Double Degree Program
The Double Degree program is one of the things that makes Oberlin special. Unlike the double-major program offered by most schools, the Oberlin program allows students 5 years (which in many cases is required simply to fit in the raw number of required credits, since Conservatory majors can be huge) and grants them two separate diplomas: one from the Conservatory and one from the College of Arts and Sciences (unfortunately, the baccalaureate degree from the college is a B.A., not a B.S. which would be a better pairing for the B.M. given to students by the Con).
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[edit] Statshot
In 2001 the quoted statistic was that there were about 50 Double Degree students in every graduating class, and that while every freshman class started with nearly the same number, half of the students who started as DD would drop one major or the other, only to be replaced by others.
[edit] Dropping a Major / Adding a Major
Some students realize they need to drop when they keep failing their private lessons and getting berated by their teachers. Most realize they would rather drop when they think of all the things that suddenly seem more interesting than 20-40 hours/week in a practice room, and 4 semesters of Music Theory and Aural Skills. Still others choose to drop the college as they realize that their true calling is to die a highly talented, brilliantly artistic, critically acclaimed pauper. In other words, sometimes people lose interest and it isn't too late to change paths, so they do. You have to fill out a few forms (available outside the registrar's office in Carnegie, but no big deal.
Most of the folks who I've ever heard of adding a major were Connies who decided that whether or not they wanted to devote their lives to music, they also wanted some approximation of an education as well.
[edit] Stress Level
There are all kinds of reasons for not sleeping during your time at Oberlin, and Double Degree students tend to be intimately familiar with the majority of them. There's just something about having a very demanding major (which nearly all conservatory majors are) that requires you to take tons of classes, while simultaneously still feeling passionately enough about some other field to be taking heavy courseloads in it as well. The kinds of people who make it through the Double Degree program are either very good at dealing with stress, or even better at ignoring it. Some students enter with a year or more of AP/IB/transfer credits, which can make things easier, although most people doing two majors are secretly pining for a third and fourth, so sometimes folks still end up piling the courses and extras high on their plate every semester.
