p>H-dude, it’s really time for you to research the schools’ websites. You should be able to find out everything you need (re: auditions/lack thereof and curricular options)–and if not, call the schools. Good luck, and I’ll be interested to see what you decide!</p>

7

<p>Most BA theater programs at liberal arts colleges do not require auditions for majors/minors, although you will naturally have to audition for productions.</p>

8

<p>I can’t imagine that any of those schools would have an audition for a theatre major. WUSTL does have a performance track in the major, but it is not by audition; it means that there is an emphasis on acting technique, not only theory and history. </p>

<p>Definitely check out the curriculum and performance opportunities at these schools, both department and student run.</p>

9

<p>I’m always the guy who has a different, “weird”, way of looking at things.</p>

<p>Success in any entertainment field is very difficult, and the people who succeed in entertainment are therefore the people who have committed themselves 100% to entertainment.</p>

<p>If you try to “dual major” in theatre and engineering, you will be pulling yourself in two very different directions, instead of devoting yourself 100% to your goal.</p>

<p>If you want a career in entertainment, you should major in theatre. Because many of the people that you will be competing for jobs with after you graduate will have done so. You will have spent considerable time taking engineering classes, while they used that same time to take more theatre classes, so they will much better able to compete than you will. You will be “behind” these people.</p>

<p>If you want a career in engineering, and just keep theatre as a hobby, there isn’t really any need to dual major. Hobbyists don’t need a degree. In just about any BA program you will be required to take at least some classes outside of your major, and often there are opportunities to take a great deal of classes outside of the major. You can fill these “non-major” slots with all kinds of things, including theatre. Also be sure to find out for any school you are applying for whether non-majors are allowed to audition for and appear in the theatre department’s productions.</p>

<p>The fact that you are a poor singer is almost completely irrelevant. That’s something that comes up here a lot, and there are many, many, many acting programs that require absolutely NO singing. “Musical Theatre” (which requires singing) is usually a completely DIFFERENT program from “Theatre” (which usually does not require singing).</p>

<p>When you audition for a theatre program, you will typically simply be asked to perform two ACTING monologues for your audition, and only rarely do theatre programs require singing as part of the audition. If you do apply to one of those rare programs that has singing as part of the audition, just pick something simple to sing that does not have any difficult notes, don’t try to “belt”, and so on. Many people just sing 16 bars of “Happy Birthday”.</p>

<p>But also remember that you can change your mind in the future. You do NOT have to major in the same subject as a graduate student that you did as an undergrad. If your long-term goal is Medical school, I know there are some specific courses you have to take as an undergraduate (Chemistry being the most notorious). But as long as you take those particular courses, you can major in anything you want (like theatre) and still go to Med school. (It also occurs to me that if you do end up in Med school, you will NOT have time to keep up a theatre hobby. I had to give up theatre when I went to Law school, and I regret it very much)</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

10

<p>KEVP has brought up very valid points, OP. Just to throw this in, here’s my two cents. More than anything, I wanted to be a theatre major. Theatre was in my heart, but my parents felt I needed a “fall back.” I gave up theatre to go the Elemenatry Education route. It is a decision that I regret every single day. (I’m 49 now and have never been able to stop that regret.) I suggest you decide what your heart and head wants to do. If you want to dabble in theatre then there’s no need for a minor. If you really want theatre as a career then commit to it fully. If I could rewind my life, I would never give up my theatre major…ever.</p>

11

<p>My niece is a freshman at Harvard this year. She was always interested in theatre and did plays in high school. She didn’t want to major in theatre but wanted an ivy that she could get her degree (sociology, I think?) but still do lots of theatre. She applied and was accepted to a fine arts program at Harvard that is a club. She had to go to Harvard a week early for orientation for this theatre group! They do their own plays, and help out the theatre department with some of the bigger main-stage things. She met her “crowd”, meaning theatre kids, and feels comfortable now, as she enters a whole new academic world.</p>

<p>Maybe you need to think a little bit more on this. There are plenty of ways to be involved in theatre, without majoring in it.</p>

