<p>Has anyone out there heard from Otterbein yet? Son auditioned at NYC Unifieds.</p>
<p>DD auditioned in January on campus. Received a “still in consideration” letter in early February.</p>
<p>Thanks. Can anyone tell us the common practice on rejection/acceptance from this school?</p>
<p>D was just there today for dance and BA interview. I think they make the decision for all after the final audition on March 6 or that is how it sounded.</p>
<p>I auditioned in Chicago and haven’t gotten a letter either way!</p>
<p>My apologies, everyone. We saw over 150 students at the Unifieds in New York, Chicago, and LA, and it’s taken us three weeks to go through the videos. Letters keeping or releasing students from consideration will go out tomorrow. </p>
<p>We don’t make final decisions until we have seen everyone. We will see another 40 this weekend and 40 at our last audition on March 6. It will then take us about 10 days to review all the applicants who have been kept in consideration. Admission letters will go out no later than April 1.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Doctorjohn, you are very kind to be so informative. Don’t even have an auditioning kid this year, but I am sure it is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for the information, Dr. John; it’s great of you to take the time to respond on here, it shows a lot about your program and level of commitment. It IS greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Am I understanding the terminology correctly for all colleges but particularly for Otterbein.</p>
<p>Accepted - you are in!
Wait list - probably a very small group of a couple males & females
Deferred - No decision but thinking hard about student; not as good as wait list/larger group. How many students get “deferred” from programs?
Considered - Not rejected and significantly larger group. First step in the process, so you are either considered or rejected this first step. </p>
<p>So if you get considered, is there still a deferred step or is this really the same? Are wait list and deferred different?</p>
<p>Were the auditions taped? My D did not know if they were or not for Otterbein (or UMich) but thought many at Unifieds do tape to show others on campus for decision process. </p>
<p>Any guidance is appreciated.</p>
<p>Newbie…I’ll try to help on your question in general, and not how it pertains specifically to Otterbein necessarily. </p>
<p>Some colleges notify all applicants of their decision at one time. There are no deferrals in this case. Everyone is accepted or denied or waitlisted (more on waitlists in a moment). NYU and Syracuse are examples.</p>
<p>Some colleges have Early Decision or Early Action rounds in the fall and the outcome for those students will be either acceptance, rejection or deferral. A deferral means that the student is still in the running, still under consideration, and will be considered in the Regular Decision round after all students are reviewed. A deferred student may end up accepted by April 1 or denied at that time. Emerson is an example.</p>
<p>Some schools make decisions on a Rolling admissions basis. They accept some as they go along, deny some as they go along, and defer some to the end of the process as they go along. Those who are deferred find out by April 1 (or at some schools in March, when all auditions are completed). UMich is an example of this procedure.</p>
<p>Otterbein has a procedure whereby on a rolling basis, students find out if they are denied or deferred. Nobody is accepted as they go along. But some are released and some are still under consideration until all auditions are done and then some of the deferred will be accepted and some will be denied, and some will be wait listed. </p>
<p>You mention “considered” as a first step in the process but that is not necessarily so. Considered is basically the same as deferral. For schools that decide along the way during the audition season, they deny some along the way and some are still in consideration. But again, not all schools do that and just accept or deny at the end of the entire process. </p>
<p>Now, as to “wait list”. There are many on this forum who use the term wait list incorrectly and tend to use it when a student is actually deferred. Deferrals were explained above. A wait list comes about at the end of the admissions process when ALL decisions have come out and a student is neither accepted or denied but is put on a wait list which is only used IF the college or program has not yielded the number of students it desires in its class. Most schools accept more students than slots available. They have built in “extras” in other words. But sometimes they still don’t yield the desired number of students by May 1 and so after May 1, they go to the wait list and select students off that list to fill the open slots. At some schools like CMU and Otterbein, their programs are very small and they only accept the actual number of slots in the class with no extras. If someone doesn’t take the offered slot, then the school offers it to someone on the wait list. The wait list “movement” tends to occur after May 1 when students have to indicate to their accepted colleges if they will matriculate or not. </p>
<p>I can’t quantify if deferral or wait list is better. A deferral just means you are still in the running PRIOR to all the admissions decisions being made by April 1, for schools that either have ED, EA, or rolling admissions. A wait list means they WILL accept you IF there is room in the class, but that occurs AFTER all decisions have come out in April, May or even over the summer.</p>
<p>Soozie VT - Thank you so very much for taking the time to explain all these terms. These clear definitions are not something I’ve come across so concisely expressed anywhere on CC. My d is a junior and we’ve been busy for 2 years learning all the ropes for MT admittance. Your contributions to this site are a huge wealth of knowledge and have added so much to our understanding of the process. I really appreciate all the time you spend repeatedly scouring this site for those of us you can help, even if it requires continually repeating yourself! You are appreciated!</p>
