The Berklee College of Music

Date: Jul 25 2011
Major: Music - Composition/Theory (This Major's Salary over time)
It sounds like most people reviewing Berklee are wet rags and need to seriously lighten up. Berklee is not full of self-cenetered assholes or coked-up drug dealers; they exist if you look for them, but it's not like the place is teeming with them. Berklee, like most other colleges, has plenty of drinking and drug usage and partying, but I mean, honestly: it's college! A music school, none the less! People are going to have fun. But if you seriously cannot find fun things to do because you think everyone is drunk or high all the time partying, then you are seriously mistaken and lazy for not trying harder.

I've had an amazing experience at Berklee so far. I lived off campus, so at first I found it a bit hard to get involved, as the students who live in the dorms can be kind of cliquish. It didn't take long to get settled and find my niche, though. Students at Berklee, for the most part, are passionate, talented, open-minded, creative and wonderful people. The student body is very diverse, and I had a fantastic time getting to know people from different backgrounds and life styles and discover new musical genres and such.

The professors at Berklee can be a bit full of themselves. Many are themselves former Berklee students who never really quite made it in the music industry, so they decided to come back and teach at their alma mater. Said professors tend to think they're the shit for no apparent reason. However, there are plenty of incredible professor who have a lot of experience and the industry and are more than willing to share their wealth of knowledge with you and help you accomplish your goals. I've found that most professors, even the ones that come across as arrogant, really are there to help you and will be stoked to give you as much help as you need if you approach them humbly to ask for it.

Boston is a fantastic city! Like most cities, you should probably watch your back walking around after 2:00am, but it's really a safe city, especially in the Back Bay. There is a plethora of museums, shops, restaurants, live music, history, interesting sights, and entertainment to be had in Boston. Boston is boring if you let it be, but there is plenty to do there if you put a little effort into finding (same goes on campus; it may seem kind of dull until you really make an effort to get involved). Not to mention, Boston is a beautiful city with an awesome culture.

It's true that if you're some sort of hardcore traditionalist Christian (or any religion, for that matter), staunchly right wing, "closed-minded" type that you might have a little trouble agreeing with Berklee at first. But college is about opening up, forgetting your old habits and discovering new and exciting things. Berklee accepts all life styles and people types, and if anyone tells you different, they're probably just bitter because they never made any real friends and felt left out or something.

All in all, Berklee is an awesome school. The amount of creativity, passion, and talent in the students astounds and inspires me daily. Every day I have class, I think to myself afterwards "wow, that was so interesting! and useful!" At Berklee, there is so much opportunity to have an incredible college experience. But, perhaps more than at other schools, you really get out what you put in. If you make an effort to be succesful in class and get to know the people around you, Berklee will accept you with open arms and I'm confident you'll fall in love with it!