How difficult is it to double major in two oppposite fields?

Hello Robert!

I just finished up double-majoring in Computer Science and Musical Theatre. Here are some things to think about when deciding to double-major:

1. Your classes will not overlap, making your workload pretty heavy. However, the advantage in having 2 separate fields is that the work will be very different as well. I found that when I got tired of coding or writing papers, I could switch to rehearsing lines or music. While this helped a lot, there were still times that I had a hard time getting the motivation to finish all of my homework or there were weeks when both majors happened to be very busy. You will need to be confident in your ability to handle some of the stressful moments.
2. You will have to be organized. A school will make sure that classes within a major are not scheduled at the same time, but having 2 majors means that some issues might arise. Meet with your advisor (the college will assign you one) as soon as you can to come up with a 4-year plan that will make the classes for both majors fit together in one schedule.
3. Being a music major means that you will have rehearsals at night at least 3-4 times a week, so you will have to make sure to do your homework during the day when you find time. You can finish what you need to after rehearsal, but if you wait until then to start, you will never get any sleep.
4. Don't feel like you have to find a job that uses both majors or that you have to find a way to justify your second major. People might make you feel silly for majoring in something that doesn't have a great job-placement rate after school. But you are actually being very smart for going to school for what you love and also getting a degree in something else you are interested in that will get you a job right away.
5. If it all becomes too much, you can still participate in music and theatre without getting the degree. If you become too stressed out, you can always do the shows without taking the classes to get the major. Another option is deciding to do a 5-year plan from the beginning. This will make your workload easier while still being able to do both majors.

If you want to have a lot of free time or are not a motivated worker, then double majoring is going to be very difficult. However, it was definitely the best decision for me and I am glad that I did it. I hope this helps. Good luck on your decision and your college search!

I would recommend meeting with an academic adviser to see what classes can be used as a requirement for both majors. Even if the majors don't have the same classes that are required, your adviser can point you in the right direction on how to file an appeal to have some general ed credits for one major act as gen ed credits for another (as in, you may be able to get one of your geography classes to count as a world history course in communications, for example).

I hope that helps - I can't stress how important an adviser can be in this situation, they're paid to help you out in this aspect!

Not difficult at all. You can do it. You are young. Just stay focused but decide on the two careers that can offer you a job. Find careers that compliment each other. Any jobs that you do can be doubled with any of the following items (which are always needed)
-second language
-math and statistics
-economics
-computer IT
-Writing or English
etc