Upon graduating from Stockholm, Mika Pohjola studied at Berklee College of Music and met several recording collaborators such as Herb Pomeroy, Gary Burton and Hal Crook.
After graduating from Stockholm, Pohjola moved to Boston, Massachusetts to study under a scholarship at Berklee College of Music. It was at Berklee where Pohjola met several of his performing and recording collaborators of the 1990s and 2000s, among them Jill Walsh, Johanna Grussner, Fernando Huergo, Matt Penman, Bruno Raberg, Roberto Dani and Mick Goodrick. His Berklee professors included Herb Pomeroy, Gary Burton, Phil Wilson, Ed Bedner, and Hal Crook. 
