Many people believe that getting into Berklee College of Music is a shortcut to stardom, especially many Chinese parents who view Berklee as the 'Peking University or Tsinghua University' of the music world. However, if you look at the stars often touted in domestic media—like Wang Leehom or Ouyang Nana—what is their reality? Wang Leehom was already a star before he went to Berklee. Ouyang Nana went there simply to 'gild' her resume for career advancement. For them, Berklee is just a bit of packaging, adding an international touch—it's like adding flowers to embroidery. But us ordinary people often harbor the illusion that simply entering Berklee automatically makes us stars, grants us access to the Western music industry, or earns us a Grammy. In reality, once you arrive at Berklee, the first shock is that nobody cares about you. This is the biggest collapse for Chinese students. In our upbringing, teachers and parents are constantly monitoring, pressuring, and forcing us to practice. At Berklee, you find that teachers couldn't care less what you do all day. If you don't do your homework, they are fine with it; if you write nonsense, you still get an A. Most people just coast through. Berklee’s logic is that you are responsible for yourself. Many Chinese students get bewildered because their life was just 'doing drills and practicing.' At Berklee, they keep doing drills and homework, which is completely useless. Some go to class every day—what’s the point? Ouyang Nana never went to class; I never saw her there once, and I doubt her classmates did either. You go to Berklee to socialize, to enter that circle, to find mentors who might help you. But most Chinese students just go to class and do assignments. It’s ironic: some graduate with a 4.0 GPA, having mastered music theory, only to return home to teach kids because no one in the industry knows them. They expect masters to personally mentor them, but in reality, professors see you once a week and barely speak. It’s not a master-apprentice system; it’s an open market. If teachers don't 'choose' you, your hard work is in vain. Many lose their faith in Berklee because they realize it’s not a ticket to stardom, but a society offering resource density. The catch is that these resources don't flow to you automatically or fairly; they go to those who are strongest. The weak ones just spend their tuition money doing drills.
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