Hey guys, I have been thinking about what I want to do in college. At first, I never really touched the idea of being a music major. But nowadays, I'm realizing how precious music has become to me in both playing and listening. However, I know that being a music major is tough business. I do think I have enough knowledge of music theory, I took AP last year and got a 5 out of 5. I do think I know quite a bit with music history.

To clarify, though. I do NOT want a career in music. Life is too tough for that. I DO want to be a biomedical scientist, and I do think I have a lot of potential in that area. So my actual question is, do you think pre-Med and majoring in music will interfere with one another? Is it tough to meet the pre-Med requirements, doing all the labs at the same time and keeping up with all the other music majors? Is it even worth it? I don't think I can abandon music, but I know being a research scientist is for me. Does anyone know of any music majors in pre-Med schools? Success or not? I am just scared b/c I know some people who have tried to do both but failed, b/c the labs were interfering.

I am too young to think about college now, but I have heard many many story that music lovers eventually came back to music careers or music teaching after college majored in non-music subjects. Our local famous conductor majored English Literature in Yale USA. Celloist majored in Architech, JP Rampal majored in Medicine, my ex-ex-piano teacher majored in Accounting, etc...

If you think there is a possibility of coming to music career oneday, then why waste your time taking a hard subject such as bio-med research? You need to study pre-med and organic chemistry right? Those long Latin words and long chain of chemical names and strange surnames who discovered some diseases that you have to memorize, ugh....!!! My grandma was a physician (then a businesswoman).

Music is a hard life, but you are still young. If you continue your hard work in music, paino, flute, you can still make a very decent good living. concentrate in music, practice hard, and study in conversatory or Juiliard, win some national and international competitions, then try to get into a famous orchestra (best to play as principal), and study music-teaching major, and become a professor in a conversatory, become well-known, you can make a lot of money by teaching private students (or in Asia).

My teachers, and my cousin's teachers, they make at least $150,000~$250,000 or more (after tax) per year by teaching conservatory and private students here. One of my cousin's teachers lives in a $2 mil house! Music is not a hard life if you are good, so start practice

Violin, piano, especially flute teachers are very short-supplied in Asia, come back to Asia and teach, and you will be rich. Violin, piano and flute students are more and more thesedays, demands for teachers are very big, and since you can play both piano and flute, that is great for you to start your music career here! they pay big money for your teaching!

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I love physics, chemistry and psychology besides music, but I think most probably I will go study flute.music in Paris or Europe, my grandma agrees to support me, and it is much much cheaper to study music in Europe. My teachers they all studied in Europe when they were young, they said it was FREE of charge to study in France and German, now they started to charge only nominal amount of fees.

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typo...Germany that is.

For this goal, I studied 3.5 years of French already in Alliance Francaise, I'm level 8 now. :)

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The latest information I got from my friend who studies in Germany is, he pays only Eur 2,000 per year for the best conservatory in Germany.

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oh, you're only 11 months older than me, lol. :)

If you are going to go pre-med you can spend time in the music groups but 101 out of 100 times you will not have time in your junior and senior years.But you can enjoy it the first two.

I have worked with some fantastic musicians who never got degrees in music, but they did continue to study and learn. One friend of mine way back was a music major and hated it,so get got a degree in business administration, kept practicing and playing in the schools orchestra and then got a job in an orchestra...the fact that he got out of the music program took the pressure off him

Do what you love! I know a man in my concert band who plays Bb clarinet, A clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax and Baritone sax!!! He wasn't a music major!
Also, if you like bio-med science, that's great! People like and understand different subjects more than others! I'm wondering what I'll major in??? I was thinking maybe English. I love writing and reading! But I love music! And physics! And art! Aaaargh!
Anyway, if you love bio-med science, do that! I'm sure you can find a musical outlet. I mean, if I can find one in my tiny town, you can!!!
Pyface

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Sorry, I forgot to mention, pretty much all colleges and uni's have an orchestra or wind band or something! You could set up a chamber group?
You can always do what you love, you just don't have to major in it!!!:)

Sorry to say, but you just won't have time to double major with both music and pre-med. There was a flutist in the studio here who was double majoring in music and English, but she needed to take 26 credits one semester (when the norm is 17 or 18) and got really sick by the end of the semester. Another music major here is doubling in music and cognitive science. She needed to take 27 credits in one semester, and her mental state was so fragile that she had convinced herself that she had a tapeworm by the time final exams rolled around!

Music is extremely time consuming. It's not a major you can just add on for the heck of it. Perhaps a minor in music would be more doable.

I agree with most of the previous comments about a double major or even a minor in music. The course load will probably be overwhelming. There's an old saying that you can't serve two masters. If you try to do that, one or both will suffer.

If you really want to keep up with your music, I would suggest at most taking private lessons from the flute professor and playing in one of the ensembles such as concert band, orchestra, or woodwind ensemble. That may be a more reasonable approach.

If you keep your skills up and even improve them through your college years, after college, you could certainly continue playing in local groups such as a community band or orchestra. There are also a lot of churches that would love to have a skilled flutist to play in their music ministry. It's also possible to do some of these activities a a substitute if you don't want to make a regular commitment. Weddings and funerals also present opportunities to play. So there's lots of options. Just don't take on too much during college.

I know someone who is a music (B.A) and pre-med major and he's the one of the best musicians I know at my university.

Getting into med school is tough so I suggest focusing your attention on getting good marks. It doesn't mean you have to give up on music. It just means you need to focus on getting a good career where you will have the time and money to do the things you want. I would recommend keeping up on your musics skills and try to join a local group where you can play. It will definitely help ease the stress from school and you can keep doing things you love. Music is a tough industry to get into and you should consider this.

At the end of the day, it's really your decision. If you are truly gifted and serious, don't let my opinion hold you back.

I gave up music for a career in the sciences and I'm happy I did it. I have no regrets and I'm not giving up my love for the arts, both dance and music.