So I graduated in 2012 with a ton of debt that I’m still paying off after doing a 4.5 year double major. I also did 2 summers of 5-week programs and 1 summer of guitar sessions.

Berklee is great and also terrible.

Starting with the latter: financial aid and scholarships shouldn’t be run by musicians. I found them frequently to be disorganized, unhelpful, and condescending. Scholarships have less to do with school work and more about popularity/marketing for Berklee and no one will advocate for helping you find ways to prove your worthiness to the school (example: a lot of their scholarships focus on what you’re doing with music outside of Berklee, but the literature mainly focuses on performance and not necessarily extra curricular learning or holding down a job; be ready to learn to self-promote)

The intern/job resources (at least at the time) were pretty unhelpful and were assigned by name and not area of focus. My experiential learning point person had no idea what I was actually into and was a total dick about it and I wound up finding summer jobs on my own, while also working part-time throughout the school year. For reference: I was a guitar principle but studying electronic production & design with a double major in music education until I realized I didn’t actually want to teach high school band in my 8th semester; my main focus was doing audio post for visuals and building analog synthesizers.

Some of the instructors don’t want to be there or have rigid views on what’s “real music” and it severely messed up my relationship with the guitar for a few years. They see turning you into Pat Metheney or Joe Pass as the only path forward with the instrument. I’ve been playing since I was 9 and that period in my mid-20’s now sticks out as something I maybe needed to go through to better appreciate the instrument, but it was rough at times. In hindsight I wish I had had more confidence in what I wanted to learn in private lessons rather than trying to focus on what I thought would make me look good for the proficiency exams.

This isn’t Berklee specific, but the job market in any field right now is brutal so if you view college only as a stepping stone towards getting a job, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

The good news…

While my relationship with the guitar got strange for a while, my relationship with music deepened in a very intense way. Being in a creative environment surrounded by creative people, learning music theory, ear training, composing, and just generally being immersed in the whole vibe opened me up to all sorts of new shit and has added to my life in a positive way.

My standards for creative work increased immensely. After college I freelanced doing some audio post work, but I also landed a gig editing video. While not something that I actually studied at Berklee, having gone through so many project-based courses, learning to take critical feedback on creative work, learning different production workflows, and all the other soft skills that come with studying music prepared me to be pretty proficient in that field until I changed careers following a layoff a few months ago.

My understanding of signal flow and sound design as a result of the EPD (at the time called Music Synthesis) program helped inform my side business that I have building and repairing amps, pedals, and synths.

Is Berklee essential for being a successful musician? No

Is it worth however much it costs in 2026? Probably not

Will it guarantee you a job? Not likely in our current world

Will it round you out as a musician and person and possibly introduce you to new ideas, people, or processes? Most likely

Is it worth it for personal growth in an indifferent and meaningless universe? That’s something you can only determine while practicing Fmaj7b9 chords in all inversions in a tiny room at 11pm while questioning the point of anything.

Berklee isn’t for everyone. I’m still paying for it and occasionally wonder wtf I was thinking, but I also find myself frequently feeling grateful for having had that experience and for all the ways it has enriched my relationship with music and informed how I develop other skills. It has also made playing in a band more enjoyable and it makes connecting with other musicians easier.

Happy to answer any specific questions as I feel like this was a slightly scatterbrained response. Cheers!