Choosing what to study at university? Art vs. Science

Hmmm... I'd say, if you love both equally, if both hold the same importance in your life—I wouldn't advise going for a field you absolutely hate— perhaps look where the money is? I know, that's a cynical and jaded point of view, but unless you want to drag some student loan for ages, a job that doesn't pay much, or worse, not many work opportunities, well, let's say you'll have to be very motivated. I don't know how it is in the music industry. I assume it's like in anything art-related, though, where either you make it big or you're going to struggle all along?

I can only speak from personal experience here, but I basically 'wasted' 10 years of my life studying things that interested me, sure, like art and history. There weren't many jobs for a History major, though, apart from teaching history; and art turned out to be very disheartening, once I realised that mostly it'd be about doing stuff for customers, and not things I liked. Anyway, it took me almost 20 years to realise I was actually an engineer, not an artist. Now I'm finally having a blast in the first job in my life that's paying more than the basic necessities. I wish I had understood that earlier.

Also, on a brighter note: for science + music, go and check the A Capella Science videos. These guys look like they managed to unite both, and are having fun with it. There may be ways of having both!

But... Yeah... Difficult choice to make, I agree.

 

Would music therapy be a viable option? That seems like something that would combine your interest in music with helping people. I don't know if that program is offered near you, but it seems like it might be a good fit.

 

I'm a science major. My advice to other students about this topic is, can you easily do one of them as a hobby but not the other one? If the answer is yes don't major in the one that can be a hobby. You can work in neuroscience and still have dance/music as a fun activity to learn about as much as you want for the rest of your life. It would be nearly impossible to study neuroscience in-depth as a hobby on your own so it makes more sense to study that in college if you like it.

As you mentioned, practicality is also very important. As any kind of science major you will always have options (if you have a good GPA at least). Research, medical professions, teaching, working in industry as a chemist, even patent law which is an extremely high paying field most attorneys can't get into because it requires an undergraduate degree in science not just a law degree.

My university has a fantastic music program, the best one in the state, and still people who graduate from here with a fine arts degree like music/dance/theater never end up working in that field because they can't get jobs. It was a crazy small number, like only 5% of graduates were working in their field after graduation and the rest got non-fine arts jobs anyway.

 

Ok first off I'm from the UK so how things work over there might be different. Anyway I started Uni studying Psychology twinned with Religion and Philosophy. However within a few weeks I realised that the Psychology course wasn't for me and nearly quit but I was enjoying R & P so switched to that full time. I loved it and got my degree but it hasn't helped in getting any jobs since then.
I'd echo Destin and see if one is something you can study at a lower level. I was given similar advice when choosing between doing Philosophy or Creative Writing and it was pointed out to me that I could always do a creative writing course of sometime outside Uni. One other thing I'll mention is that I was in my thirties when I went to uni. Maybe you could study that one most likely to lead to a job and money and then go back to study the other later in life?