<p>My son scheduled a college visitation day last May with CCM. They had him sit in on a dance class and then an acting class. Unfortunately, the acting class was cancelled the day he was there. I am not sure if they have an accepted student's weekend or not. I do know Umich has one and they stay overnight with students in the program.</p>
<p>chelle, congratulations to your D. I won't give you advice on whether or not to cancel the other auditions because I think that there are too many personal issues for you and your D to determine that answer. :) However, one thing I will say in making your/her decision, and as to making sure that the two acceptances truly are her two top choices, please be sure that she has fully explored both programs. As someone else has mentioned, I think it was Susan, these two schools are VERY different. </p>
<p>Talking to current, and past, students; sitting in on classes; actually seeing what it's like to be a student in the program, and not just an applicant, is very important (for all kids really but, on some issues, particularly at CCM).</p>
<p>chelle - My daughter sat in on MT Voice/Performance classes and dance classes at UArts. She sat in on an acting class at Muhlenberg. UArts did not allow visitors to sit in on freshman acting studios due to what I will characterize as the emotionally "exposed" aspects of some of the training and the desire for the class to develop close feelings of trust with each other.</p>
<p>I agree 1000% with alwaysamom's comment that you should do everything possible to enable your daughter to experience what it is like to be a student at her prospective schools. For my daughter, attending summer intensives taught by the professors from the MT department at 2 of the schools to which she was accepted and sitting in on classes were instrumental in deciding which school to attend.</p>
<p>I fully agree that your D should have DEEPLY explored her options. As I said earlier, before narrowing it to these two schools, if it were me, I would want to know she had fully explored the other schools in depth before ruling them out. For example, the two schools you plan to cancel....has she visited those yet? Comparing schools is like apples to oranges if you only know some on paper and others up close and personal (for instance, your D knows OCU very closely having attended their summer program). I know even my own kid at first preferred schools she had visited over ones she had not. She didn't know the ones she hadn't visited enough to truly rule them out. In fact, she came to like some a lot more after visiting than beforehand and her "order" of school preferences shifted a bit. So, your D may have two top choices but may not have explored the other options completely but I have no idea....just giving a possibility. For me, I'd want to know my kid really explored each option to its fullest before making a final decision.</p>
<p>I know with my own kids, when they did decide where to matriculate, it was after a full exploration and at least one visit to each of their options (often including overnights, talking to students, etc.). I felt good when they chose a school because I knew they had really examined every option before making that decision. While each ended up at an original favorite, I thought it was really beneficial that they didn't do ED or rush to that decision to attend and first deeply explored each of their schools and when they came back to their original favorites and chose to attend them, I was confident that their decisions were weighed very carefully and were not just initial favorites.</p>
<p>Even IF your D rules out the schools she has yet to audition at (hopefully after weighing them on an equal level of exploration), she should examine the two final options fully because one of those schools she knows quite well and one not as much and they are very different. If she talks to current students, that will surely help. But it is important with any school, to talk to a RANGE of current students and not put too much stock in the perspectives of just one or two. If she spends time there both in formal ways (observing classes, meetings with faculty) and informally (staying with students), that should help. She can list their curricula side by side, and other apsects and see how each one individually matches up with her personal list of college criteria.</p>
<p>SOMETIMES (not speaking of your D), I have observed students choosing to matriculate at a school that has the most prestige on their list, when in fact, the school is not the best environment suited to them, and they had other options that may have been better fits. Fit is pretty important when choosing a school. It can be hard for some to put prestige aside and examine the fit of a particular school with their own specific college selection criteria (which is imperative). I have seen this and am simply pointing out how this CAN happen.</p>
<p>As always, the above three posters' experience shines through in their responses and recommendations :). </p>
<p>At the end of the day, the decision on where to matriculate is a real personal one. What works for one kid, does not work for another. When my D insisted on applying for NYU ED, we "allowed" her to do so because she had made a list of what she was looking for in a college experience and NYU fit her needs 100%. Additionally she was lucky enough to attend TSOA's summer program, which even further confirmed that this is where she wanted to be as she completely fell in love with "everything NYU". Once she had put together her final list of colleges where she could see herself attend, we tried to push the having a favorite school out of the picture and let "fate decide" as this process can potentially be really disappointing otherwise. Once the NYU acceptance arrived however, there was no doubt in her mind that she had made the right decision applying ED, as much as she had come to love the other schools where she was accepted. </p>
<p>If your D feels that strong about one of the two schools where she has been accepted I don't see why you would not cancel the remaining schools. I can see why the above posters recommend to proceed with caution as CCM and OCU are so different from one another. I don't know if your D is leaning one way or another, but it should be relatively easy for her at this point to put together her pro and con list. Just as a "silly example", my D is a city girl at heart and so being in New York put NYU above Elon. Had she been only accepted to Elon, she would have happily "put her city preference on the shelf" and moved to New York upon graduation, as she really thought highly of the Elon faculty and quality of their MT program.</p>
