I’m confused. He graduates from where in spring '26? HS or college?
Clarifying. He is a junior in high school and is also attending classes at the local community college. He will be through calc 3 and another advanced calc class(derivatives?) by the time he graduates. He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He took the ACT as a sophomore in high school and got a 35. He wants to do acting … Definitely his first choice.
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Thank you. I edited the original post so people understand your student is not a high school freshman.
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Acting programs require a balanced list. Many kids will apply to highly competitive BFA programs, lower competitive BFA programs and BA programs based on their academic level. Your S seems a perfect fit for program at Northwestern. Admission is by academics but the program is conservatory based. I do believe that students there can double major or at least have an academic minor. Their graduates are highly successful at performance based careers and academic ones. Most other programs are based on auditions and will not look at his grades, there are a few exceptions that have a standard that he will greatly surpass. He could also look at highly academic programs such as Harvard and Penn where there are many professional teen actors currently studying.
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So if I understand correctly:
- High school graduation in 2024.
- With associates degree.
- With math through college sophomore level.
So for college entry as frosh in 2024, he may be able to transfer some general education courses plus first two years of math major courses, depending of the college’ transfer credit policy.
That could leave enough schedule space in four academic years to finish a BFA and math major by 2028 college graduation (and relatively easy if BA/BS only, no BFA). However, it may be difficult to do that for 2026 college graduation.
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D18 did a BFA (albeit in ballet not acting) and one of the possibilities for her BS was math (though she eventually chose environmental studies). At most universities math is a relatively light major, typically 50-55 semester credits, unlike the 65-70 or so typical of engineering and without any of the labs needed for most science subjects. So it’s at least somewhat easier to fit around a fixed performing arts schedule.
She did finish in 4 years at Utah (with >3.9 GPA), but had to take about 155 semester credits total, ie equivalent to just over 5 years at the typical rate of 30/year: roughly 80 for the BFA, 50 for the BS and 25 for Gen Ed/Honors/thesis (in addition to getting exemptions from another ~15 Gen Ed credits with APs). Fortunately Utah was perfectly ok with her taking 22-23 credits per semester for most of her time there, and it was relatively straightforward to fit the BS courses around ballet classes. It also has a pretty strong math department.
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A BFA will likely have a fixed four year course schedule that can’t easily be short circuited by more than about one semester. If the prior math and Gen Ed courses transfer then it’s very doable to add the remaining courses for a math major in 3.5-4 years. Compared to my D’s schedule (which was exacerbated by the required Honors courses and thesis for her scholarship) you could easily save 30 credits or perhaps more.
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BFA acting students move together through a curriculum that is fixed. Generally they have full courseloads with one or two non acting classes a semester. OPs son could certainly stay an extra year or do coursework during the summer but this is when BFA students typically do festivals and make money.
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Same for ballet. D had about 12-13 credits of ballet classes 8am-2.30pm each day usually with only room for one other class (in the 1.5-2 hour lunch break). Then rehearsals in late afternoon or evening for part of the semester depending on performance schedules. She would typical take 1 live class during lunch and 2 (asynchronous) online classes each semester to complete the double major. Occasionally she had time for two live classes, though during Covid the non-ballet classes were online anyway. Doing this was only feasible because of the large number of asynchronous online courses that were offered and multiple sessions to offer timing flexibility typical of a large university.
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No…the OP said this…oops…see that was a moderator edit.
“my son that will be a freshman in college the fall of 2024”
I agree with others. A BFA in acting will be very hard to add a double major anywhere.
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Nevermind
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Actually CMU has exactly that program in their BxA degrees:
This is their dramaturgy major, not bfa acting but def interesting for the op.
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I know someone that went here and double majored and nice program
But as said BFA takes a lot of time and serious.
https://www.muhlenberg.edu/academics/theatre-dance/thetheatreprogram/thetheatrecurriculum/dual.html
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@soozievt any input here?
Many folks don’t realize how time consuming and intense the BFA programs are. D is in her junior yr of a Musical Theater BFA. It only counts as 15 credits but her actual time spent in class is 40 hrs per week (essentially 9-5 each day with a 45 minute lunch break). They then have rehearsals in the evenings and on Saturday. It’s like a busy full time job. The cool part is time spent doing what she loves. Although it’s not all fun. Lot of hard work (especially the dance curriculum). All this to still have to grind it out to find employment after college. These kids are definitely dedicated.
D wanted to do a minor in writing (great content creator) and it’s next to impossible unless she takes extra classes in the summer (not recommended as that’s time to work on shows). not just about the time required. More about making the schedules work as the BFA unit is not flexible. As others have mentioned, you go through a track with a cohort. You don’t get to pick and choose the sequence.
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It’s probably possible to get a degree in acting and math somewhere. If your son really wants to be a professional actor then he should commit himself to that goal. It’s not an easy career path and it takes, among other things, a great deal of perseverance as well as talent and luck (being in the right place at the right time, etc.) Why not focus on acting and see if it’s for him. Just going through the audition process for a BFA program will be a good experience. If your son decides acting isn’t what he wants to do, then he can change his major to math and get involved in theater as an EC.
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This i an excellent choice for OP’s son, but not a BFA acting program.
I am totally aware of that but it probably should be. It’s a very good program for this OP son and this option. I know many that have gone there and some are in the industry and some are doing their minor/major and acting on the side.
They can do the same at Knox and Illinois Wesleyan and get merit.
Many programs like this. Pace has a good program and could be interesting.
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