Seem to be in a dilemma about schooling....

I live in NW FL and am attending a community college. I talked to a CIA grad and another guy who went to CCA and they both said it's what you put into school is what you will get out of it. There is no way that I could afford those big programs, as I don't want to get a loan right now, so it's community college for me. I checked out the community colleges in my area and decided which one appealed to me the most.

If you can swing the tuition for those big schools and can move closer to one, then go for it. It also depends if you want to start sooner or later. I decided that I want to go to school now, so I opted for the community college route. If you don't mind waiting until you move back to NE, then that may be a better choice for you.

Good luck either way....

Will

I live in Homestead Florida (two cities before the keys) and just enrolled in the new A.S culinary program at Miami Dade College. I first had my sites on Johnson and Wales, but changed my decision after going to and open house at Miami Dade. What impressed me about the school was that it is a "green" culinary school. It is state of the art with a wine/food theater. You have to go to the website to see the theater. It is impressive. They actually have virtual classes where they bring in chefs from all over the world through live video. I also like that I can take the metro rail straight to class. Finally, the cost was half of what J &W was going to be. It is only 25,000.00 dollars; if you have prerequisites it will be less. Because this is a new school you will be part of helping creating one of the top culinary schools in the nation. I am excited!

Hope this helps, much blessings to your decision!

O.K., I'm going to give you my "boilerplate" schtick about culinary schools.

The trade you chose is a trade .  You work with your brain, hands, and body.  Eye-hand coordiion and planning ahead, and body movement are just as important as knowledge.

N.American culinary schools have a problem that they refuse to acknowledge, and they get around this problem with "front end loading".  That is, they prefer to take a kid fresh out of highschool with no previous experience, charge him and fill him up with knowledge, and turn him loose in the hopes of finding a job.  This culianry graduate has no practicdal working experience, and it is the work experience that the employeer is looking for.  

Of course, a more practical approach would be to offer basic training for say 3 mths, let the student work for 6-12 mths, come back for seconary training, work another 6-12 mths, and come back the third and final time for the last segment.  No school in teh U.S.--to the best of my knowledge-- offers this.  It's just cheaper and mor practical (from the admistrater's view)  to run the student through a whole 2 yr program.  Employment is optional.....

School is important.  Make no mistake about that.  Knowledge is power.

Do NOT wax poetic about "learning on the job", the odds are you will be shown the wrong way to do things, that procedures and important steps will not be explained, or explained incorrectly.  Also, you are in the U.S., there are no standards or benchmarks for what a baker, cook,or butcher should know.  Every workplace, school and private organization has their opinion about this, but the fact remains that you will probably be trained by someone who has no formal training.

Take the community college classes, milk all you can out of them. Work, learn all you can from that--you will learn just as much about how to do things wrong as you will learn how to do things right.  It is still valuble knowledge.

Hope this helps