I need some advice

[GoodcookJames]

Hi this is my very first post. Anyways, I will be graduating this May with a degree in East Asian studies, a minor in philosophy and a Chinese proficiency certificate. I really can't do anything worthwhile with this degree except go abroad and teach English in China for next to nothing.

I've been working in restaurants off and on since I was 17, and I'm seriously considering culinary school. When I was about to graduate HS, I almost enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu, but was turned off by it since my parents told me that going to culinary school would not do anything for me and/or there was no future in being a chef. So I followed my parents wishes of going to a 4 year college since according to them if you get a degree, no matter what field, you'll get a good, well paying career. Well now I'm graduated and I'm finding there's nothing I can do with this degree unless I go back to school and get some business or management schooling. I never liked college and I've always struggled academically, so really I just don't see a future with this degree.

I've always liked cooking and working in kitchens. I love the intensity of a rush, making a good dish and satisfying people with that-(I'm cooking right now part time BTW). I watch food network a lot, Iron Chef was one of my favorite shows because I liked seeing extremely good chefs perform especially under pressure (don't like it anymore because the iron chefs never, ever lose-also Emerill doesn't know how to make a good pizza), I cook for my GF often and in a way, at home, cooking is my stress relief. My GF thinks I should go to culinary school and I do too, but my parents don't and they demoralize me when I ever consider it. What do you guys think? Is this career/lifestyle right for me?

[Rivitman]

Well, you have worked in professional kitchens, and were not scared off by the workload.

You are young, with time to make progress.

Look, I spent half my life in aerospace before I made the right move into the Kitchen, and even then, It was only after my second layoff. So at 43, I went to Cschool, and at 45, I'm now a chef (more luck and hard work than outright skill).

My biggest regret is that I didn't do it 20 years ago.

If you can get past the low wages for a few years, it's a sound option. You will always work, and will never go hungry, and best of all, you will always be mobile, never tied to one place or one employer ever again.

Some say money buys freedom. Being a good professional cook does the same thing without the bling.

But whatever you do, do that which after heartfelt analysis will lead to the fewest regrets 20 years from now.

[Devotay]

Once upon a time, I was in a similar situation. My father said it so many times it should be tatooed on my forehead - "A Liberal Arts education is a valid end, in and of itself." All my life the discussion was never "if" I go to college, but rather "when" I go to college. So I went. I worked my way through high school and college in kitchens, then I got a Bachelor's Degree in Art and Poli Sci, and realized that the only thing I knew how to do to make a living, legally, was cook.

So I told my dad that the "valid end" had ended, I was the better for it, and now it was time to get a career. I went to New England Culinary Institute and never looked back. Got my degree, worked my *ss off, and was a chef/owner by the time I was 32.

If your parents still think this is dead-end work, point out that food service is the single largest employer in the country. You'll have a marketable skill, and everybody has to eat. When good cooks can't find work, then we have much bigger problems in the world than unemployment. Remember, cooking is the oldest art, and the 2nd oldest profession.

[Botanique]

Buck up and do what you want (and need) to do. I made the mistake of passing up an acception to the CCA for a masters in biology. All I have ever wanted to do is cook. I just didn't have the guts to do it right. You only live once dude -- do the right thing, and do what you were meant to do. What is holding you back???? Sweatpea, I am stealing material from a bad movie, but if you wake up every morning thinking about cooking, then you are meant to be a cook. Its a gift to understand the art of cooking as far as I am concerned. The best memory I have from childhood is my first omelet. Never mind I didn't cook the bacon first ;-)

[kuan]

If you don't do it you'll always be wondering.

[Chef_Bob]

Like most carrers you never realy know where being a chef can take you. I did not get a ton of support from my paents but choose this life anyways. About 15 years after I got my first cooking job I am currently a corporate chef making very good money and I have my week ends off, full benifits, and so on. So if you feel the urge to dive in, I agree with the others ho have said you should go for it. It is a funny life, lot's of work, lots of oppertunity and lot's of fun. What more can you ask for?