# Combining two different careers?



## armyofdreamers (May 31, 2012)

I'm pretty poor at time management, and it figures that my two main passions are completely different... psychology (as a high counselor, which is most likely, or clinical psychologist) and dance. 
I was thinking I'd go to Juilliard, get a dance career, perform until my body started getting old and falling apart, then retiring into psychology and making my own organization with a dance team attached to it (to raise awareness in the general public) as the choreographer, while being a high school counselor. But something about it just feels like it isn't going to work out.
I don't even really know what I'm asking--I think I'm mostly seeking advice from those older and wiser than me. Is it possible to balance two careers successfully? Is it possible to get two degrees in two different subjects? Do you have a degree in psychology/dance/both and do you have input or advice for me? 
I need a mentor, or someone with mentor-ly advice. I don't really have one. I mean, I have my parents, and I have a dance teacher, but my dance teacher's barely out of college herself so she doesn't have much advice for me, and my parents aren't involved in the dance or psychology scenes at all.


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## funcoolname (Sep 17, 2011)

It may depend on how long you plan on dancing and how old you wanted to be starting your psych career, but I don't see why you couldn't pursue both.. If you do want to go to Juilliard it might pose problems for a psych career, though, if you don't want to go back to undergrad when you can't dance anymore. Juilliard concentrates strictly on art, no? Or can you take non-arts centered classes as well? I don't know how psychology programs would take that when you start applying, if you don't get some psych/research background during your dance time. I know two people who had dance/neuro degrees that are dancing now and I guess will pursue their other degrees afterwards. I think they'll be fine. It's always good to have something to fall back on anyway if one doesn't work out. You could consider going to a school with a good dance program that's not an art school if Juilliard doesn't offer classes outside of the arts. It does take around 6 years to get a psych doctorate, if you want to be a clinical psychologist. I think school counselors might just need a Masters.


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## yesiknowbut (Oct 25, 2009)

Do you have to earn a living from both things? Why not work as a psychologist and dance for fun? More likely to work that way than the other way round.

I do think that to do anything really well takes time. You run the risk of doing both badly if you don't set your priorities.


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

armyofdreamers said:


> I'm pretty poor at time management, and it figures that my two main passions are completely different... psychology (as a high counselor, which is most likely, or clinical psychologist) and dance.
> I was thinking I'd go to Juilliard, get a dance career, perform until my body started getting old and falling apart, then retiring into psychology and making my own organization with a dance team attached to it (to raise awareness in the general public) as the choreographer, while being a high school counselor. But something about it just feels like it isn't going to work out.


My suggestion would be to consider other ways to merge dance and psychology that may work better. For example, does there exist a branch of psychotherapy that uses dancing as a way for someone to express ideas in ways that would be difficult to do with language? Just an idea of something to explore in terms of using a love of dance within a setting of being a counselor. At least that would be how I'd approach this kind of challenge as there are likely more than a few ways through it though it may take some work to find those that can give a helping hand to navigate on making this dream a reality.


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## armyofdreamers (May 31, 2012)

Thanks for the advice, guys  I'll look into any things you've suggested/brought up and ponder it more.


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