It’s about starting over . com

This is the long awaited blog post. I’ve officially announced that I’ve been accepted to The Berklee College of Music in Boston (Hallelujah!) but the oft’ asked question is, “did they give you a scholarship?”

This year, around 7,000 budding musicians auditioned around the world to attend Berklee . Each one was considered for a scholarship that’s based solely on talent at first. Once a few are selected as being worthy, they then must prove financial need. The need is the final determining factor.

Out of the 7,000 (I hope I remember these numbers correctly), 30% were considered talented enough to be considered in the first round. That’s around 2,100 people. Out of these, 70% are weeded out in the second round. That leaves 630. This is the final selection group. I don’t remember the percentage that actually gets selected for some type of offer of talent-based scholarship, but it’s small. The top, most coveted scholarship, the Presidential Scholarship (covers all cost of attendence) is usually offered to only around 7 to 10 of the original 7,000. What’s that, 1/10th of 1%?

Oh, and BTW, the entire student body of Berklee at any given time numbers around 4,000. Yup, a LOT of people are turned away each year.

Scholarship selection process: What is talent?

So, I recently asked someone who is involved in the selection process exactly how this works. I was told that people are grouped into categories based on their main instrument. So all singers are in the vocal group, guitar players in the… well, you get it. Then, within each group, the most talented are identified. Then, the most talented from each group are compared to those from the other groups.

What is talent anyway? It’s that thing you’re born with. That innate ability to grasp something like most people grasp the concept of breathing. Thus the term, “a natural.” Raw talent isn’t based on training, but it can be enhanced by training, whether formal or informal. Like Mozart. And make no mistake, every musician is trained, even if self-trained (notice I didn’t say even if ONLY self trained).

How talented am I?

As I’ve said before, I’m not the most talented person in the world. (This is usually where everyone tells me not to put myself down.) This isn’t a put-down, it’s reality. I watch people every day just open their mouths and this amazing music comes out! That’s raw talent. I’ve known people who can pick up any instrument and play back anything they hear with no thought or effort…that’s raw talent. I know people who can repeat things perfectly after the first time or two they hear them, including all theoretical concepts…that’s raw talent. My main talent lies in my determination and devotion, that’s my raw talent. I love music and it’s my main means of expression and communication, but I have to work really hard at it. Music , and, everything else.

By now, you’ve probably guessed that Berklee didn’t offer me a talent-based scholarship. So, will I go? Before deciding, I wanted to understand the reason I was accepted. That’s why I spoke with the above mentioned person The one who’s involved in the selection process). You see, if they only accepted me because they were under the obligation to do so (Rimon has an articulation agreement with Berklee) but they didn’t offer me a scholarship because they didn’t see any possibility of my continuing on to become a full-fledged, famous musician, I would really have to think about it. After all, attending Berklee is gigantically expensive, no joke. Cost of attendance (COA) is right around $50,000 per year, not including the summer. Okay, COA covers everything: housing, clothing, books, computer, food, tuition, etc. But $50,000 per year is still $50,000 per year. And I am currently the poster child for the starving-students/musicians association . So I had some really serious thinking to do.

I was told that my acceptance to Berklee was by no means a no-brainer. It wasn’t a done deed just by virtue of the fact that I attended Rimon. I was told that their main consideration in accepting or turning away a potential student is whether the student will be able to successfully deal with everything Berklee dishes out (and they dish out a lot). They have no interest in bringing people in so that they can fail or drop out. It’s tough over there, and if I was accepted, then they have faith in my ability to succeed.

My big decision… the what and how.

After having that conversation, I spent a good deal of time speaking with friends, with teachers, with the office of financial aid at Berklee, with the Dean at Rimon, with family and lately, even with a CPA/lawyer. I’ve made my decision. I’m going.

So, where’s the money going to come from?

