Berklee College of Music

Overview

Rankings

• #32 Best Computer Science Colleges in Massachusetts
• #32 Best Data Science Colleges in Massachusetts

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Berklee College of Music? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

As a private institution in Boston, Massachusetts, Berklee College of Music reviews applications selectively. The acceptance rate runs near 44%. The graduation rate is roughly 67%.

Acceptance Rate

44%

Retention Rate

89%

Full-Time Faculty

34%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$10,837

Student–Faculty Ratio

10:1

Diversity Index

0.74

First-Gen Students

21%

Applicants

7,286

Admitted

3,951

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2025-26

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Berklee College of Music is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 40% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school many admits weigh against other offers.

Yield Rate

40%

of admits enroll

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Berklee College of Music? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Berklee College of Music is $52,040, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $49,465. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $42,734 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $25,000 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$52,040

Out-of-State

$52,040

Avg Net Price

$49,465

Median Debt

$25,000

Pell Grant Rate

16%

Federal Loan Rate

34%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Berklee College of Music — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Berklee College of Music Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Berklee College of Music report median earnings of $33,647, a figure worth comparing against the cost of attendance before enrolling.

6 Years After Entry

$26,462

8 Years

$27,560

10 Years

$33,647

Debt-to-Earnings

0.74x

Earning > $25K

42%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does Berklee College of Music Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Berklee College of Music is a measurable contributor to upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 0.72%, in line with strong performers nationally. Access is narrower: only about 3.7% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 19.6% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $119,300, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

0.72%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

19.6%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

3.7%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$162,087

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Berklee College of Music? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Berklee College of Music. Its economic connectedness score is 1.81, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.02), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 7% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.81

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.02

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

7.5%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$4,892,586

Investment Income

$-41,093,737

Top Programs

The fields Berklee College of Music awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Visual & Performing Arts 57% $37,920 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 25%
• Health Professions 1%
• Education 1% $35,271 early-career

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.