TwinDad

OK (no pun intended), maybe this is a naive question. But how does the MT program at OCU rate in terms of diversity? I see on the OCU website that the university itself only has 6% African American and 3% Hispanic representation.

To be specific--can a Jewish girl who's in love with the chaos and diversity of NYC, but also in love with musical theater, find true happiness at a Methodist university in Oklahoma City?

MTpolk

(I'm a music student at OCU) and I can tell you that the school looks much more Methodist on paper than in does in person. Aside from one general education course there's really not much push on anything Methodist (and even that class is very open minded to other religions and beliefs.) I do know Jewish students here who are as well adjusted as anyone else.
As far as ethnic diversity, it's not as diverse here as other schools, but they are honestly putting in a good effort to make the department more diverse than it currently is. Regardless of race or religious preference OCU looks formost for talent in their MT students.

illinisue

Twin Dad -

My D is a freshman in Dance Management at OCU and while I agree with the ethnic diversity comments (though her roommate is Guatamalan and we saw ethnicity at the Honors dinner), she has found a great amount of religious tolerance. As a child of a Jewish father and Christian mother, she has not always find that to be the case. In fact, at dinner during orientation, we had a long discussion with one of the religion professors (not about Judiasm) and she loves him. He was studying for the Catholic priesthood, left the church, and is now a Quaker. I know there's got to be a great story there, but I don't know it!

dancersmom

TwinDad,
Glad to see that you made it over to the MT forum. Welcome

TwinDad

Thanks, dancersmom. Good to see you on this side of the fence, too!

Regarding OCU, the posts I've read from people who go there (or have offspring going there) have been uniformly wonderful. But many posts also stress matching the person with the school, and I'm starting to think that, while the content of the OCU program would be right up my D's alley, the environment might not. She has been grousing for years about the lack of diversity in our small suburban town, and absolutely loves NYC the couple times we've visited. I'm thinking she really probably should stay on the East Coast in or near some metropolis, whether it's NYC or something else.