<p>Thank you for your note of appreciation. I enjoy helping. Hope to see you posting more as your daughter embarks on her college admissions journey.</p>
<p>I concur. Nice job, Soozie. You may want to edit post #10 slightly, and start a new thread with it. It’s useful information, and not everyone stops over here in the middle of Ohio ;)</p>
<p>Just to explain our process in detail:</p>
<ul>
<li> Students apply to the College for admission.</li>
<li> As soon as they apply, they may request an audition.</li>
<li> Application needs to be complete by the time of the audition.</li>
<li> Within two weeks (hopefully) after the audition, students are notified that (1) they are being kept for consideration; or (2) they are being released from consideration.</li>
</ul>
<p>After we have seen all the auditions, we make decisions and send one of several types of letters:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Student has been accepted into the BFA in Acting or Musical Theatre.</p></li>
<li><p>Student has not been accepted into either of the BFA programs.</p></li>
<li><p>Student has been placed on a Waiting List. (More about that later.) </p></li>
<li><p>Student has been accepted into one of our other programs, on the basis of the audition we have already seen: Dance Minor, or a BA in Music. There is no need for an additional interview or audition.</p></li>
<li><p>Student is encouraged to apply for one of our other programs which will require an additional interview (by phone or Skype) or audition in person (for Music): BA in Theatre, or BM in Music.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Our goal is to have 16 new students in the BFA Acting and BFA Musical Theatre programs combined. The target breakdown is 8 men, 8 women; 8 MTs, 8 ACTs. We usually have a Waiting List of between 8 and 12. It’s something like having a backup choice for casting if your first choice doesn’t accept your offer. As students choose where they want to attend college, spots open up and we call people on the list to see if they’re interested in coming. I cannot remember a year when we didn’t take at least two from the waiting list. But a warning: Soozie is right. Inevitably, much of this jockeying happens after May 1, national signing day.</p>
<p>If you have any follow-up questions, don’t hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll be watching the mail! This next month is going to be a nail-biter!</p>
<p>Soozievt - Thanks for the clarification on all the terms. We are newbies 
Your posts and doctorjohn’s are so helpful. I showed my D your explanation and the post from doctorjohn about how it isn’t as gloomy as the initial 2-3% stats show. </p>
<p>I must admit, I was surprised that some things shift in May. If that because of financial aid? I assume it must be some outside reason beyond students control since if students know they have an offer in hand from another college they like better, they would let the other colleges know so they could release a space to another waiting student. </p>
<p>thanks for all the help.</p>
<p>The reason why there is movement is May is because most students are admitted at more than one college. Most colleges notify of admissions decisions by April 1. Then, applicants have until May 1 to notify their colleges of their intentions whether they will matriculate or not. That is the National Reply Date. I know my own children, for example, could not let any of their schools know their intentions until after April 1 when they had all their options on the table (many schools don’t send out notifications until April 1 in fact). So, each kid got several acceptances and then made a decision of where to attend (D1 had to return to her favorites for another visit in April to help her decided and attended accepted student events and D2 knew which school she would pick once accepted). At that point, students will decline many offers. Colleges typically accept more than the number they hope to yield (though a few programs such as CMU or Otterbein only accept the exact number of slots in the class) and so there are built in “extras”. Many schools never go to their wait list as they yield a percentage of the students they sent offers to. But after May 1, colleges will know how many committed to their school and if they haven’t filled the slots, then they will take some off their wait list. But the reason that this is after May 1 is because May 1 is the National Reply Date for applicants. That date gives applicants one full month to make their decisions after all admissions decisions are rendered on or before April 1. Some students need that month to visit or revisit their options in order to make that decision. But again, most schools have accepted more students than they plan to enroll and so if a student doesn’t take an offer, it doesn’t matter as they will usually yield the number they hope to fill in the class. They only need to go to the wait list if by chance, they haven’t yielded the desired number. Those on the wait list are students who already meet the criteria for acceptance and will be admitted if room allows.</p>
<p>By the way, when a student doesn’t accept an offer, they are not necessarily releasing a spot that can be given to another student. Many schools accept more students than slots available because they know that not every student who is offered a spot will take it. For example, many programs that have, say, 20 available slots, will accept 28 students hoping to yield 20 and only will go to the wait list if they do not yield 20. Otterbein or CMU are different in that they accept the exact number of slots in the class and if someone doesn’t take the offer, then they use their wait list. But many schools never have to use their wait list as they fill the class due to making more offers than the total number of available slots, knowing that some students won’t take them up on the offer. They project how many they will need to accept to YIELD a certain number based on the history of past admissions cycles.</p>
<p>Just out of curiousity,
how many students out of the approximately 350 are held for consideration?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I heard that it was about 1/3, not completely sure though.</p>
<p>If you have not received a letter one way or the other, does that mean anything?</p>