Berklee College of Music Top Questions

WAKE UP!!! You are a living being with thoughts and self! You're RICH with time and the more you push it aside and take it for granted, the sooner it'll betray you. Don't question so much and don't be afraid to speak to every single person around you. We as a species are all friends and family. Realize the truth of how people think of you. Don't let the negatives weigh down on you and don't relax on the positives. The more you try, the more the universe decides to test you. Push through, keep being authentic and you'll reap what you sow. Practice meditation! Continue reading, pratcing your instrument, and stay away from technology as best as you can. You are an honest person and loved by many. Take a moment to understand that, breathe, and continue. This path toward education will always be rewarding, but continue keeping your mind alert and pay attention to what knowledge is valuable (while keeping an open mind). You are here to grow, not to sit on your ass. Your life starts when you want it to, so wake up and take a step.

Don't be afraid to chose what you really want to be in life. If you wanna do music you can do it in the best place in the world to do it.

Thinking back to the long stressful months of endless college applications I can't believe everything that happened. I wrote and rewrote my college essay multiple times, spent hours looking at walls while attempting to write the most important work of my life. My advice is to remember that senior year is a time to enjoy the last year at home with your family and friends around you. Time seems to fly as we get closer and closer to the next big adventure in our lives and we lose track of the things that matter most. Make sure to get your homework done and hang with your friends the moments that you can. Be thankful for all of the people that have helped you along the way, and make sure you don't take anything for granted. The transition to college is tough, but if you have continued to remain close to those who have helped you along the way they will be there to support you and give you the strength to do your best and enjoy your college experience.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior knowing what I know about college now, I would tell myself to slow down. You do not need to choose your college major right away. Your first two years are mostly spent on general education classes. I would tell myself to use my first two years of college to explore my academic interests even further. No matter how much you plan, the future has the ability to take you by surprise, let it. Things happen because they are meant to. Don't get yourself stuck in a career you don't want. Take a breath, step back and look at the big picture. Enjoy the time you have to focus on yourself. College is about finding out who you are and who you want to be! Take advantage of that opportunity.

If I could go back in time and say the things that I've learned about college now, I would tell myself to be prepared. Work harder. Read more. Procrastinate less. The human population grows every year and there is someone out there ready to take that scholarship that you could have gotten if you would have just known about it. Be willing to spend hours on a computer just looking up the silliest scholarships. Any amount helps. Do this now to not have to deal with agony later. Think more about your future. Think of all the pain and sacrifice you can be saving your parents and yourself. As much as your parents can help you, don't let them. Our family is rich in love but not rich in money. And it's not fair to them to have to continue to support you even when you're already 20 years old. You should be supporting them. I would simply just listen to my mom and study harder, take extra curriculear activites and invest more time planning out my future.

Since I decided to wait so long before attending school, I would have made sure I was more prepared before attending school. This is not to say that I didn't prepare myself at all. I spent several hours each day preparing for my audition. I should have spent more time learning how to read music and more about theory. This would have helped me test out of some the entry level classes at Berklee. I did however gain a lot of real life experience by taking time off from school. This is one advantage I had over many younger students. The main point I would want to go back and tell myself is you can never be too prepared to go to this school.

My senior year was a great time for me. I left with a lot of great memories of my school, friends, and teachers that I am now leaving behind to attend Berklee. But while in high school, I made better grades than ever before, joined a lot of clubs and participated in many extracurricular activities. I was accepted into my dream college and will be attending with little to no problems. Overall, I do not have any advice for myself as a senior because in my eyes, I did everything just fine.

There are certainly a lot of things I would like to say to my high school self about the transition to college, but there is one important concept that comes to mind. I went to a high school in a relatively small town, and grew up consantly playing music and showing off my talents. By the time I was a senior, I was receiving so much praise that I stood out as a naturally gifted musician. However, as soon as I entered Berklee, I got a wake-up call, because I was breaking out of my little bubble and entering the real world. Everyone here was so uniquely gifted that I felt like the smallest fish in the biggest ocean on Earth. This was extremely overwhelming because I began to feel like I didn't belong, but now, having completed two years, I have realized that no one really stands out at Berklee. They blend together, learn from each other, and respect their individual talents as they do their own. Therefore, the advice I would give myself would be to simply find my place, go with the flow, work hard, and trust that I will eventually earn my own success.

There are two main things that I would tell myself in high school. The first thing I would tell him would be to work harder at finding money to pay for college. I would explain to myself that it is important to apply for scholarships year round, so I could have a better chance of having more money to pay for college. I also would have told him to be aware of the FASFA deadline because there is a penalty. The second thing I would tell myself is that I would have to work hard to succeed in college. I would tell myself that everthing the teachers were saying about college was true. They said that you had to have a good work ethic to do well in college. I would tell myself that some days that you spend in college would be completely spent doing homework. I would also tell him that he would have little breaks in college, but it would be worth it in the end.

I'd definetly advised myself to work and practice even harder so I can stand out when I get in the U.S