Thinking to leave CIA to other school

[Novani]

HI,

I'm just wondering if anybody knows about the French Pastry School in Chicago.
Whether that school has a better program than CIA.
I'm at CIA right now and I'm actually disappointed. It's probably good school for somebody who has no clue what's going on in the industry, for somebody who has probably not really worth the money unless you need the CIA name for something.

Any input?

[Suzanne]

A cyberfriend went to the French Pastry School a couple of years ago. He was a career-changer, had worked in high tech (I think) but always loved doing pastry. He may not have had any professional pastry experience before going to school.

He is now a pastry cook at Guy Savoy in Las Vegas. To me, that's a pretty good recommendation!

[CampChef]

FPS in Chicago is a great school, but does not offer any degrees of any kind. You will get a great deal of knowlege, but no "official" piece of paper. Take a look at Kendall, Sullivan, or even Johnson & Wales if a dgree is important.

[Eda de Leche]

i'm also wondering about the french pastry school. it's so hard to decide whether the big $$$ are worth it. But i have spoken to a couple of people about it. One person said it was the best thing they'd ever done, absolutely worth it (she then went on to work in Europe, and came back to the US and opened up a bakery. This is similar to what i'd like to do).
I wish more people had something to say about this school. I haven't heard anything bad about it in particular, anyway. Just that private schools generally can be huge rip offs. Despite that, though, the FPS is founded by two well-experienced (to say the least) pastry chefs. And the quality of the instructors is important when choosing a school.

[poacher2]

Hi,
From all that I ahve seen and heard it is an excellent school. One of my current students is planning on attending in fall 2008. My advise is contact them and go and take a look. If you have the time take one of their short two or three day classes.
Victor

[Mr.Farenheight]

Hello Novani, I was just wondering what was so bad about the program at the CIA? Wich degree were you pursuing? I am just curious because it seems that many prople speak ill of The CIA and their Graduates.

[Novani]

Well...I am not saying that CIA program is bad, I should say it's just not what I need. I am an adult student, most of the students are 19 or early 20s..the first time to go out from home and don't really work in the pastry industry before. More interested drinking and clubbing than the food itself..
The school focus on production for the restaurant, we made everything in a big batch..so not focus on individual perfomance..mostly just produce a lot of stuff.
The location, Hyde Park is not really inspiring for pastry field either. Just being in NYC I could learn a whole lot more about the industry.
So now I enrolled in ICE program.