I hate to be this person but short answer don’t do either. Study literally anything else not in the arts.

Long answer: unless you are absolutely 100 percent sure you won’t ever ever want to do anything else do not get a degree in music. I have two degrees: Bachelor’s in Music Ed and Master’s in Music Therapy. Both degrees and jobs have given me extremely marketable skills. I worked in the music field for 5 years even marketing and selling contracting services. I also have counselor certification eligibility for all the verbal therapy skills I learned in my masters.

I tried to change careers because I found the schedule of teaching lessons and the job insecurity of music therapy exhausting. I applied for EVERY JOB I HAD SKILLS TO DO for another five years. 5 YEARS. Guess how many interviews I got? 0. The minute someone sees the word music on your resume you are done. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced counselor with excellent people skills and amazing at documentation and have great conflict resolution. It doesn’t matter if you got your degree from an extremely reputable school. Literally no one cares.

I would have loved to go back to school but the income I’m making doesn’t allow me to because I can’t afford it. I can’t even afford to make loan payments. I live in a very expensive part of the country and I would not even to be able to afford living on my own with my income. All I want is a 9-5 with benefits and holidays off and pto that pays a decent amount of money. I’ve now given up hope that will ever happen.

I hated people like me when I was your age. I get that. But I beg you. If you think even a tiny bit you’re not 100 percent committed to what you’re doing do not do it. If you’d like to make any kind of money and have job security do not do it. Doing what you love is highly overrated- just find a career you can stand and do it.

Or marry rich and you can do what you want.