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Is culinary school worth it?

post #1 of 9
11/27/07 at 1:55pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking at going to culinary school, but not sure if I should take culinary courses at the public college I go to right now {which has a really good program} or one of the "professional" ones such as french culinary, CIA, etc. I've been working in a restaurant kitchen for over 2.5 years, and have worked my way up from dishboy to a cook {been a cook for about 2 months}.

My question is, is going to schools such as french culinary, CIA, etc worth the money that you pay to go there?

If I decide to go to culinary school it'll be in about 1.5 years, after i'm done getting my AA degree. I turned 18 about a month ago as well.
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post #2 of 9
12/7/07 at 4:45pm

Yeah, no, don't bother keep doin what your doin...

Do not attend culinary school! It is unnecessary and expensive! Get work in the field even if you start out as a dishwasher. If your goal is to become a chef then as long as you are in the kitchen then you’re on the right track. Teach yourself how to cook and learn about the classic methods. Use your kitchen and your local library to obtain the appropriate reading material to learn the history and practice of the culinary arts. Then when you have built up enough confidence and skill in your method find out where to get certified through the American Chef Federation. It will cost you money but not nearly as much as culinary school will. Some culinary schools will give you a CC Certified Culinarian certificate at a price tag ranging from 30k to 40k you could get several dozen through ACF with that kind of money. Seriously I can’t stress this enough. YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL!!! IT IS A HUGE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. Take that 30k and put it towards a down payment on a house. It’s a much wiser investment.
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post #3 of 9
12/7/07 at 4:47pm
Ok now I really resent that they are tagging key words in my rant with advertisements for culinary schools. Pretty shameless I must say.
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post #4 of 9
12/9/07 at 8:19pm
Relax there PU. I agree that you do not have to spend $30,000 on culinary school, but many local community colleges offer excellent programs for about $6,000. In my experience, culinary school is very valuable. It teaches you the fundamentals of cooking, and gives you exposure to preparation techniques that you might never see in the restaurant you are in. There are also a lot of employers that require culinary school training for the higher management jobs. Look into local schools and talk to the faculty and students. Call some local chefs and ask them their opinion. I think you will find that a lot of people consider it important, though not absolutely necessary.
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post #5 of 9
12/10/07 at 10:31am

no offense intended...

I agree with Montelago. The culinary school gave me the basic skills that I need for my new career. For my personal goal, learning at school is faster than learning in the kitchen. It would take me atleast 3 yrs if I didn't taking the class. For me, I'd say it's worth.
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post #6 of 9
12/10/07 at 8:53pm
For me i have worked in a kitchen working pretty much full time all through high school. To me culinary school was almost like a break. Yeah it was alot of work but it wasnt as bad as working 40 + hours and going to high school. If you dont know if culinary school is worth it check out acf apprentices. Alot of them will send you to a comunity college to get some schooling for free plus on the job training. Its a win win situation.
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post #7 of 9
12/11/07 at 7:42am
There is one caveat about learning at the workplace: You have no guarantee that what you are being shown is the correct way of dong it. A culinary school will show you the correct way of doing things as well as expose you to virually every facet of the trade--very few workplaces can do this.

In regards to the culinary school itself...Don't get fooled by the big names and don't get suckered in by the astronomical tuition fees. Remember this: Cooking in N.America is not a recognised as a trade. There are no benchmarks or standards to adhere to. Every school has a different curriculum, a different view of what a Chef should be. For biggest bang of your buck I strongly suggest you to consider the community college.
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post #8 of 9
12/12/07 at 6:08pm

Timely article

Published today, this interesting article sums up pretty much everything I've ever heard about Western Culinary Institute, which is the Le Cordon Bleu school in Portland, Oregon. A very in-depth article about specific complaints from former students.

wweek.com/editorial/3405/10113
You will have to cut and paste this, as this site won't allow me to post links, for some reason.

I am a CC student, and in contrast, my tuition for the entire year's program is $3,000. Student/teacher ratio is at worst, 5:1 and often 2:1. I feel very pleased with the education and training I am receiving... by my calculation I am paying only about $4 per instructional hour and all of it is hands-on work.
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post #9 of 9
12/13/07 at 7:39am

what get a proper education?

I agree with Chef Montelago and the others. I will tell you that after one semester you will understand more about food than almost anyone you meet. To suggest to anyone that a proper education is worthless is absolutely foolish. I went back to college at 47 and have do not regret one minute of it. Whatever you want to succeed at in this life you have to understand just what the heck its all about.
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