<p>S canceled auditions and notified schools after being accepted early. He pretty much felt there where five very different schools on his top list. We had the opportunity his junior year to visit 11 schools and at most he was able to sit in some classes, have a voice lesson and see shows or rehearsals. He also questioned them about scholarships and average costs. He auditioned early at four of them. OCU sent his acceptance and scholarships in December. OCU was my top choice because it presented such an organized, humane program and they gave him enough scholarship money that I knew he could graduate without any debt. It just seemed right for him for many reasons. One of the highly regarded schools was very nice; the voice teacher whose class he sat in and sang for even called him after he notified them. Fast forward three years later he is a happy junior at OCU. Last March he spent spring break in NYC at the OCU workshop and made some great connections. He has friends at almost every MT program mentioned on this board and this year has had two principal roles at OCU so he is becoming very confident with his future in MT. For him, canceling auditions worked out well.</p>
<p>Wie always talk about fit on here and individual preferences. I can only comment on your dilemma from MY/OUR preferences. And Soozie can probably best tell me if I am wrong in my assumption. I want my daughter to have good training in MT - frankly I think if they have "IT" they'll make it going through any of the several schools mentioned over and over on here. (and if they don't end up having "IT" they can go through the best and not). So that brings me to what is OUR other priority - a college education. I sense that NYU has more academic advantages - again Soozie can probably straighten me out if I'm wrong. I know a trip to NYC isn't cheap but at least you are getting exposure and choices to 2 more colleges for the price of 1. After all the $$$ spent thus far in voice, dance and acting classes what's one more trip on the final stretch? Well...that is how I see it. Whatever you do, break a leg and I wish her much success.</p>
<p>Cluelessmc....It worked well for your son and as I posted in post #6, I also would support canceling future auditions if a student was already accepted to his/her favorites or preferred schools IF that student had already explored all options fully before coming to that conclusion. Like I said, one of my current students has canceled SOME of her auditions due to having an acceptance in hand from a preferred school, but is seeing some other auditions through. In your son's case, he had visited 11 schools and it sounds like he was able to make an informed decision and the school was the best fit and so it all worked very well. I think if chelle's D has fully explored the schools she is canceling and knows that the two accepted schools would be chosen over those, then that makes sense to cancel. I don't know how well her D knows the other schools and so only they know that. </p>
<p>For my own kid, she had considered applying ED to her long held favorite school since she was 12, LOL. However, in good conscious, it was not advisable to apply ED without having explored other options as closely in order to make a more informed and comparative decision. We had planned to visit all schools in junior year like we did with our older daughter. But it turned out that younger D asked us to let her graduate a year early and so we were not planning for it to be this way and so her eleventh grade year was her application year. We were only able to visit one school in tenth and then three in the fall of 11th and then saw all 8 of her schools at auditions (four were return visits). She held off on doing ED. It turns out, she is attending that same favorite school where she had considered applying ED but I am glad that now I can say she explored the other options to come to that decision whereas back in tenth grade, she had wanted this school since she was much younger and hadn't yet done the visits, etc. to KNOW this like she did come spring of her application year. She came full circle back to the favorite school and like clueless's son, is extremely happy with her choice and it has turned out to be a perfect fit for HER and she can't imagine having not gone there. </p>
<p>I think the upshot here is to have truly explored all options one is handed enough to really find the right fit. It would seem to ensure a greater chance that one may be happy with the school after matriculating.</p>
<p>Chelle, The overall environment at the 2 schools may be different, so take the others up on the suggestion to check into things.</p>
<p>Also, I believe CCM offers a BFA and OCU a BM in MT. This may cause differences in the required classes, so look into this. </p>
<p>We did not visit CCM, so I do not have info, but we were most impressed with everything about OCU.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your advice. We cancelled the NYU/Boston auditions. D is very happy with the two choices she has. She is also very stressed with mid terms/scholarship apps/ and yes she has the lead in her H.S. Musical. </p>
<p>It looks like she has two very good choices. As you have stated they are both very different programs and she likes both of them for different reasons. We will be traveling back to Cincinnati for the Cincinnatus competition. D will spend some time sitting in on classes and meeting current MT students. She wants to get a better feel for the program.</p>
<p>We went to CCM last April and she fell in love with CCM. We even saw the Senior showcase. Then she went to OCU for the summer and fell in love with Oklahoma. I have a feeling D. will love it wherever she goes and long as it is rigorous and she is learning and growing. In fact she seems to like everything she does except programs that are full of fluff and 2 hour lunch breaks.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your D chelle....and I will offer my D if you want up to the minute freshman OCU experiences......</p>
<p>I'm brand new to this board (today!)...my D was accepted to OCU as well, but we haven't visited there yet for her audition. We have several schools to see yet. So...I'm assuming your D has already had her audition and accepted into the BFA program?</p>