12

<p>Have you considered Brown University?</p>

<p>-Vibrant theatre community</p>

<p>-Relatively strong engineering dept. for an Ivy League school</p>

<p>-Pre-med program that guarantees a med school spot</p>

<p>-Open Curriculum</p>

13

<p>KEVP… just wanted to post to let you know that I think you are awesome!! You always have valuable information to share and so much of it is right on. My son is only a Junior and I am so happy to have someone like you on here to answer questions. I really appreciate all your time and effort you put on into your posts!</p>

14

<p>In our process last year, we went to a CMU info night and I was fascinated to hear about an interdisciplinary major at CMU that melded computer science and the arts – don’t know if that’s up your alley, but it sounded like a fascinating program. the rep spoke about the students using their studies to develop interactive approaches to stagecraft with robotics and other mixed media. I think the students fall into the School of Computer Sciences, but you can pick an arts concentration, i.e. drama or music</p>

15

<p>Only some arts can be combined with science in the CMU interdisciplinary major. Unfortunately, acting is not one of them.</p>

16

<p>Hockeydude664 – I have a family member whose interest in studying biomedical engineering and then attending medical school is identical to yours and her grades, ACT score, and ECs also are similar to yours. I also have a family member in a BFA acting program. The colleges you are interested in applying to for biomedical engineering are pretty similar to the list of colleges my family member applied to. And, from her experience, I have the notion that the admission rate for biomedical engineering programs is pretty similar to the admission rate for the BFA acting programs – they are exceedingly competitive. My family member is now a biomedical engineering major at a university that has a well-regarded program. I can tell you that I don’t think she has much room in her schedule for non-engineering related coursework, even though she also has a strong interest in the arts, or for ECs. I have the impression that biomedical engineering programs are a lot like BFA acting programs – there may be little to no opportunity to double major in engineering and drama, unless you want to take another year or so to graduate, and even a limited opportunity to take elective courses such as theater because of schedule conflicts with engineering courses. You really do need to explore the websites of the schools you are interested in attending, take a look at the course catalogue, and talk to folks at the schools to see whether it is possible to double major in biomedical engineering and acting and whether it is even possible to do so and graduate with your incoming class. Also, if you decide to go the biomedical engineering route, the college you attend may allow non-drama students to audition for productions and that way you can keep up your interest in the performing arts if you find you are unable to double major or even find room in your schedule for theater courses. Also, there is the possibility of taking theater courses during the summer or after graduation or even applying for theater apprenticeships during the summer. I am not sure about the universities that are on your list, but in some institutions, the theater and engineering programs are in separate colleges and you apply to the particular college for admission. I know that’s the way it works at the university my BFA acting family member attends. On a final note – I know a fellow who graduated from a prestigious engineering program and worked at a good-paying engineering job for a few years. At that point, he told his parents that he didn’t really want to be an engineer and that he wanted to become involved in the performing arts. And he did just that! Like many novice artists, he had to feed and house himself between jobs and in that regard his engineering background has proven to be useful in finding temporary jobs. Good luck and keep us posted!</p>

17

<p>I agree with others who have suggested Northwestern. For what it’s worth, our D has several classmates at NU who are dual pre-med and Theatre majors. They all gained admission as Theatre majors, since that department is capped and pre-med isn’t, but I am not sure whether that is the only way to do both at NU. Many students complete dual majors at NU in 4 years.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

18

<p>I have an engineering degree from the U of Wisconsin. I can’t imagine trying to combine an engineering program with an acting major. Engineers have to take so many classes. Just to get a degree, we had 15 more credits to take than regular liberal arts BS and BA degrees. I remember having not much more than about 15 credits to take in other elective classes by the time all the requirements were accounted for. I can’t recall a single engineer that had an engineering degree and a major in something else. </p>

<p>Now, if you wanted to do just a BS in a science program – physics or biology for example – I think that would be much more doable as a double major. It would still be a significant challenge but at least feasible.</p>

19

<p>It’s a wonderful thing to be multi-talented and extremely capable-- and I think it’s natural to want to go for it all as a young person. But acting and engineering are two things that demand an intense focus and a wholehearted immersion. I’d pick one and go after it with my whole energy, if I were you. I do know someone who got an engineering degree at UMich, then followed that with a BFA MT at UMich…but he did that in sequence. (And…he’s successful in a field entirely different from either degree now!)</p>

20

<p>How long did he study for Gwen and also, what field did he end up in? I’m just curious :)</p>