19 Peterborough St 25
Boston, MA 02215
 
February 28, 2008
 
Office of Scholarships and Student Employment
Berklee College of Music
921 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02115
 
Dear Office of Scholarships and Student Employment,
    I am writing this letter to your office to apply for the Berklee Achievement Scholarship.  The primary goal of my application is to show proof of merit for my current World Scholarship Tour award and possibly further awards based upon my achievements at the college.
    I entered Berklee in the Fall of 2006 and have accomplished a few achievements since entering.  When I first arrived I took the required music assesment test to see which Core Curriculum classes I would be placed in.  From that test I was placed into Harmony 2 and Ear Training 3.  Later that week I also took the test out for Intro to Music Tech and scored a passing score of 96 on that test.  Once I passed the Ear Training and Harmony classes that I was placed in, I was awarded with the credits for the lower classes that I tested out of.  Along with 3 credits that I recieved from passing the AP Calculus exam in High School I earned an additional 13 credits my first semester at the college.  This essentially placed me one semester ahead credit wise at the college.
    The 13 additional credits that I earned my 1st semester qualified me to apply for the Music Production & Engineering degree program at the college, my program of choice.  After submitting my application and attending an interview with a member of the department, I was granted entry into the program during my 2nd semester.  This is one semester ahead of the typical entrance time, without having college credit before entering Berklee.
    Since entering MP&E I have started working at the Studio Operations office and now work both Studio Support and Studio Booking there.  I started that work in July of 2007.  Working at the studio office allowed me to be selected to assist Rob Jaczko, the chair of MP&E, in a recording session of the Berklee Monterey Jazz Quartet.  That CD has now gone on to distribution throughout California, with my credit as assistant engineer on it.
    Academically I received a 3.9 GPA my first two semesters of being at Berklee.  I have also been taking on a minimum of 15 credits each semester I have been at the college and have plans to take full 16 credit semesters until I am finished.  Additionally, I just received the Joseph Baptista Memorial Scholarship from the MP&E department for outstanding work in the department.  
    My extracurricular activity has included doing live sound for various acts and venues.  This has included National Touring act The Wrecking from Portland, ME, who I have been mixing FOH for since July 2007.  I have also been mixing FOH for Reunion Christian Church here in Boston since August of 2006.  I also configured the PA systems for both of those acts.  I also have been a student member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) since October of 2006.  As a part of AES activities, I attended the 123rd AES convention in New York City last October and learned much from the meetings I attended there and also made some good contacts in the industry.
    I hope that my achievements represent the type of Berklee student that you would want to promote and that it qualifies me for continued support from my World Scholarship Tour award.  Thank you for you time in reviewing my application.

Sincerely Yours,

Philip McGowan

(617) 959-1791