I would have loved to have gone to a prestigious music school such as Berkley, but unless my parents were stinking rich, I would never have done it if I ended up with tens of thousands of dollars debt. I make a living playing music, but I doubt I could have done it if had that sort of debt hanging over my head. I spent most of my life living as cheaply as possible (and still do compared to people in other professions). I've played with one guy (a bassist) who went to Berkeley, but he had a full scholarship. He's a great musician, and has a hell of resume, but even he says that without the scholarship, he would have worked and paid for private music tuition instead. And as others have said, the Internet opens up all sorts of avenues of learning from great teachers; something that didn't exist 30 years ago.
If you're family is wealthy, by all means go to Berkeley (or other such schools), but I don't think there's value in doing it if you end up with a 6 figure debt. It's certainly worth it studying Law or Medicine, but not music. There's just no guarantee of earning a decent income (or any income), no matter how talented you might be. I wonder if there's any employment statistics on music school graduates working in their chosen field. I bet they're very poor compared to other professions. That's not the fault of the schools or the students, but the result of your chosen field being an artform as much as it is a business.
If you're family is wealthy, by all means go to Berkeley (or other such schools), but I don't think there's value in doing it if you end up with a 6 figure debt. It's certainly worth it studying Law or Medicine, but not music. There's just no guarantee of earning a decent income (or any income), no matter how talented you might be. I wonder if there's any employment statistics on music school graduates working in their chosen field. I bet they're very poor compared to other professions. That's not the fault of the schools or the students, but the result of your chosen field being an artform as much as it is a business.
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