<p>Hello, I'm currently enrolled at a state school in Ohio (OU Athens) as a Freshman, and was wondering how hard it is to transfer to Oberlin? I'm guessing it's pretty tough, and also that I'm passed the transfer application deadline, but I'd still like to know as I've been hearing great things about certain music programs at the school. Thanks</p>
<p>Here are the numbers of transfer applicants, admits and enrolls for the past several years from Oberlin’s Common Data Set.</p>
<p>Year - Applied to transfer / Accepted / Enrolled - transfer admit % / freshman admit %
2008 - 360 / 82 / 43 - 22.8 / 32.7
2007 - 297 / 78 / 42 - 26.3 / 31.3
2006 - 203 / 60 / 27 - 29.6 / 33.9
2005 - 268 / 83 / 37 - 31.0 / 33.9
2004 - transfer data missing from CDS
2003 - 243 / 99 / 44 - 40.7 / 36.1</p>
<p>Note that while the freshman admissions rate (number accepted divided by total applications) has been pretty constant, the transfer admission rate has been steadily falling.</p>
<p>Note that music is a special case. If you are interested in the Conservatory, you will have to compete against some very talented people in auditions for admission. The number of openings and number of applicants applying for those openings varies quite a bit by instrument or voice. Auditions are generally held from December through March and much more information may be found on the Conservatory web site.</p>
<p>If you are talking about the BA program in music offered by the college, you first have to be accepted by the college through the normal transfer route and then, in order to declare a music major, you have to complete one of several intro level music courses offered by the department with at least a B-, you have to write an essay describing what you want to concentrate in and how you propose to do it, and you have to audition into at least secondary lessons with a faculty member. These auditions are easier than the Conservatory admissions auditions, but some instruments and voice parts are still harder than others to get secondary lessons from one of the faculty. The transfer application deadline was 3/15, so there is probably not much chance that you will be accepted there in the fall. If you wish to transfer in at the start of Junior year, a music major might be difficult to complete in two more years of study. The requirements include three semesters of theory/aural, 3 musicology classes, four semesters of applied study, two ensemble credits, three additional music courses above the intro level and a senior seminar in music. They may not count transfer credit for many of these requirements and it is a lot to fit into only four semesters while also satisfying all the other graduation requirements for the college. Bottom line is that you will probably need to plan on at least an additional semester and perhaps an entire additional year if you want to do the BA in Music.</p>
<p>I just noticed from your other thread that you are not yet a freshman at OU, but are enrolled to start there in the fall. In that case, you should be able to apply to transfer to Oberlin for your sophomore year. That makes it a lot more likely that you would be able to complete a degree with one year at OU and three at Oberlin.</p>
<p>I do not know if they accept Spring semester transfers in freshman or any other year, but you may wish to contact Oberlin admissions to ask. In general, you are less likely to get transfer credit for music classes than for a lot of the basic sciences and humanities requirements that apply to all majors in the college. If you are looking to transfer into Oberlin College, you would probably be better off concentrating on the non-music distribution requirements in your first year at OU to maximize the number of credits that transfer to Oberlin should you succeed.</p>
<p>If you have any sort of music-based scholarship at OU or hope to receive one from Oberlin, you may need to get explicit permission from the music department chair at OU before attempting the transfer. The admissions folks at Oberlin should be able to help you understand whether this is required.</p>
<p>If you are looking to transfer to the Conservatory, you will need to get your audition pieces in shape. That could be a bit awkward working with an applied music teacher there at OU, knowing that it is your intention to transfer out from the very start, but the audition counts for about 80% of the admissions decision and will not be easy to put together without help from a professional music teacher. If you are not a keyboard major, you may want to work on you basic piano skills so that you will be able to place out of one or both semesters of the basic keyboard skills requirement that all non-keyboard majors in the conservatory have to complete.</p>
<p>Also note that there is an entire section here on CC devoted to music majors at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/</a></p>
<p>There is a wealth of very good information there for those interested in any sort of music major at any school.</p>
<p>One other thing - save the syllabus for every class you take at OU. You may need to show exactly what material was covered in any given class in order to get transfer credit for it. If you have the space, save ALL class materials (handouts, quizzes and tests, papers written, etc.)</p>