If your passion resides in creating a world enchanted by your music, Berklee College of Music seems to be the most obvious choice, doesn’t it? With its charming offerings of studies from jazz to modern American music while not falling short of other forms of music from rock and reggae to heavy metal, Berklee has surely grabbed the attention of every music enthusiast out there. Along with the on-campus College of Music, Berklee Online has been providing young, budding artists with the means to make a musical impact on the world. You can study at Berklee from any corner of the globe without compromising on any of the resources generally provided to the on-campus graduates. But the question still stands, doesn’t it? “How do I transfer to Berklee?” Let’s check the Berklee College of music transfer requirements.
Transfer-Credit System
Berklee has a rather distinct Credit-Transfer system to admit students to pursue majors at the institution. This transfer of credits is provided to both incoming and transferring-out students. For the functioning of this system, Berklee has partnerships with educational institutions under Credit-Transfer Agreements (CTA). Taking courses at these external institutions can be attributed to transferring credits to Berklee. Having credits to transfer from these institutions will make for a more easy-sailing and affordable transfer to Berklee. Now the question stands, “How does the system of transfer work?” Here’s the fundamental requirement to be eligible for transfer-credit services:
Transfer-Credit Types
You must fulfil the requirements for three credit types, namely, Internal, External & Prior Learning:
- Internal credits- These credits accrue towards any courses taken from within the Berklee institutions including the On-campus or Online college.
- External credits- These credits can be transferred from any external institution in affiliation with Berklee. However, there is a limit of 60 credits that can be transferred in a given semester.
- Prior Learning- This is a relief from repeating courses at Berklee that the student deems he/she has already gained the knowledge of before. By submitting a portfolio of the course done beforehand to demonstrate the required knowledge to gain the credits, the credits can be transferred. A maximum of 30 credits can be transferred from prior learning.
Eligibility of Transfer-Credits
Berklee already has a policy on which courses under the course types are eligible for transfer:
- The courses can only be done from one of the Berklee-affiliated partner institutions
- The courses must be in accordance with Berklee’s undergraduate degree curriculum
- Any student wishing to have credits transferred to Berklee’s degree must pass the courses with a minimum of “C” grade
Exam scores for credit-transfer consideration:
Apart from course-credits, certain exams scores are also eligible to be converted into pre-determined credits. These exams can be College-level exams, Advanced-level exams, and so on. However, only an official score-card provided directly by the institution to Berklee can be considered for credit-transfer. Student-provided report cards are not put up for consideration.
Documentation Procedure for Consideration of Transfer-Credits
Transferring course-credits to Berklee will only be considered when an official document of course completion is provided to the College directly from the prior institutions of education of the student. Any interference in the documents by the students will straight away result in rejection of the documents. The students appealing for transfer-credits should ideally have no contact with their official documents.
For students studying out of America, the vice for providing official documents is to get their academic records cross-checked with an affiliated institution or have these documents evaluated by Berklee Online’s Credential Verification Team.
Consideration and Evaluation by Berklee’s Transfer Team
For Students Aiming to get into Berklee:
- Students can request an “Unofficial Evaluation” through the Transfer Team of Berklee. The documents are not supposed to be submitted in a sealed manner to the College
- Unofficial documents the students wish to get evaluated can be submitted in .doc, .pdf, or .jpeg formats
- The Transfer Team will evaluate all the documents within a pre-determined time frame and decide if the credits or courses are eligible for transfer
For Applicants to Undergraduate Degrees:
- Students who are applying to a degree in Berklee do not have the right to waive official evaluation.
- Applicants must submit official documents/score-cards for evaluation for transfer of credits. The documents are considered official only if:
- The course-completion certificates are directly sent from the institution(s) of education the student has priorly studied at
- The documents are not sent in through student contact, that is, not opened or tampered with by the student, in any manner
- After a pre-determined time frame for evaluating the official documents, the student are made aware of acceptance or rejection of their credit-transfer
For Already Admitted Students:
- Re-evaluation schemes come into play for students who are already admitted to Berklee and wish to have credits transferred after their admission
- A student can request a reevaluation of their transferred credits only if they meet the minimum grade point of “C”
- Since Berklee has the right to award the transferred courses credits as they deem fit for their undergraduate degree programs, students have the right to ask for a reevaluation of the number of credits being awarded to them.
For Students Enrolled in Programs/Degrees:
- Before pursuing additional external credits for credit-transfer, students must get the courses approved by Berklee to check if the courses fit in with the College’s curriculum
- Only after review, evaluation and approval of the external course descriptions and syllabus by Berklee can the course be pursued as a transfer course
- After pursuing the external course for transfer of credits, the course can only be converted into Berklee credits if it is passed with a minimum of “C” grade
So, if you are a musician looking for a way into Berklee, be sure to keep tabs on your transferable courses to make your journey to admission sail smoother. A few takeaways from this article are:
- A minimum grade requirement of “C” in all transferable courses
- Courses in accordance with Berklee’s academic curriculum
- Evaluation and Approval procedures
- And Voila!!
Conclusion:
With all this information out of the way and into your knowledge bank, we do believe you are now ready to check out your qualifications for a transfer-credits consideration at the college of every musician’s dreams. Good luck out there!
QnA
Q. Can credits be transferred from the on-campus degree of Berklee to an Online degree and vice versa?
A. Transfer-Credits services apply to the internal transfer of credits, as well. The credits are transferrable as long as they are in accordance with the credits-transfer system and meet certain requirements.
Q. Is it possible to complete a Berklee on-campus degree through the Berklee Online college?
A. The on-campus degree under certain conditions (such as the requirement of only a few credits before the completion of the degree) and provisions by the instructors, can be completed through the Online College.