By now, you have learned about Orange County School of the Arts' (OCSA’s) rigorous academic program, pre-professional arts conservatories, and unique school culture. You are ready to apply!

After becoming familiar with the various conservatories and the skills characteristic of those conservatories through OCSA’s Preview Day, prospective students are invited to fill out an application and participate in the Conservatory Workshop/Review Process to help them decide which conservatory is the best fit for them. OCSA admits all applicants on a space-available basis. Should the number of applicants exceed space available, a lottery is conducted, by conservatory, to determine which students are admitted.

Before getting started, please make sure that you thoroughly understand the Admissions Guidelines and have gathered all of the necessary materials. You will complete your application online and should be prepared to upload all requested materials along with your application. OCSA does not condition its admissions on performance ability. OCSA is committed to serving all students who have demonstrated a passion and/or interest in the arts.

Additional support is available for students, parents, or guardians who require translation in order to best understand our admissions processes, as well as for those who need technology assistance. Applicants who have received or are currently receiving special services are encouraged to request any necessary accommodations to support them during the admissions process. 

Please read our Admissions FAQ. You may also contact our admissions office at admissions@ocsarts.net or 714.560.0900 ext. 5510.

Click here to read more about Charter School Enrollment Rights.

Conservatory Workshops/Reviews provide applicants an opportunity to demonstrate their artform and receive helpful feedback from our conservatory staff. Applicants should carefully examine the specific Workshop/Review Guidelines to prepare for their Conservatory Workshops/Reviews. If the guidelines specify that materials will be submitted digitally, those materials will need to be included when the application is submitted on or before January 31, 2021. No student will be able to select a conservatory for enrollment if they have not completed ALL aspects of the Workshop/Review Guidelines for that conservatory.

Applicants will be able to schedule their own appointments to attend Conservatory Workshops/Reviews, should there be an in-person component. All in-person components of Conservatory Workshops/Reviews for the upcoming school year will be conducted in January and February. Once an appointment is scheduled, there can be no changes to the scheduled date or time.

OCSA does not condition its admissions on performance ability. An applicant’s feedback will not impact their inclusion in the enrollment lottery, but may impact the level a student is placed in upon being offered enrollment, depending on the conservatory. Upon being offered enrollment in the school, students' artistic skills may be further assessed in order to determine level, and in some cases that assessment may result in placement in alternate programs or pathways within their conservatory in order to best suit their interests and skills.

We encourage all applicants to participate in workshops/reviews for three different conservatories, in order to best prepare themselves to select a conservatory that would be a good fit for them. We strongly recommend that all applicants who have selected the Instrumental Music Conservatory or the Popular Music Conservatory also participate in a workshop/review for at least one other conservatory. These conservatories do not have an entry level of instruction, thus spaces are limited.

Upon completion of each of their Conservatory Workshops/Reviews, applicants will receive a rubric with helpful feedback from our conservatory staff, which they can use to select a conservatory for enrollment. Applicants will only be able to select a conservatory for which they have completed a Conservatory Workshop/Review. Applicants will not be able to change their conservatory selection after it has been submitted. If an applicant does not meet the minimum proficiency in their Conservatory Workshop/Review for either Instrumental Music or Popular Music, they will need to select one of their alternate conservatory choices for the enrollment lottery.

If there are more applicants than spaces available, there will be a lottery conducted in order to determine enrollment in each conservatory. The enrollment lottery will be drawn by grade, conservatory, and when applicable, concentration.

Each applicant will be randomly assigned an Applicant Number at the time their application is submitted, which will be used to identify that applicant in the enrollment lottery in order to protect the privacy of prospective students.

The enrollment lottery will be conducted in accordance with the application of lawful preferences stated in our charter, and will be livestreamed so it can be viewed from any device that has internet access. All applicants will be notified of the results of the enrollment lottery within 10 business days.

Once all enrollment spaces are filled for a particular conservatory, Applicant Numbers will continue to be drawn and placed on a waitlist in the order drawn.

*Applicants who miss this deadline will not be guaranteed inclusion in the enrollment lottery.

Opportunities to apply in late spring or summer are rare and only scheduled if there are fewer applicants than spaces available.