<p>Hello, i am an upcoming Senior and i have been thinking a lot about college lately, i really have my heart set on berklee college of music, but i would like to apply for many music colleges just in case i don't get accepted. what are some Music colleges that compare with berklee?</p>
<p>What is your primary instrument or interest in music? Do you want to perform, compose, be in music business, score films, create pop song… Are you interested in Classical, Jazz, Pop, Modern (i.e.: Phillip Glass), Fusion, World? Have you visited Berklee? What did you like about it?</p>
<p>And remember, each of those “many” colleges has an application fee and will require an audition. You need to tell us more about what instrument you play, how long have you been playing, accomplishments such as competitions or groups you play in,etc.</p>
<p>hello, thanks for the replies. i am a pianist (5 years, will be 6 years before going to berklee) a vocalist, i sing pop/rock and roll/R&B type vocals, i am a performer (dancer/theatre) also.i would like to be in the music business as a recording artist/performer. i have never visited Berklee, but i have/am currently taking online classes through Berklee. i so strongly feel that Berklee is where i belong, but thinking about having to pay off that almost 200,000 student loan bill makes me sick to my stomach…</p>
<p>I am glad to hear that you are taking the cost into account. Berklee is in the top 10 of most expensive colleges in the US. Berklee is definitely unique. Many alumni go on to be successful. But I suspect there are an equal number of Berklee students who drop-out or give up because being in the music business requires commitment, focus and time. Many kids who go to Berklee don’t realize that choosing music is not the easy path. You will need to be prepared to work harder and be more committed then your friends going off to liberal arts colleges. If you are that committed then I would plow forward and work like crazy to get the cost down through a combination of scholarships, financial aide and any local funding you can find.</p>
<p>For many years Berklee was known for giving out generous scholarships. I know several adult musicians who told me they attended Berklee instead of a more competitive conservatory because it was the least expensive option. But Berklee recently began a major construction project and it seems like they have pulled back and are giving away less of the coveted “free ride” scholarships. My son and his friends applied last year. Many have won numerous competitions and received recognition as outstanding players at festivals. These are kids who applied to other top ranked conservatories and were admitted with merit money. They are not slackers. It seemed like the typical grant among this particular crowd was 18K, which is a far cry from the full-ride many expected. Several years ago the number of full-rides given out during the 5 week filled a page. Last year there were just a handful of full-rides. I do not believe that the overall quality of the musicians declined.</p>
<p>Another option is to think about a gap year and work and save money. A mentor/musician my son knows told me that he went and played in the pit for musicals and earned enough money to pay his own way through Berklee. Attending as an older student meant that he was able to really absorb everything that Berklee had to offer. That was many years ago and I am not sure that it is possible to do that today given how expensive everything is, but I do think that taking a gap year is always a good idea.</p>
<p>StacJip, thank you very much. yes i planned on taking a year maybe two ‘gap year’ before going. reasons for this are of coarse to save up money, i would also like to take many more of their online courses ahead of time too, and the location change, i live in a small town in Mississippi, so moving to Boston would be a big change, but i would love to do it. Music is my passion, and its what i want to do for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>and what exactly is a conservatory? i would like to study at a more contemporary school, but im not counting out more classical Music colleges either.could you name a few more colleges for me to look into, i would like to go to an all performance/music/arts college, where the environment is creative and a place for you to truly learn music. Berklee is my dream college, but even if i took two years off and worked, as much as it hurts me to say this, its almost impossible to come up with that much money.</p>
<p>I recommend that you read the first pages of the following thread. It’s a great place to start in understanding the music world. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html?</a></p>
<p>you might want to read this CC Classic first:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html</a></p>
<p>Like minds…cross post (beat me to it by 2 minutes!!)</p>
<p>Ha -cross-posted with musicamusica!</p>
<p>Another useful place to start: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1145523-contemporary-music-school-help.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1145523-contemporary-music-school-help.html?</a></p>
<p>There are many more threads - if you search for ‘contemporary music’</p>
<p>A conservatory is a music school, basically, where students earn a BM. People may come on here and suggest you look at Belmont, or USC Thornton. I know little about these schools but if my old memory serves, they are often mentioned along with Berklee.</p>
<p>So there is a broad range of possibilities for you (I don’t know that much about your genre, but will try anyway). You could look at a state university’s BM program, other universities or liberal arts colleges with BA or BM programs, and conservatories/music schools. It sounds that you would really want a BM degree, meaning performance.</p>
<p>Many conservatories have costs similar to Berklee, with similar merit aid. That’s why I mentioned those other options. You can also study privately and perform professionally outside of school, which is sometimes an affordable option, and could accompany more classical studies.</p>
