The Berklee College of Music

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
I will try to keep this to the point. I transferred to Berklee after 4 semesters in the music school of a state Liberal Arts university. It is the single best step I have taken toward my career. If you are one of the 700 kids that come in right after high school because of the "reputation", then you have already wasted money before you even step foot in boston. NOWHERE will you be able to simply get a job because of the name of a school, so don't kid yourself. That being said, if you are really here to work (aka unlike 70% of americas college students) then this could be the best place for you to study. The main perk, in my opinion, is the ability to network with a ton of musicians in one central area, and the exposure to people who are actively working in the industry in various fields. Instrumentally speaking, most of the schools teachers are still from the old school of berklee and therefore to really get ahead you've got to be able to read and blow over jazz. There are rock, jazz, latin, metal, blues, country, bluegrass, fusion, big band, and tons of other ensembles and labs that can be taken unlike most music schools, which will focus you on either classical or jazz, with nothing inbetween. The school did start as a jazz school, and you have to be able to play jazz if you study at any other college,so i don't see why there is such a suprise when you have to be able to read charts. I guess the bottom line is that if you have something to bring to the table, and you know when you do,AND YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK HARD, then berklee could be a good place for you. Really, College is simply what you make of it. If you come to berklee and sit in your room and talk to your girlfriend all day, then you won't like it. If you come here with your goals infront and a fire behind you to work, then you will really gain something from being here, as you would at any university anywhere. The students who make it past the first year are really not as bad as they are made out to be, most people only get to meet first and second year students who are on the way out, so they get a skewed image of the student body as a whole. So i guess thats my advice… All it comes down to is you.

Oh and incidentally, Mitch Haupers was one of the best ear training teachers i've ever had…