horses for courses....

There are any number of guitarists / musicians / whatever who have never had any formal training, and claim not to have any grasp of any of the underlying concepts. Carlos Santana is the best example I can think of right now - he says he just 'knows' what to play... but he never talks about how long it took for him to figure it out, or what crap he played before he did.... :D

There are a pile of very sucessful people who went to Berklee, and I imagine even more unsuccessful people that went to Berklee.

Satriani taught Steve Vai, and Vai went on to Berklee. Has Berklee made Vai better than Satch?

It's down to you. I don't know if I've mastered it all, but I have enough to make a modest living. I have had formal training for many years, because I work best with the threat of the occaisional kick up the ass. It's about what gets YOU there. You can teach yourself more or less anything if you're of a mind to do so.

It might be worth PM'ing one of our newer members - FrankAxtell. I took a look at his website and he went to Berklee as I recall. If he has time, maybe he could answer some of your questions with experience of the place itself....