<p>Hey, I'm an MT major at OCU, so I'll do my best to answer some of these questions. (Glad you like OCU, by the way!) As a freshman, I wouldn't say it's hard to 'establish yourself' although it is very difficult to be cast your first year. There are 3 classes ahead of you, plus grad students (who are cast in the same shows as undergrads) so it's tough competition! That being said, there are plenty of freshmen who get cast their first year. Merry Wives of Windsor, one of our operas this semester has at least 4, I believe. There were also some freshmen cast in both Urban Cowboy and The Music Man. However, not being cast in a show doesn't mean you're going undetected. You will be getting plenty of exposure within your studio, as you'll have at least one master class per week (usually more, depending on the studio) and your voice teacher will know your capabilities extremely well - this does mean something. As far as how many shows it is possible to do in a year, nobody ever really gets cast more than twice in a year, a sort of unwritten rule, to give more people a chance. There are few people however who are cast in 2 shows a year. There are some students who are consistantly being cast, and others who may go four years never being cast in a main stage production. It really depends. This school is full of nothing but excquisite talent, so not being cast doesn't mean you're not good enough, it simply means that the director wanted to go in another direction.
There are student productions however, which can increase performance opportunities. If you search around the OCU threads you may find more info about Stripped, which is the student org that puts on staged readings. There is also a cabaret every semester, open to anyone (not by audition) which is always loads of fun.
The campus life is, well, fair I would say. Considering that OCU is a small campus, there isn't as much to do as a school with 10,000 plus students. However, there is always something to be doing as a Musical Theatre major.. your studies become your life. There are recitals constantly throughout the year, and we have a beautiful new building to spend time in, so with practicing and all, you'd be surprised how time flies. As far as getting off campus, you'll find there isn't too much directly around campus. If you can bring a car, I would highly recommend it, there's plenty to do in the city, you just have to have a vehicle to get there. Public transportation is pretty non-existant. OCU does sponsor some cool events off campus, so getting to them is nice. We have free movie night once a month, which is a favorate around here. We all hop in our cars, drive across the city, and fill up a whole theatre with OCU kids.. very fun. And free... we like free.
Going back to shows, there are also theatre productions which MT majors are encouraged to audition for. There really are plenty of performance oppotunities to those who are willing to prepare and audition for everything. There's always an audition going on for one thing or another.
You asked about our MT/Opera season, with 3 and 3, which yes, is the norm. Two mainstage, and one spot light of each. A spotlight is generally not heavily produced, and more intimate. We usually have a big fall musical, and a big spring musical, but this year because of the Pre-National tour workshop of Urban Cowboy, we had both mainstage musicals in the fall. So the big spring spot this year is an Opera. Just FYI.</p>
<p>Hmm.. I don't know really what else to tell you. I'm glad you're excited about the program, and I hope I helped answer any questions. It wasn't long ago that I was in the same boat, and I want to help out as much as I can! Let me know if there's anything else specific that you'd like to know about.</p>