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What's a good pastry arts school to go to?

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  jamlaur 
#1 ·
i am currently surviving my first year out o high school and have realized my love for baking and pastry arts. I am currently looking into schools that are focused in that field, though i enjoy cooking, as well are preferably in france or italy, and a shorter time span. Not to mention possibly on the cheaper side if there is one. :p

I have looked into Ecole nationale superieure de la patisserie, but unfortunatley found a lot more bad reviews than good ones. I am now looking into Olivier Bajard as well as Le Cordon Bleu a little. So i was wanting to hear from anyone who could either give reviews on those two school, or any other helpful information.

Any suggestions on where else to go/look, anything will be helpful. thank you :)
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hi did you get any responses did you make any chocies I am in the same position and any suggestions on where I can look for advice would be great, what I have found that has helped a bit is looking at the websites of alumini of the schools to see what they are doing.

Any advice you can pass on would be appreciated ;}
 
 
#3 ·
Hey- I did a lot of research on schools in France. I found that ENSP went through a really rough time about 4 (?) years ago. If you join their Facebook group there's actually a member from that school year that wrote a couple notes on it explaining the situation. It seems to have gotten better but I would probably only go there if it was a study abroad type portion of another school I was attending just in case it didn't workout. Other schools to look at in Paris are Le Cordon Bleu (of course), Ferrandi, Escoffier Ritz, and Valrhona (chocolate school). Something I found was that the schools in France, were shorter, and cheaper than attending them in the US. hmm I did find a school in Italy that looked promising too but can't remember the name..

My advice- talk to different bakers/chefs in your area for advice on schools and entering the culinary world in general; find blogs written by the students who attended the schools you're interested in. It will give you the "inside knowledge" about classes and they're unfiltered thoughts about the school. I also joined the facebook groups for the schools I was looking at and messaged students questions. 

I'll be attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in March. :) Very excited and happy about my decision.

Hope this helps :)
 
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