<p>So I want a BFA in drama/acting but I’d also really like to have an academic degree as well (in the political science realm).
I’ve heard this is possible at Northwestern and NYU, are their any other universities that allow you to do this?
I’d prefer a BFA, but if I have to take a BA to go to a preferred college I will.</p>
<p>Northwestern does not offer a BFA in drama/acting.</p>
<p>Whenever this sort of question comes up, I always ask a question like “Where do you want to be in about ten years”. Because I have a hard time thinking of a career in which having degrees in both drama/acting AND political science is either necessary or helpful.</p>
<p>Are you planning to have a career in political science, and then keep acting as a hobby, or have a career in acting, then keep political science as a hobby? Because you certainly don’t need to have a degree in your hobby.</p>
<p>A typical American undergraduate program will require you to take a certain number of courses in your major, but will give you a LOT of freedom to choose just about anything for the rest of your courses. So you may want to declare as your major the field that you are planning to make your career, and then for your “elective” courses take as much as you can of your “hobby” field. Why do you feel the need to do all the extra work (and tuition) it will take to get TWO degrees?</p>
<p>Also remember that there is NO requirement that you major in the same thing in grad school that you did as an undergrad. You can get one degree, explore that career, and then if you find you don’t like it go back and get a graduate degree in a completely different field.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Upon reviewing the curricula of many BFA acting programs, I can’t began to fathom how one would double major. Have you looked in to the curriculum of any particular BFA acting program? </p>
<p>Here is a thread on some BFA programs that apparently allow for minors:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1384163-bfa-acting-programs-allow-minors.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1384163-bfa-acting-programs-allow-minors.html</a></p>
<p>With regard to the BA theater programs, it seems fairly common to double major.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Good luck with your search!</p>
<p>Double majoring can occur at some schools, but I don’t know if anybody has ever done it (with a BFA) in only four years…even if they go in with a lot of AP credits, attend summer classes to fulfill academic requirements, etc. </p>
<p>If you can afford the tuition of attending an undergraduate program for five years or even longer, I’m sure you could find places where you could do it.</p>
<p>A school with a BA that emphasizes performance training (check curricula thoroughly; some BA programs consist of mostly academic theatre classes), supplemented with intensive summer work on theatre skills, would probably be your best bet.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s possible at Tisch. My D did a double major, as did several of her friends. It’s not unusual at Tisch as the studio schedule is set up in a way that is conducive to double majoring, for those students who are willing to put in the work. There are a lot of students at Tisch who are also interested in academics. And, yes, she did it in four years.</p>
<p>You might want to look at American University. They have a strong Theater program, with a performance major, but have excellent poli. sci./government/international relations departments. Aspiring Theater/Musical Theater majors have to be accepted into the liberal arts college. You may audition as a high school senior, if you are committed to majoring in Theater, but you don’t have to declare your major until sophomore year, and you may audition for the department any time before that. I don’t know how a double major works there, but you could contact the department directly. You probably would not have the time to perform in campus productions and also maintain internships in DC. AU would offer you the time to postpone a decision until after you arrive there.</p>
<p>You may want to check out BU</p>
<p>[Department</a> of Political Science | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/polisci/]Department”>Political Science)</p>
<p>[Dual</a> Degree College of Fine Arts | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cfa/restore-20091211-002604/theatre/prospective/undergraduate/double/]Dual”>http://www.bu.edu/cfa/restore-20091211-002604/theatre/prospective/undergraduate/double/)</p>
<p>“Students who wish to pursue a double degree may need 5–6 years at BU to complete both degrees. However, because of the flexibility and variety in the BFA Theatre Arts and BFA Stage Management programs, students can find more ways to incorporate courses from both majors into their course load. Such flexibility does not exist in the BFA Acting track, where double-majoring would take no less than 6 years to complete. Similarly, double majors in the Design or Production tracks would need at least 5 years to complete the requirements for two majors.”</p>
<p>Also, for poli sci, have you looked in to Woody Woo at Princeton?
Princeton also offers a theater certificate and has many student theater companies. One that tours nationally. Princeton recently initiated a $100M arts initiative.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Princeton hit- I don’t really know if I’m Princeton material though. My GPA will end up being like a 3.8, 4. 7/8 ish weighted and my SATs are only 1880 right now, but I’m only a junior, and it’s math that’s dragging me down.</p>
<p>At James Madison University it is possible to double major in Political Science and Theatre with a track in Performance.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are places where you CAN do it, I’m still not clear on WHY anyone would do it.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>KEVP - Some people go to college not for a definitive career but to explore those areas of interest to them. At the ripe old age of 16, 17, or 18 it might be difficult to determine the difference between doing what you love professionally or doing what you love to expand oneself as a person. Some majors are not all that difficult to fulfill some are more difficult. I might not recommend trying to double major in any type of engineering and MT but English and straight Theatre maybe. Again, so much depends on the student and the school. I have found that there are many incredibly intelligent and insane theatre majors who can tackle (and enjoy the difficulties) two majors.</p>
<p>Which also makes me think that these kids are just having more prep for the likelihood of their future - working survival jobs, auditioning, and performing in no or low paying jobs all at the same time. Incredibly intelligent and insane, just like double majoring in college!</p>
<p>BTW, my daughter agrees more with your philosophy - she takes advanced math and history classes “for fun” while majoring in MT but would not want to have the constraints of double majoring or even minoring in either.</p>
<p>My daughter would not have the time to double major, she has just enough on her plate to possibly minor in English but cannot imagine a double major.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what I want to do with my life, but I think that political science and theatre compliment each other. The first thing I’ve read in any political theory class has always been Sophocles.