Well, first of all, I’m an American citizen so there’s federal aid. There are also several different grants and scholarships–I’m applying for as many as I am eligible for but even if I receive all of them, it won’t come close to covering the full COA–it’s usually under 50%. There are also various private scholarships and grants out there but herein lies the catch–most of them have an upper age limit of around 39, even the ones that are designated as being specifically for “older” students. That leaves me with… a HUGE challenge.

Okay, yes, there are student loans, but do organizations give loans to students in their 50’s? HUGE question mark there.

Here’s what I’m doing. I have spoken with the Bursar’s office at Berklee. They will accept donations of any amount toward my COA (remember, COA includes everything…tuition, books, everything!) and they will distribute the money to the proper resources as needed. Unfortunately, the donations will not be tax deductible unless the person or organization who donates can find a way to make it so, but the money will go directly to Berklee and not to me. This way, there will be no confusion about how the money is spent, and it also will not be considered income for me, which is really important. As you can guess, I’m going to be spending a great deal of my time over the next months looking for sponsors who are willing to donate to this cause.

Farther-reaching implications–The Fund

One of my biggest disappointments in this quest is learning that, aside from federal aid, there are almost no funds available to people over the age of 50 who want to earn their first degree. There might be many reasons why someone, at the age of 50+, would be going for their first degree–I’m guessing that anyone in this situation has had a hard time in life. Now why, if life has already been so very difficult, would people want to make it harder to finally accomplish something? Is it that they have no faith in the ability of people in their 50’s and 60’s to be productive members of society, to use their new knowledge, abilities and degree to generate an income and to help and inspire others? Does society just expect us to quietly fade into grandparentdom and then, eventually, into nothingness? I like the idea of being a grandma very much, but I certainly don’t intend to be a quiet, nonproductive one, so I’ve made a big decision.

Once I’m finished with my studies, I’m going to start a fund. This fund will provide grants for people over the age of… something, I haven’t decided the lower limit yet, who come from a difficult background and who want to study toward their first degree. Of course, it will be based on financial need. Nobody, especially people who have had such a difficult life, should have to go through what I’m going through now. Believe me, life has been hard enough already. Nobody should be denied the chance to start over again, regardless of how long it has taken them to be able to begin.

If you’re asking, “What can I do to help?”

If you would like to help, there are several things you can do. Doing any one or more of them would be wonderful and would let me and others like me know that there are people out there who care, who have faith in us.

You can:

• Send a link to this blog post to everyone you know and, please, encourage them to send it to everyone they know. The permalink is http://www.itsaboutstartingover.com/2010/02/27/a-scholarship-to-attend-the-berklee-college-of-music/. Sending the blog link to people would be great too (www.itsaboutstartingover.com), but sending the permalink will be more helpful to this particular effort.
• Talk about and link to this on Facebook, Twitter, and any other social network you’re involved in. Include the above permalink anywhere you can.
• Blog about this, and add updates as relevant. Encourage your blog readers to read this post.
• Add the permalink or a link to my blog to your blogroll.
• Contact me by leaving a comment (below) to let me know you have a sympathetic, potential donor in mind. I will email you to get details and contact informaion. Please don’t leave your email address or the donor’s details in the text of the comment so that no one will get spammed. Enter your email address into the space provided–it will be accessible only to me. To leave a comment, click “no response yet” or “(X) responses so far” and scroll down to “Leave a Reply.”
• If you know of any scholarships or grants for which I might be eligible, please contact me as described above.
• If you would like to donate, send a letter of intent to the Bursar’s office at Berklee. Any amount from very small (even $10!) to very large will be greatly appreciated. Anyone, individual or business, who donates will receive a mention or placement of their logo on a special Internet page designed specifically for this purpose (unless the donor would rather not). In the beginning, the page will appear on my blog, but as it grows (and hopefully it will), a separate website will be created to increase visibility. I’ll post specific instructions on my blog soon (wording, address, etc.), but until I do, please leave a comment with the words “letter of intent” below, and I’ll email the instructions to you.
• Tell your friends.
• Send up prayers!

Thank you sincerely and deeply from the bottom of my heart.

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