<p>University of the Arts in Philadelphia might be a possibility. Also some colleges such as Sarah Lawrence (see course on Advanced Theory: 20th-Century Theoretical Approaches II: Post-Tonal and Rock Music) or Bennington or maybe Vassar might also have a curriculum that appeals to you.</p>
<p>The combination of financial pressure and scarcity of schools with the focus you want will require some digging. I actually hope you don’t have to take too much time off. Honestly, if you go to school, you may make connections and be able to take time off during school, and maybe make some money performing. Don’t hold me to that, but it is a thought!</p>
<p>“It sounds that you would really want a BM degree, meaning performance.”</p>
<p>Though not as common as a BM in performance, there are schools that offer a BA in performance as well. (UCLA for example)</p>
<p>Compmom is on to something that you should consider. Private lessons with a good teacher outside of school would be an excellent option, especially if you can locate an affordable school in a large urban environment that has a good local music scene. One of the more successful young classical vocalists I know did her BA in music at Yale, while continuing her weekly voice lessons privately in NYC.</p>
<p>Berklee is a great school for many, but if you coming from the south, you should also look at Loyola New Orleans. </p>
<p>At Berklee, the base classes of music theory, ear training, etc. can all be learned on-line, and that sounds like what you are doing. Once you start at Berklee, they test you to place you into your starting classes. If you’ve taken many of those core classes on-line, you will either get credit for them or test out of them, and that means you wouldn’t have to pay for the full 4 years of Berklee tuition. Since Berklee is contemporary, you will also find that a lot of classes may include jazz theory and rhythms as its base, unlike a classical conservatory. Of course you can study other styles too (rock, R&B, pop … or invent a new style) but many of those styles have their roots in jazz, so make sure you are learning and playing with that in mind. </p>
<p>Berklee does give good scholarships out, but only 8 new full rides (called Presidential Scholarships, full tuition and room and board) each year. I’ve heard scholarship offers of anything from $3K/year up to $22K/year, but that is not generally shared. The kids at Berklee that were offered scholarships aren’t just good at executing a piece that they auditioned, they often also show that they can write, create, or do something else that shows they are more than a excellent technical executor of music. </p>
<p>Financial aid is a different way to close the financial gap and is separate from talent scholarships. For financial aid, you would work with your parents to fill out a FAFSA, and make sure you submit all paperwork early enough so you can still fix problems with your paperwork before any deadlines. </p>
<p>You can add your scholarships and financial aid together to reduce the bill you owe for your education.</p>
<p>Many students at Berklee do not have any scholarships, but they manage to get gigs, work for churches as musicians, and many other side jobs to close the gaps (nannies, tutors, waitresses, bartenders, maids, car mechanics). You should NOT take out $200,000 in loan to go to music school.</p>
<p>thank you so much SnowflakeVT, and to everyone. i plan on taking about 8 online classes from berklee, already taking one… all the classes im taking online are guitar courses,music history courses, and keyboard courses… i know i could get some financial aid, but it would still be a large amount of money… You are making me feel a little better about the financial aspect of it though… i know this is going to sound a little silly, but what would you do?</p>
<p>Take a look at Columbia College Chicago. While not a “music school,” they have programs that would support many of your interests.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are heading into contemporary music, which would in one sense narrow down schools (not all music schools have contemporary music programs, a lot of the ‘top’ conservatories like Juilliard, NEC, CIM and so forth as far as I know don’t offer contemporary music as such. To be honest, with Piano in terms of a classical conservatory you would likely find it very tough at the more competitive schools, Piano is absolutely insane, the level of competition is just way, way out there in terms of classical piano. It sounds to me like you would be more happy at a contemporary music program, where the entrance requirements are tough but are based in very different criteria in what they are looking for (take that with a pound of salt, I am a lot more knowledgeable about classical training)</p>
<p>A conservatory is usually described as a stand alone music school, where its whole mission is music. That gets muddied, Bard Conservatory is part of Bard college, and students there have to double major in performance and something else. Peabody is part of Johns Hopkins, yet as far as I know it is totally stand alone in terms of admissions. Then there are music schools like Rice and U Mich where you have to get admitted to both the conservatory and the college…</p>
<p>With finances, schools often differentiate between merit scholarships and aid. For many people, their family income is such that they aren’t eligible for much aid but potentially can get merit scholarships based on playing, and they hope those can help make the school affordable (the problem with financial aid is what they say is affordable may not be so affordable to the family).So it is possible a Berklee might be affordable because of financial aid and scholarship money (may not be, obviously, I don’t know Berklee well).So it might be possble with aid, scholarships and what you have saved to attend a more expensive school, you really don’t know until the aid and scholarship offer comes. </p>
<p>I agree with others, you don’t want to be saddled with student debt, as little as possible, 200k of debt with a liberal arts degree is a major, major burden, with a music degree, well, even more so…</p>
