Keepers

Keepers The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: College--Auditions, double majors, etc.

Author: mrn
Date: 2009-01-16 00:29

William wrote:

<<However, as a scientist, it would be possible to be a credible musician, but as a full-time professional musician, it would be quite difficult to also be a credible scientist. Imagine a membler of the Chicago Symphony clarinet section maintaining a competant medical practice for patients "on the side". (ouch) Pete Fountain, part time brain surgeon (LOL)

Seriously, I think you need to make a choice. "Some form" of science and music are too diverse to adequately do both.>>

I disagree with this. Credibility is not really an issue here, because we're only talking about undergraduate majors.

If you actually want to have a career as a *scientist* (as opposed to, say, a high school science teacher), you have to go to graduate school--and there, it's your research that counts. And in that case, having an undergraduate degree in music (in addition to one in science) just makes you a more interested and well-rounded applicant to graduate school--it's probably more a plus than a minus. Not that it isn't hard to double major--it's a lot of work, from what I understand--but I disagree with the notion that it would reflect negatively on you, as William seems to suggest. (And as I suggested, anyone with only a bachelor's degree in a scientific field who goes aroud calling himself/herself a "scientist" isn't going to be taken seriously, anyway.)

Speaking from my own experience, being a full-time lawyer didn't stop me from being a part-time PhD student in Computer Science, nor did it prevent me from having my research papers accepted for presentation and publication at an international conference. (You see, I am a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, myself

) [Although, in my case, Computer Science is a subject that is complementary to my profession, because I'm a patent lawyer and my clients are mostly high-tech companies.]

And as far as being a physician/surgeon is concerned, I know at least two who majored in music as undergrads (one of whom was a performance major at Northwestern). You don't have to major in "pre-med" or biology to go to medical school--you just have to be willing to take a handful of prerequisite science classes (like organic chemistry), none of which are much higher than sophomore level. In fact, at some medical schools, they don't even require you to have completed an undergraduate degree--you just have to take the prerequisite classes.

And even if you consider the musical side, think about this: Even the "full-time" players in major symphony orchestras usually have some kind of day job, oftentimes as a university music professor. If you are qualified enough in a non-music field to be a professor in that subject, I see no reason why you couldn't teach that subject as a professor (or lecturer) in addition to holding down a symphony job.

Nor is it impossible to change careers--even dramatically. My younger brother took a nautical archaeology class in college. The professor who taught the class had a previous career as a musician. More specifically, he was the drummer in Three Dog Night!

But in any case, as I see it, what you do as an undergraduate has little bearing on any of that, except to the extent that it prepares you for graduate school in your subject(s) of choice. And, of course, if your career of choice is law, then unless you want to practice patent law like me, it doesn't make a particle of difference what you study as an undergraduate!

Post Edited (2009-01-16 00:50)

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics