<p>yeah, little women is going on tour. It's coming to chicago next year. I just a got a flyer in the mail about. I hope sutton and amy stay! :( I know Maureen McGovern is..it says so in the flyer.</p>
<p>Oh, I'm SOOOO glad we saw "Little Women" when we were in New York, although I do think my daughter wanted to disown me during the show. I totally lost it when Beth was dying; not just a few tears, but big heaving (albeit suppressed) sobs. My daughter was leaning over during moments of applause and instructing me to "sniff, hard, now...while nobody can hear you"!!! Despite my <em>ahem</em> loss of composure, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.</p>
<p>I found it enjoyable, but I did feel that it didn't get the essence of what the book was about. Sutton Foster was great, though! I hope she still wins the Tony!</p>
<p>Doctor John,</p>
<p>Wow. Congrats on the opening of the new theatre and facility! I will be coming to the Visit day tomorrow afternoon and seeing Jesus Christ Superstar that evening, with my mom. I'm very excited!
About the visit day; I noted that their wasn't much of a time-slot to visit w/ the heads of programs and possibly (for me) have time to tour more Music & theatre aspects of the college. Would it be at all possible to, shall we say, "stray" from the original schedule and do a slightly more personal approach? Or should I try to visit sometime again and do that? I was planning to try to find out once we got there tomorrow... But I thought I might come on here and get an answer. I'm sure it's probably a silly question which I could easily ask once we get there, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. </p>
<p>Thanks for info. you may have!</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>~Kate</p>
<p>Kate:</p>
<p>Sorry I didn't see your message sooner; I just read it. I won't be there tomorrow, as I'm on sabbatical this term. But ask for Debbie Byrne, our admissions liaison, and if she's not there, ask to meet Cass Johnson, Director of Admissions. They'll do their best to set something up so that you can see some of the things normally not part of the day. Hope you enjoy the show. And don't hesitate to write if you have more questions.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Dr. John</p>
<p>Thanks Dr. John! I'm glad I happened to get online before bed and see your message... <em>usually</em> I'm not up this late when I have to wake up @ 4:30 AM. lol. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>~Kate</p>
<p>Hi DoctorJohn,</p>
<p>Just wondering if you have decided to have a fall audition, and possibly change to rolling admissions. Do you know when Otterbein's audition dates will be posted?</p>
<p>Also, are you going to be attending the auditions at the Thespian Festival in June?</p>
<p>Thanks for your wonderful information and your input to this forum!</p>
<p>MTparent:</p>
<p>How interesting that you should ask. I'm working on that problem this week. Hope to have an answer by Friday.</p>
<p>As for Thespians, I will not be attending personally, since I'm on sabbatical this term. But Debbie Byrne, our admissions liaison, will be there with two of our students, a junior MT major and a senior BA major, and they will be attending all the auditions. I trust their eyes.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply! Many of us will be anxiously awaiting your decision concerning fall auditions/rolling admissions and the audition schedule.</p>
<p>We made our decision today. Based on interest, we've decided to add a fall audition date on Friday, December 2, for both Acting and Musical Theatre prospects. We understand that CCM has scheduled an MT audition for Saturday, December 3, and we thought this might make it possible for students to do an Ohio weekend. For those unfamiliar with Ohio geography, Otterbein is in Columbus in the center of the state, and CCM is in Cincinnati, two hours south of us on the Ohio River.</p>
<p>Although we are not changing to rolling admissions (for reasons that I outlined in earlier posts), we will tell students who audition in December their status: accepted, in consideration, or not in consideration. Because we take so few students (typically 4 men and 4 women in MT, 4 and 4 in Acting), we are unlikely to accept more than one or two men and one or two women in each degree program. (We must reserve space for those auditioning for us later.) But we will keep a larger number than usual in consideration. Those students will be notified of our decision in mid-March, along with the students who audition for us in January, February and March. The rest of the students will be released, and although that is a painful message, we hope that it will allow students and their families to make better plans for the remaining auditions. </p>
<p>B.F.A. Musical Theatre Audition Dates
Friday, December 2, 2005<br>
Saturday, January 28, 2006<br>
Saturday, February 4, 2006<br>
Saturday, February 25, 2006<br>
Saturday, March 4, 2006 </p>
<p>B.F.A. Acting Audition Dates
Friday, December 2, 2005<br>
Friday, February 24, 2006 </p>
<p>National Unified Audition Dates<br>
New York, Sunday, February 5, 2006 (please note we are only in NYC on Sunday; other schools will be there on Saturday)
Chicago, Monday-Wednesday, February 6-8, 2006<br>
San Francisco, Saturday, February 11, 2006<br>
Los Angeles, Sunday, February 12, 2006</p>
<p>I'll also post this on the audition thread and over in Theatre as well.</p>
<p>I'll be offline for a couple of weeks. My wife and I are going to Australia to visit our son the bassoonist. He's been studying at the Conservatory at the University of Sydney this year, doing a performer's diploma (after finishing his MM at Indiana last June), getting ready for professional auditions next season. He's playing a recital on June 6, and we're really looking forward to it. </p>
<p>Best wishes to all.</p>
<p>DoctorJohn,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for considering parent & student input, and scheduling an early audition in December. It really helps with the planning! Also, we appreciate that you plan to give the December students immediate audition feedback. No one likes to be rejected (ouch--I hate that word) to a desired program, but it's alot better to know right away, then hold out hope for months, and then be disappointed anyway. </p>
<p>You are truly a gem, and are much appreciated on this forum! </p>
<p>Have a wonderful trip!</p>
<p>Doctorjohn,</p>
<p>Did it turn out that Otterbein reps were not able to attend ITF in Nebraska? Otterbein wasn't listed in the blue college auditions booklet the kids were given and my daughter mentioned that none of those who auditioned with her (Wednesday) seemed to be able to locate an Otterbein callback list for that day. Wondered if the reps were only able to attend some of the audition sessions? Thanks</p>
<p>Dr. John, </p>
<p>I have a question regarding song selecton for the auditions. Since we need 16 bars of of a ballad and 32 of an upbeat, what would you consider "Why god why" from Miss Siagon (just the verses and chorus, not the bridge which is certainly upbeat). It seems to fall kind of in between being a ballad and upbeat and therefore am not qite sure whether I would sing 16 or 32 bars of it. Thank you!</p>
<p>Additionally Dr. John, I just read about your new policy of admissions that is similar to rolling admissions in that you will notify the students of being accepted, considered, or not considered. My question is, will the auditioneers be notified right after the audition, a week from then, or how exactly will this work?</p>
<p>BiGismama: I don't know why we weren't listed in the blue college auditions book. We should have been. Reps were there on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, we didn't have someone there on Wednesday, which is why the students that day couldn't find a callback list. As you know, however, we don't make offers on the basis of the very brief auditions at Thespians, so no one (except us) lost out. Please apologize to your daughter and ask her to pass along this information to her friends. Certainly no slight was intended. </p>
<p>brown101: I would suggest using "Why God Why" as your ballad, and therefore doing 16 bars. Try to find something lighter in tone, even comic, for your up-tempo.</p>
<p>As for our new policy, I'm not entirely sure how it will work, since we've never done it before and the faculty hasn't had a chance to work through all the issues. But I don't see any reason why we couldn't get the letters out within a week. We definitely will not post results immediately. I do need to point out that we're only promising to provide this immediate feedback to those auditioning in December. However, if it works, and if everyone likes it, we may continue it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the questions, everyone.</p>
<p>Dr. John -</p>
<p>I know you have answered this before - and I believe that you said it didn't make any difference to you or your staff - but I still get a little voice in the back of my head saying "you should audition on campus - if at all possible"</p>
<p>And that - the kids that DO make it to campus - obviously REALLY want to attend your program - and that MUST sway you just a teensy-weensy bit?</p>
<p>So - if you feel comfortable doing so - could you tell us what percentage of acceptances historically come from the unifieds - and what percentage from on-campus auditions?</p>
<p>I know it is different from year to year - but inquiring minds want to know?
