<p>This school has produced the sucesses of Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara, so I know the program must be sort of good! (:)) Though, I was wondering if anyone could comment on this school through personal experience or anything about this school and it's program. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>i know a few of the singers were at a summer program with me last year and they sounded great. They seem to work hard and come up with good ideas and I know a few of them did get to work one on one with ricky ian gordon last year through my voice teacher who flies out there to give masterclasses about 2 or 3 times a year. He respects the program but did not suggest it for me, so I don't know what that means. But then again he only suggested UCLA, UCI, Mannes and the school Kurt Ollmann is teaching at for me...so again idk.</p>
<p>We're taking our D out in mid-April for an initial "look-see", so I can report specifics after that. We'll be meeting with professors from both VP and MusicEd.</p>
<p>Search around this forum and the Musical Theatre forum, and you will find some info about it. My impression from what I read is that it turns out well-trained, well-rounded vocalists. We like that auditions for ALL productions are open to both VP and MT students; in fact, all MT and VP students HAVE to audition. We also liked that they do not "look down their nose" at students who combine VP with Music Ed.</p>
<p>They also offer some really generous scholarships based on academics.</p>
<p>I'll let you know!</p>
<p>Thanks so much!! </p>
<p>Let us know, for sure, what the school is like after you return. I'm touring the NYC area and the Boston area this April for our school break, but hopefully I'll be able to get out to the midwest this summer!</p>
<p>My son is a VP major at OCU. He started out in the MT program and transfered to the VP program. He loves his classes and the faculty. They really are there for the success of the students. There is plenty of performing opportunities. He has been cast each semester he's been there. And it is true that there is lots of cross-casting between MT and VP. For those interested, they require everyone to audtion for everything, they feel that this is part of the training. The class sizes are very small and everybody gets alot of individual attention. They award a BM not a BFA. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to help.</p>
<p>My daughter is planning to interview and audition for VP or VE at OCU in november, any input on this process or suggestions for interview preparation?
Thanks</p>
<p>First, what is VE?</p>
<p>Venturing a guess: vocal music education (or more precisely a music ed curriculum with vocal emphasis)?</p>
<p>That was my guess, but I wanted to be sure.</p>
<p>To welovemg:</p>
<p>If your daughter is contemplating VE (education), MAKE SURE SHE IS ABLE TO CONVEY WHAT A DRIVING PASSION IT IS FOR HER, RIGHT NOW. We met with the woman in charge of the MusicEd department – Judith Willoughby – in April 08. She is passionate about music ed, and expects the same of her students. Do not be interviewing with a “Plan B” scenario in mind. She will sniff that out in a minute, as she did with my daughter. And she does not like it!</p>
<p>In general, we found OCU to be very much driven by the mindset that gets into beauty pageants, beauty contests. For us, it was a turnoff, and not right for our daughter. But if you can understand the benefits that CAN be reaped from the beauty contest experience – poise, ambition, hard work, scholarships, etc – your daughter needs to be able to convey her enthusiasm for those things in her interview. </p>
<p>Our impression was that the admissions department/process is geared toward making sure every student is a “right fit” with the school personality. Look long and hard at your daughter, and make sure she is a “right fit” going into the interview process.</p>
<p>Although I can’t speak much about MusicEd I can say that while there is the pageant aspect at OCU there are a lot of MT and VP girls who are not the pageant type that do very well there. While hard work is noticed and valued there I think it valued at most or all music programs. I also think while some girls are the pageant type and others are not poise and the other “stuff” is not a bad thing for a performer. I think people get the idea that the pageant thing is dominant at OCU because they have this “wall” in the lobby of the main theater that is covered with portraits of major pageant winners and they have had more Miss America’s than any other US college. I think the last couple of “major” pageant winners weren’t even from the school of music, I think the last one was in the School of Nursing. While I know that OCU isn’t for everybody, by any means, I don’t want people to think that if you’re not a pageant girl it’s not for you.</p>
<p>We’ve discussed this before, and I don’t mean to diss pageant types. In addition to being well-groomed and attractive – they have A LOT going on under that surface: they are very together young ladies, with a lot of focus and drive and toughness. You could just as easily develop those attributes at a good all-girl’s private school.</p>
<p>But OCU is definitely not for everyone. My feeling was that the admissions process was geared toward winnowing out who it felt might not be a right fit, so I give them a lot of credit for acknowledging this. </p>
<p>All your daughter can be is who she is in the interview.</p>
<p>Vic your D is lucky you understand that she is who she is! I wish more parents had that attitude. Having only sons, sometimes I forget that this whole ball of wax can be very different for females. When my son was going through the audition process I don’t think he felt he was being looked at for the right fit, he may have been, but he didn’t feel that way.
His only thoughts were, can I sing well enough and not be an idiot when they ask me questions! For him the fit has turned out to be great, we’ll see how grad school goes, a whole different animal.</p>
<p>How are the academics (both music and otherwise) at OCU?</p>
<p>I was very impressed with what I saw going on in the music department. I don’t think its academic programs rank all that high, but I seem to remember that there are certain programs that obviously did/do get substantial investment in them.</p>
<p>Sorry, I just have to chime in here. 
My D graduated from OCU last May with a BM/MT. I never felt that the pageant aspect was emphasized at all. If not for the portraits of past winners on the wall in the theater lobby, I would not have been aware that there even WAS a Miss OCU contest. As srw stated above, the last Miss OCU to become Miss Oklahoma was a nursing major. I believe the winner of the local pageant gets a full-ride scholarship for at least a year, so there is reward for those who are interested in pageants. My D never felt pressured to participate. In my opinion there is nothing sillier than SORORITIES, and no one seems to complain about them!</p>
<p>Truth be told, I can’t stand the idea of sororities, either! 
But you’re right, it rarely comes up, at least in this sub-forum.</p>
<p>To VicAria ~
When you said that you feel the admissions dept. is geared toward making sure every student is the right “fit” at OCU, did you mean the admissions office of the whole university, or of the music dept? And what is this interview process that you mentioned? Mine is an accepted student but has yet to audition.</p>
<p>I meant the admissions department. They were extremely attentive for our April 08 visit, and we spent a lot of time just chatting with the admissions officer about different subjects that would be able to help them see where my daughter might or might not fit in. (This was the interview) Coming from Connecticut, I do think there are cultural differences compared to being a young lady growing up in Texas or Oklahoma, that were readily acknowledged, so I think it served both of us (admissions, our daughter) to get a good sense of what she is like and what life is like at OCU … I don’t mean to cast this in a negative light, I was very impressed with the thoroughness of our visit. </p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter. Good luck on her audition!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my D has graduated from OCU and her audition was in 2005, but there was no interview with the admissions department. She simply mailed in her application package and they mailed her an acceptance. She auditioned for vocal performance, and after she sang her two songs (that was the requirement back then), the panel hearing the audition (MT/VP voice teachers) asked her a few informal questions like, “What made you choose to audition at OCU?” It was more like they were trying to ascertain how strong her interest was to get an idea if she would attend if accepted. That may have been the case with VicAria’s interview. I’m sure it would have been “culture shock” for her at first, but my D had classmates from Boston, New York, North Carolina, Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota…you get the idea. Not all schools are right for every student. We visited another major university in Oklahoma, interviewed with the head of the MT Dept whom we did not like at all, and my D crossed them off the list completely.</p>