<p>Is anyone doing a live audition sometime in February or March? Or has anyone auditioned there before? If so, could you write about your experience there?</p>
<li>What instrument do you play?</li>
<li>What is it like at Oberlin? Did you feel comfortable with the people there? Or were they cold? </li>
<li>Did you observe a lesson (before the audition) or take a lesson with a faculty member?</li>
<li>Approximately how many auditionees (?) were present?</li>
<li>When do you usually hear from them after the audition? </li>
</ol>
<p>My daughter auditioned for violin performance in December. I love Oberlin and my daughter has several friends who are music students there, but she really wants a big city. Oberlin is very comfortable and casual and everyone was very nice. All the violin faculty were at her audition. There were plenty of kids there, I really can't say how many. I believe she had some sight reading to do. She had had a lesson with a faculty member earlier in the fall. The day after her audition, she received an email from a faculty member (not the one she had had a lesson with) offering to teach her in the fall. She received a formal offer of admission just days (maybe a week or two?) after the audition. Be sure you make time to visit the outstanding art museum on campus.</p>
<p>Is anyone doing a live audition sometime in February or March? Or has anyone auditioned there before? If so, could you write about your experience there?</p>
<ol>
<li>What instrument do you play?</li>
<li>What is it like at Oberlin? Did you feel comfortable with the people there? Or were they cold? </li>
<li>Did you observe a lesson (before the audition) or take a lesson with a faculty member?</li>
<li>Approximately how many auditionees (?) were present?</li>
<li>When do you usually hear from them after the audition? </li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks!
Hi ProOrgano,
My son auditioned there in early December.</p>
<ol>
<li>voice (and another primary instrument, but voice is his desired major)</li>
<li>He loves Oberlin. It's his first choice. It feels (to both of us) like the well-respected music school that it is. Hard work going on, but also friendliness and mutual respect. He feels very comfortable with the people there. Thinks the students are great. Thinks the faculty are amazing. The only person he said anything negative about in our two visits to Oberlin was the accompanist. The accompanist did a great job with what he had to do -- accompany, but he was kind of cold, too business-like for my son's tastes, very rushed, just not personable. He didn't maintain the time slot or the "advertised" amount of warm-up time for my son. It didn't hinder my son, but he noticed it for sure. That was the only negative comment my son has ever made about Oberlin or its people. He mentioned that the faculty made an attempt to make him feel comfortable during the audition itself. Everybody was very friendly and welcoming during all the activities surrounding the actual audition. The whole thing was very professionally run while at the same time welcoming and encouraging.</li>
<li>He did take a lesson with a faculty member on our first visit. It was great.</li>
<li>Lots of auditionees present. I don't know how many ... maybe 25 in the lobby area at one time? Lots more in the first introductory meeting on arrival ... maybe 150 including parents? Those are rather uneducated guesses -- using my memory and my vision of the capacity of the room we were all seated in. I could be way off.</li>
<li>He heard back from them within about 10 days -- via email.</li>
</ol>
<p>when my kid auditioned, early, it was a pleasant weekend for all of us -- there was a concert the evening before, there was an information session with some frank questions and answers by the admissions officers, who were friendly, knowledgable, and informative, including about double degree options and career mentoring issues; there was a panel of current students. The audition itself included several faculty, every piece was included; they were friendly but business-like; the students dressed fairly casually -- business casual would be appropriate, even though Oberlin is a very casual place in terms of dress. It is possible to visit classes, tour the conservatory, tour the college. I was impressed with the library, there are nice performance and rehearsal spaces, lots of practice rooms, and there were always students coming through who seemed engaged and happy. Oberlin won out for us over more "prestigious" options, and even though the idea of a school in the sticks wasn't initially appealing -- as it turns out, there are big advantages to an all-undergraduate conservatory in the boonies -- students make opportunities for performing both on their own and with the very engaged faculty. The history and theory courses are demanding and engaging (mostly).
Good luck!</p>
<p>I've known a number of violin students (including some of my own kids) who have auditioned at Oberlin over a number of years. All the kids I've talked with and my own experience was that the admissions crew and faculty - personal experience limited to String Dept. - were very warm and helpful. The day(s) were also quite well organized and directed.</p>
<p>I always encourage auditioning students to talk with any current students they run into. Reports I've gotten back from kids who followed through on that suggestion were also positive - current students helpful and sympathetic to the auditioning kids position.</p>
<p>I've known several violin and viola students who did not initially consider Oberlin their first choice. The audition experience was so positive, that their thinking changed and they ended up enrolling!</p>