Kendall vs. LCB

I graduated from Kendall, and loved my experience. Have had many positive experiences working with other Kendall grads & students, but don't have much knowledge of the other two. I would be glad to discuss my experience with you, but please understand, the school used to be located in Evanston and only moved to downtown Chicago a few years ago. So most of the alums will be from the old location like I am and the new location is very different. I have seen it and the facilities are amazing. If you haven't already done so, I would suggest taking a tour of all of the schools you're considering. Very likely you will be able to find a current student or two to question while you're there.

I am currently in the hospitality program. I highly recommend the school to anyone that can afford it (as it is a bit pricey).

Washburne is also an excellent school, at a very very reasonable price.

I hold both these schools in higher regard over the other "big name" schools in the Chicagoland are (CHIC, IIA, Robert Morris, etc)

I'm currently a Kendall student in their Baking and Pastry Certificate program. I like it alot, however it's only been my first week, so I'm limited right now in my opinion. I wrote a post about my horrible experience at CHIC's admissions department. (Search my name to find the post. I can't post URL's yet.) At the time I was trying to decide between Kendall and CHIC and I had went to an open house at CHIC. I felt pressured to make a decision on the school right there, and I did; I paid my $100 bucks and was enrolled in the schoolon open house day to start in Feb 2008. I realized after I went home, that I was suckered, and needed more time to decide, so I had to drop from the school. That's when the real problems started which I posted already.

What I'm saying is, pick the best school that you'll feel more comfortable with. Don't get suckered in to fancy sales pitches like I did which CHIC and lose $100. I felt if the admissions is bad like that, how is the rest of school, and really did not want to waste $40,000. Do your research (which I guess posting here counts).

A link to Aguaviolet's post:

http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/culin...sions-rep.html

Oh cool,

What program are you doing? You'll probably see me around lugging a yellow toolbox on a cart.

I start up again in the winter as well... maybe we should plan to meet up for lunch in the cafeteria sometime... would be interesting to meet someone from the internet.

I'm in the baking and pastry certificate program and that toolbox has ALL of our supplies we need for class.

CHIC: The good the bad and the ugly

I started at CHIC on January 7, 2008. On August 5, 2008, I withdrew. That school is a complete waste of time and money. Personally, I think most culinary schools probably are. I have learned more in the past month at my new job then I did in the seven months I was a student, and I don't have to pay to work. They seem to not care about the students (Office and admin that is. The chefs there are cool.) or how they can help them. All they are interested in is how to get money in the door.

Want my advice? What you need to make it and learn in this industry are a sharp eye, a sharp mind, and a sharp knife. Oh, and the ability to work, a lot, on very little sleep and still do it perfectly.

Bryan

The chefs at CHIC were outstanding. Chef Alisa was probably my favorite, hopefully you got a chance to work with her because the personality she brings to the class is unique and unmatched by any Chef I know to this day.

I never had a problem with CHIC because I paid the bills on time (with help from family) and showed up to class every day. I never really had to set foot in the Admin office as I had no reason to.

Glad to see that you realized things so early, BryanJ. Best of luck in your career.

I do agree that Chef A is awesome. Most of the Chefs I had were great. Bruno, Wook, Tefs, Karam, all great guys. I guess my biggest issues though were lack of materials and finances. I paid on time every time, and still got a lot of hassle trying to get second year funding. Also, the last three months that I was there, my clases would have to skip recipes because the schol didn't order the neccesary supplies, or we'd have one blender or Robo-Coupe for 30 people to make mousse. I guess though that I am just not a "school person."

That said, I had some great times and I did learn some tings, and overall, I do miss it.

Wook was a TA when I was there, he is such a great guy. I occasionally see him and Karam as I am going to/from the brown line.

Considering we are paying 40k+ to get the education, they were rather limited on supplies and product. AM took all of our lobsters for meats class once, so we only had one to work with, and the Chef demo'ed how to do it (never saw another lobster while at school there).

Don't even get me started on trying to get a mixer for baking classes.

We ususally have what we request for unless it's something really expensive. My class had only five people in it, so it wasn't cost effective to buy a such a small amount, but we had suitable substitutes. I don't know about the bigger classes or the savory kitchens.

Chicago Culinary Schools

Hi-
I just read your post and thought I'd give you my perspective. I hope it helps you. First and foremost, you do not need a culinary degree to be a chef (though there are some people out there who will disagree), I know plenty of people with degrees from CIA, Kendall, CHIC (now LCB Chicago BTW) IIA and many others who don't know a chefs knife from a butter knife. Now, that isn't to say it can't be a useful tool...that depends on how aggressive you are and if you don't mind certain people not taking you seriously. If you are aggressive and confident even those people may be convinced.
For the record, I graduated from CHIC, I enjoyed my time there...but that is not to say there were not some issues. Mainly they would do a lot better if they fired the entire admissions department and started over. They are all idiots. That is why you rarely see an enrolled student ever cross the threshold into their offices. But, I will say this, the instructors are top notch. One thing I know has changed is they now offer a certificate program, because of this they have record enrollment and not enough supplies to go around. Though, there are few schools that have robocoups for the entire class. I graduated a few years ago, and have worked my way up to Exec. Pastry Chef and Operations Manager. I feel like I got my moneys worth, but it is really what you put in that determines what you get out of it.
For another perspective, I know someone enrolled at IIA, she hates it because she feels they spend too much time teaching things you already know before letting you get your hands dirty.
I also have two friends who graduated from Kendall. One has his own restaurant and the other struggles to do the most basic of tasks on the line. For the record they started together and took each class together, so they got the same education, but not the same results. Again you get what you put in...they can only teach you what you want to learn.
Last, I have taught classes for common threads, and they use the facilities at Washburne...they have by far the best facilities for the price tag. Kendall is state of the art, but they have been terminating a lot of there long term employees to save cash and I heard they have shut down their restuarant, which to me was the best thing about Kendalls program.

So, in the long run...do what is best for you. If you want a degree to fall back on go with the school you feel most comfortable with financially and personally. Try to get a tour where you can see a class being taught and talk to students and instructors. And, if you have an industry job that you enjoy and you are learning from...learn as much as you can. I hope this helps you. Best of luck and have fun.

Where'd you hear that from? The resturaunt is open for lunch and dinner.

Kendall

I heard from a friend who is a Kendall Alum. Apparently they are not doing all student run like they used to. And are letting go of some long term instructors over financial issues...i.e. paying for the giant facility they built.

Hi!

I just finished my first block at Kendall. I am doing the accelerated associates culinary arts program. Let me just say, I love Kendall, the kitchens are great, the classes are challenging, and the chefs are truly experienced and knowledgeable about every aspect in the culinary field. Multiple chefs have mentioned the kind of family that develops at Kendall and I already feel a part of it.

With that said, the administration side of things are definitely different. I haven't experienced the advising issues that you have, my problems are with the business office and financial aid. I just have noticed a complete lack of communication between the two offices, even though they are just down the hall from each other. It seems to me most of Kendall's administration has that issue as well.

Just bear with it, all of these hassles and situations aside, Kendall offers a great education. I have learned more in these 3 months then I have through years of my own personal trial-and-error in the kitchen.

Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

As a staff member at Kendall College, I can assure you that the dining room was open during the quarter. The Dining Room is only closed when the students are not in session, which is until January 5th.

Also, just like every business in this economy, there may be cutbacks. That's a reality but before false rumors become truths, feel free to take a look at the full time faculty list on the website and you will see the chef instructors and their bios that have been teaching at Kendall College.

Lastly, if anyone has questions about some of the differences between LCB CHIC and Kendall, feel free to PM me as I worked at CHIC previously.