But I figured the liberal arts aspect of theatre would be helpful in a poli sci setting (if I didn’t make it in theatre) but poli sci is an area of interest for me, and I feel like I need to be doing something academic in addition to drama.</p>
<p>ifoundalaska, I think it’s great that you want to do all of these wonderful things. It’s my inclination, too! Here are a couple of thoughts, from my end:</p>
<p>1) Why do you want to do a BFA in theatre rather than a BA? Typically people who want a BFA want to do the majority of their work and spend the majority of their time - or maybe even practically all of it - doing theatre. Would you really be unhappy at a school with a BA, where there are great training and performing opportunities, where you also can study other things? With only a few exceptions, trying to do a BFA and a double major is almost impossible, and as amtc says, only a certain kind of person can withstand that much work. And in the theatre world, since a BFA is not the only way to prepare yourself, maybe that isn’t exactly what you want or need.</p>
<p>2) Does you interest in academic subjects need to culminate in a major? My D very much wanted to continue her academic work in college, but her preferred theatre degree was a BFA, and the school she ended up in does not allow a double major. She felt she could do academics for her own enjoyment and intellectual growth without having to major in anything besides theatre. She chose a school where she could do her gen eds in an Honors College, study the great books, but still spend the majority of her time in her BFA work.</p>
<p>And like you, she finds other subjects - particularly humanities and social sciences - greatly enhance her approach to theatre. At this time she is considering a minor in Anthropology, which is only 6 courses and quite doable, on top of the Honors College, which is a stand-alone program, not a minor, but a certificate of completion along with her degree. </p>
<p>3) How academic do you want your theatre work to be? Some BFAs stress writing and require senior capstone projects. Others stay mostly in the hands-on, and focus on experiential learning. You can get a lot of insight from the websites and course catalogues. My D is happy because her BFA requires a senior capstone - for most students it is an acting or directing project - but as a combined thesis in the Honors College she will be able to do a capstone that includes research, writing, and an academic focus as well as the artistic.</p>
<p>You can find schools that will provide a 4-year experience that appeals to you - whether in BA, BFA, majoring, minoring, etc. No one anywhere is entirely sure what double majors or minors really “get” you in the outside world. Mostly in the long run it’s a question of getting the education that you want, and coming out of college ready for the next step you are interested in. </p>
<p>Keep asking questions, and as you look at schools and their various options, feel free to talk with us some more.</p>
<p>I’m also applying for UNCSA’s high school theatre program (in state). If I got in, I feel like that would probably make my choice whether or not to go to a conservatory more evident.</p>
<p>Well I don’t agree that anyone “needs to do something academic in addition to theatre”. Because I don’t know why anyone would NEED to do something academic, and also because I object to someone classifying theatre as “not academic”. Maybe in your high school theatre is a no-brainer subject that the “dummies” are encouraged to take, but any college program is going to expect serious work, including academic work, from its theatre majors.</p>
<p>You haven’t told us where you are educationally right now, whether you are planning to go to college next year or whether you will be waiting a while. But even if you CAN go to college right away, since you seem to not really have a clear idea of what your life goals are it may be better for you to take some time off (a semester, or even a year or more) to really think about these things. I started college when I was 17, and ended up dropping out because I didn’t really know why I was there. After being away for some years, I really understood what I wanted and went back to college a much better student.</p>
<p>If you are planning to go into a career that uses a poli sci degree (I am not clear what sort of career that would be), I think you are correct that some knowledge of theatre, or just about any subject, would be beneficial. So by all means take theatre classes to fill up the “elective” slots on your college schedule, and look for a college or uni that allows non-majors to participate in theatre.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if what you REALLY WANT is to be an actor, and are just getting a poli sci degree to “fall back on”, remember what many people say–actors who CAN “fall back”, always seem to end up doing just that, while the succesful actors usually seem to be the ones who don’t give themselves the option of falling back. Also, the succesful actors are folks who have devoted themselves 100% to improving their acting. You will be competing with these people at auditions. These people will have spent the time that you spent taking poli sci classes taking more acting classes, and so have more skills that make them more competitive in an EXTREMELY competitive industry.</p>
<p>Pursue your dreams while you are young. Devote yourself now 100% to becoming an actor. Get a BA or BFA, then go out and start an acting career. If it doesn’t work out, THEN you can go back to graduate school and get a poli sci graduate degree, and pursue that as your career.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>I just had another thought. Many universities allow incoming freshmen to be “undeclared majors”. This would give you the freedom to take different courses and see what interests you. So you could take some poli sci courses and also some theatre courses, and then by the time you have to declare a major you will have a better idea of what you really want to do.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>
You might want to look into Fordham, an auditioned BA program with an academic core. There is also an emphasis on social justice by the institution-- and they do not shy away from political theater.</p>
<p>I don’t think that because a student is interested in other academic areas makes them less devoted to theatre. I know of a student who attended a competitive midwest university and double majored in Theatre Performance (BA) and Chemistry. She went directly to New York and is “living the dream”, supporting herself with work in the theatre. If/when that work dries up, she plans to attend med school. I know many young adults who majored only in Theatre, could not support themselves, and wound up back in school getting graduate degrees in education. BU told us of another young man who got a big break on Broadway six months after graduating with his BFA but has not worked in the business since. I fully support my daughter in pursuing her passion and that may likely involve earning a BFA; however, I would rather not have to “fully $UPPORT” my daughter financially after college. At BU, many actors choose the BFA Theatre Arts track to provide some flexibility. We were told that the Theatre Arts majors are also invited to participate in Showcase if they choose and that they are pursued by agents at a rate on par to the BFA Acting students. In fact, BU does not divulge at Showcase which are BFA Theatre Arts and which are BFA Acting. That’s why my daughter and I are both trying to keep an open mind as this audition season sorts itself out. There are lots of ways to become an actor.</p>