<p>From my understanding, BFA program and academic acceptances/rejections will come together in March. An old post (I wish I could find it!) stated that students would hear one of three things from Otterbein in March: accepted/wait listed to BFA, rejected from BFA, asked to do a phone interview for BA Theater or for the music department. The post was a few years old so I’m not positive it’s still how they work. Only one more month to go! </p>
<p>The following isn’t exactly what I was looking for but it’s close. Note that the post date is 2005, however.</p>
<p>When you audition for the BFA in Musical Theatre with us, you are also auditioning for:</p>
<p>BFA Acting
BA Theatre
BA or BME Music
BM Vocal Performance
Dance Minor</p>
<p>Representatives from all of these areas view all the auditions, either in person or from videotapes. Then we meet as a committee to discuss the candidates, and I share what I’ve learned in the interview as well. If we don’t have a place for a particular student in MT, but we think that he or she has talents in other areas, and that we would be a good fit for that student, we will make an offer to come in a different degree program.</p>
<p>BFA Acting students take virtually the same curriculum as the BFA Musical Theatre majors. The 8 MTs and 8 ACTs make up the same (single) acting class which progresses through the four years together. Acting majors take the same dance classes (although not as many are required), and may elect to take private voice lessons. (As on many campuses, fees are charged to all students for private music lessons, no matter the instrument.) Almost all of our Acting majors choose to take voice lessons. Acting majors are considered equally for roles in musicals, just as Musical Theatre majors are considered for roles in plays. Examples: the title role in VIOLET last fall was played by an Acting major; four of the six actors in THE DINNER PARTY were MT majors. We tend to offer the BFA in Acting to students whose voices may not be quite as strong as the MTs, but whose acting skills are superior. Those students still get to take as much dance and music as they wish.</p>
<p>Students with strong musical backgrounds may be offered a place in the BA or BME degree in the Music Department. Those with exceptional classical voices may be asked to come back and audition for the BM in Vocal Performance. It’s the only program where we ask the student to reaudition, and that’s because the audition requirements are, as one would expect, substantially different.</p>
<p>Students with strong dance backgrounds may be offered a place in the Dance Minor program. We do not have a Dance Major here. But the Minor is quite strong. We are able to offer the basic techniques at four different levels, and we do them in rotation: two days/week of ballet, one day of modern, one day of jazz, and one day of tap or MT styles. The dance minor is appropriate for students who are want to major in another field–Environmental Science, English, Elementary Education, for example–but who want to keep dancing while in college. Some students do go into the profession from this program.</p>
<p>Casting is open here, and our musicals almost invariably have music majors and dance minors in the casts.</p>
<p>WAIT!!! They have an online portal?! I’m SO not on the case! LOL! <strong>now returning to my blissful ignorance</strong></p>
<p>My son set up his portal last Spring. It is mostly informational in nature in response to a short survey that a student completes when setting the portal up. I didn’t really examine the portal closely, and can’t tell if it has been updated or not. It doesn’t appear to report status, or I don’t know how to find it.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure my son’s online portal wasn’t very meaningful till after he got in. Also am 99.9% sure that as someone said earlier, there isn’t a separate (earlier) notification from Otterbein’s admissions office–the first news was a phone call from the arts admissions counselor (last year Teri Devlin) and then, maybe a week later, the full admissions packet including scholarship info. He did apply early in the process, right after passing the prescreen.</p>
<p>Believe me, last spring, I drove myself nuts reading old posts, haunting CC for updates, and trying to guess when the calls would go out. I was convinced it’d be during our spring break (it wasn’t). One afternoon, maybe a week after when we’d thought it would be, I got an email from another parent who’d heard that the decisions had been made. I literally camped out on the Otterbein thread and saw that first post saying somebody had been accepted…a good half hour later, when I had given up, my son’s cell phone rang (I had not told him the calls were being made). It was around 5 PM on March 13th. At that point the tension was unbelievable…I think both of us cried for an hour afterward! I was grateful for the CC thread, honestly, as it gave me a sense of when to expect any news. So keep each other in the loop when March rolls around!</p>
<p>So it looks like last year they took 4 boys and 5 girls for MT. And only 2 girls and 2 boys for Acting.
For a total of 13. That’s a very small class! Hope they are taking more this year!</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing @mommyofactress. Does anyone know how many auditioned?</p>
<p>We were told 230ish prescreens if I remember correctly. That is acting and MT combined. Boy it’s a long shot!</p>
<p>If they had 230 prescreens, I wonder how many they auditioned. </p>
<p>Oh I’m sorry, that was not very clear of me… 230ish actually auditioned in person they said. </p>
<p>That’s a smaller in person audition number than they were predicting at D’s December audition, so I’m going to think positively and say all our kids’ odds just increased! :D</p>
<p>Such a great school, guessing they’ll hear within the next 2 weeks. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>So I just noticed that the senior class has only 12 kids(at least in the senior showcase photos on their FB page).
Gosh, I sure hope they stick with the 16 kids (8Mt & 8 acting) they said they wanted this year at auditions. It’s hard enough with 16 spots available and even harder to get in if they go lower. Last years freshman class is only 13.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t a dept accept 16 kids? Do they have that many turn down the offers or are there not enough different “types” that have talent that they want? You would think they would want the tuition and talent of all 16 kids.
Or am I over thinking this?</p>
<p>@mommyofactress I just checked out the page and jumped for joy that they are graduating a blonde senior! AND she’s a mezzo belter! WOOHOO! 
(Not that my child is the only blonde belter but still made me very happy LOL).</p>
<p>That is so funny! I did the same thing and counted 3 brunettes!!!</p>
<p>They do accept 16, as far as I know. Part of what’s gone in (again, according to what I’ve heard) is that people wait till the very last minute to decline their spot, and the wait-listed kids have committed elsewhere. This is why you see, every year, people on CC encouraging everyone to decide quickly and let schools know as soon as possible! </p>
<p>It’s also my understanding that they didn’t waitlist as many kids last year, so there were fewer to draw from, but they are happy with the group and feel that everyone is a great fit. The talent pool is DEEP. Fingers crossed for everyone!</p>
<p>@mommyofactress A little bit of an aside: It took me a year to figure out the tuition thing too . . . I kept wondering, “How can they afford to fund this fully staffed, and amazing program on so few kids’ tuition?” Well, what I figured out is that they also have a very popular BA in Theatre, and a great and generous bunch of donors. </p>
<p>Thinking good thoughts for you all! </p>
<p>This is one we are really excited to hear from. D loved the audition she had with this team at Unifieds, clearly one of her favorites, we have barely dared to hope that this would come through, heard that they have a great focus program for dancers!! Good luck to all!</p>
<p>NAtlantaStudio - I will confirm the dance focus. My S auditioned MT with a concentration in dance and the dance audition kicked his butt…he had to sit down afterward LOL He very much enjoyed his time with the dance instructor and said if the program is even close to the audition its up there with the best.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard one person say that they <em>didn’t</em> enjoy their audition at this school. I think last year calls went out around the 14th. Wonder if they’re on track for same time period this year.</p>