I’ve been putting this off, writing about my overall experience with Berklee Online, for a couple of reasons. First, I spent the last month in Italy doing this amazing program, the Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive Program. Secondly, I think I was making it bigger in my mind than it needed to be.

To get straight to the point, I feel that Berklee Online’s “Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games” degree program is excellent. Was it perfect in every regard? No, nothing is. Was it what I needed when I needed it? Absolutely.

When I started looking into getting a degree in music back in 2019 I wasn’t even considering online education. I wanted a “legitimate” music education. I did a bit of research to see what the top schools were and USC’s Film Scoring program was at the top of that list.

I reached out to USC’s Thornton School of Music’s admissions department, asking about the process of getting into their Masters in Screen Scoring program, and they recommended Berklee Online as an undergraduate program. I was surprised, as I didn’t think an online program would be a viable option, and asked for clarification. They assured me that they had admitted a number of highly qualified students into their program that had come from Berklee’s online program. With that, I looked into Berklee Online and applied. Within a few weeks, I got the news that I was accepted into their film scoring degree program and would be starting in the Fall of 2019.

The “Pros”: great program, with excellent content, world-class musicians as course authors/instructors all without having to relocate to Boston. Berklee came to me. Also, with Covid, I would have had to do online studies anyways so it worked out great.

The “Cons”: while convenient the online program can never achieve the same experience of being in-person, getting immediate feedback, learning, and collaborating with others in real-time. This became super apparent during the Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive. So much more immediate, in-depth, and fun.

40 classes and 3.5 years later I now have a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games. As for what is next, I’m not exactly sure right now. Between Berklee Online and Chigiana’s Film Scoring Intensive, I’ve been at it full-time for quite a while and could use some downtime.

Thank you, Berklee for giving me what I needed, when I needed it. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from some amazing people and become an alum of your prestigious and excellent school.