(Now that our turn is coming up.....)</p>
<p>Thanks so much for ALL of your posts!</p>
<p>janenw</p>
<p>Janenw,</p>
<h2>Here's Doctorjohn's post from 5/21/05 that directly answers your question. (Don't ask why I'm up this late looking for this info........)</h2>
<p>Unified statistics </p>
<p>Here's the breakdown of unified vs. campus auditions for Otterbein for this year:</p>
<p>WOMEN
on-campus 92 initial offers 2 percentage 2.2%
unifieds 59 initial offers 2 percentage 3.4%</p>
<p>MEN
on-campus 44 initial offers 5 percentage 11.4%
unifieds 28 initial offers 4 percentage 14.3%</p>
<p>Several things can be deduced from this data. One, of course, is that it's much harder for women than for men. This should not come as news to anyone. But another is that, at least for us, at least for this year, students had a slighter better chance of being accepted from the unified auditions than from on-campus ones, as surprising as that may seem.</p>
<p>However, before anyone rushes to make unified appointments, I want to suggest why the data look this way. At the unifieds, we see students who (1) have done the research to even know about the unifieds, (2) are determined to get into a BFA program, and (3) have the finances to come to NY, Chicago or LA. On-campus, we see a significant number of students from Ohio who (1) haven't done the research, (2) think they might like to do musical theatre, but aren't sure, and/or (3) don't have the finances to go to the unifieds. We see a wider range of talent on-campus than at the unifieds, so it makes sense that the percentage of admits would be lower.</p>
<p>I agree with jamimom, that an on-campus audition is preferable, for all the reasons she's outlined. But if one has to choose between auditioning for a school on-campus or not auditioning for that school at all, the unifieds offer a way to audition for that school, plus several others, without tripling the costs in time and money. And since the data also show that the odds of getting into any program are daunting, it makes sense to increase your chances by auditioning for more than two or three schools. That's why the unifieds were invented in the first place, and why we continue to participate in it. </p>
<p>Our class is now complete, and I'm very pleased with it. I hope to be able to post more statistics about our auditions on the Otterbein thread later this week.</p>
<p>It's a beautiful morning in Ohio. Hope it's nice where you are too. Have a
good weekend.</p>
<hr>
<p>Hope this helps (and hope your D feels better soon. Glad she's enjoying CMU. My D loved it in '03)</p>
<p>PS (Your welcome, John......)</p>
<p>Thanks, theatermom. It would have taken me an hour to find that post!</p>
<p>Yes, janenw, an on-campus audition is preferable. Jamimom, in her post of 5-20-05, said, "The advantage of the on-campus auditions, is that you can get a bird's eye view of the department and its players, and tour the college. With all of the money you spend on auditions, it gives you a bit of a cost savings if you use that as your campus visit as well. Also, it seems to me that the on-campus auditions are a bit more thorough in that the acting, voice, dance faculty are all involved. At Unifieds, the dance portion is either eliminated, abbreviated or you have to go on campus for it. There are usually only one or two auditioners there and you are not likely to get live accompaniment." (See the "unified auditions or on-campus auditions?" thread.) All of that is true. So if your d. knows now that Otterbein is one of her top choices, by all means she should come to campus.</p>
<p>I think the rest of Jamimom's post is worth reading. I like her advice about mixing on-campus and unified auditions. But every family has to make its own choices.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Hi DoctorJohn,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for solving the ITF audition mystery for me; D had heard that Otterbein reps were at the festival later in the week, but she was off campus and missed speaking with them. And thanks also, for all your great advice previously about the ITF auditions being a good "first step" in this senior year audition process. It has really helped to direct and narrow her focus regarding the "next step".</p>
<p>You are all "amazable" !!</p>
<p>( a word coined by my kids beloved second grade teacher - to combine "amazing" and "unbelievable")</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the quick reference.</p>
<p>Living so far away from ALL of the good MT programs will have us hopping this next year. (But I DO have cousin that lives in Ft. Wayne, IN!)</p>
<p>And theatermom - thanks for asking about my D. spoke to her today - she seems well on the road to recovery!</p>
<p>janenw</p>