Which career should I pick: drama or psychology?

When I was a Sr. in High school I wanted to be a musician. I was playing trombone very well and my band director who worked as a professional musiciian himself told me that I had enough talent and drive to go all the way with it. On thing he told me that steered me wrong was that he told me that I would never be a better musician than I was at 26; I could learn new things but my overall musicianship would not improve after 26. At 18 I figured that I had 8 years to make myself the best musician I could be.

Previously I was very much a math and science geek. At college I considered everything that took time away from music to be a distracftion; I even considered not getting a degree so I could only take just music classes, practice, and play in ensembles and not waste a minute on core courses.

Working on music nearly every waking moment burned me out in 3 years. I went from practicing trombone 3-4 hours/day, taking lots of music courses, and playing in many bands and ensembles to closing up my trombone and not playing for 20 years.

After doing a few things here and there I decided to finish my degree. I started to take computer science classes for fun and when I turned out to be good at it I started to do that. While I was a math and science geek in high school I signed up for college Calculus I after not taking a math class in over 10 years. Talk about crashing and burning! While I used to be good at math I now struggled to pass it. I managed to pass Calc I (on the 3rd try), discrete math, and statistics but what had once been a strength had become a weakness through neglect. To get a B.S in computer science I needed to pass a few more math classes which I couldn’t so I ended up getting a B.A. I got my degree and have been working in the field for 17 years.

If I had a more balanced life where I took music as well as other courses I enjoyed than I probably would have done much better in music. When I applied to college I was offered a work scholarship in physics that I turned down to study music. I could have even been a dual major of physics and music and it owuld have paid my way but based on my HS band director’s advice I didn’t think that I could spare the time for physics.

I’d suggest taking both. There might even be some synergy between the two fields. Wouldn’t understanding psychology allow you to portray characters you play with greater depth? Woudln’t the ability to be more expressive help you be a better therapist? I say do both until you have a very clear vision of what you want to do.

Drama but take psychology as a side, you may not make it as a movie star.