<p>yes, i am wanting to go to a contemporary music school, and yes, i would love for it to be a stand alone music school. and like you said, as far as contemporary music schools, there arent a whole bunch of them… i just really dont know what to do, that price tag scares me, but i dont want to do anything in my life except for music and perform, its my love, its my life… if i don’t go to music college, then i dont want to go to college at all… im so thankful i found this sight, and am able to talk to people about this, because it really is stressing me out…</p>
<p>I don’t know about Berklee specifically, but many schools will subtract merit aid (as well as “outside scholarships”) from financial aid.</p>
<p>I think that a $200k debt will be especially destructive for an artist. That debt would determine a lot of your decisions over decades and limit your artistic freedom. It is conceivable that the education might, in that way, end up doing you more harm than good for your art.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your parents’ situation is, but from your posts, it sounds like you are on your own in terms of paying for school. When you are 24, or if you get married (!), the schools will look at only your income, but even then, there is no guarantee that a substantial amount of the aid won’t be in loans.</p>
<p>For my kids, I accept subsidized Stafford loans, and that is it. If I could not pay upfront what is left over in costs after financial aid, then they would not (or in some cases I would not) go, period.</p>
<p>There are many ways to go to college these days, and there is a way for you to achieve your goals, one way or the other, so don’t lose heart. </p>
<p>First, is there a way to reduce costs at Berklee, beyond what you are doing? Can you share an apartment, cook your own food, and avoid room and board costs? Could you live in Malden or Somerville or Dorchester and get better rent than intown? What work could you do while in school? Is it possible to go to Berklee part-time or at night while working? Do they offer work-study? Are the online courses you are taking accepted for credit?</p>
<p>You could also continue to study music, take lessons, and perform, while doing college in any number of ways, majoring in music. UMass Boston, for example, has online courses, evening and weekend courses, and regular daytime courses. It is possible to do any of these in any combination, and if you take 2 classes or more, you are eligible for aid. UMass Lowell has a great music program (including voice, piano and a well-known recording program). These are out of state for you, but examples of state universities that have flexible, affordable programs. </p>
<p>Private colleges often have better aid than public, believe it or not, and I mentioned a few before. I have no idea if you would qualify for aid though. One of my kids goes to Bennington, where she has friends who are doing contemporary music w/voice. It is very small and artsy, and students work closely with faculty, but it would be different from a conservatory. However, you could take 1/2-3/4 of your classes in music, which is rare at colleges. Again, Sarah Lawrence is a similar type of school. Since you have more than one musical focus, this kind of interdisciplinary school might be good for you. There are many LAC’s that you could attend, but I get that you don’t want to do college if it is not mostly music. Does that mean that a liberal arts college is not at all something you would consider?</p>
<p>I know the Northeast best, so I will also mention University of Hartford’s Hartt School, in CT, Northeastern, and, again, University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I believe Hartt and Northeastern have programs in recording, and I know that U. of Arts is jazz-oriented. I have no idea what aid is like at these schools.</p>
<p>There are many online and “low residency” programs these days that are much more affordable than on-campus programs. Look at Goddard, Union Institute and Lesley College’s programs. There may be an age requirement (meaning over 24 for Lesley’s low residency program- cannot remember.)These programs give you credit for life experience, and you can do classes online or by attending a short “residency” on campus, after which you work entirely on your own. You could do music this way, taking private lessons, studying with a faculty mentor from the low residency program, and performing. I know this sounds way out there, but people are thriving in these programs. (UMass has University without Walls but not sure if doing music would work in that.)</p>
<p>Finally, for now, you could continue to study music and take lessons and perform without attending school at all. Or get a year at Berklee under your belt, make connections, and then leave. I know that sounds radical on a college forum, but any of the “adult learner” options will be available to you for whenever you can do them, and you can do your music for a few years without college, or during college, or really any way you want.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your financial aid options are, how your parents are involved, or what your level of talent might be in terms of merit aid. But if $200k in loans is a possibility, and you really want to study music, I think you need to be creative in avoiding that kind of debt, while still pursuing your art. The bottom line is that there are many ways to do that, and college options continue to evolve in this day and age when the majority of students are “non-traditional.” But having a $200K debt will be a burden that will limit what you can do with your music, in my opinion, and I hope you can avoid it.</p>
<p>thank you compmom, i completely agree with you about that debt interfering with my art… My parents are paying for my college, but i would like to help out in every way i can… Yes, the online courses are worth 3 credits each, i plan on taking 11 online courses before going to berklee, does that bring down cost?</p>
<p>thanks so much for your post.</p>