If you're considering attending culinary school, you might benefit from learning about common culinary school formats and the reasons people value a formal culinary education. In this article, we review what culinary school is, why people attend culinary school and the common pros and cons culinary students experience. Related: How To Become a Chef. Culinary school refers to formal higher education that prepares people to work as professional cooks and in the hospitality industry.
However, culinary school can describe very different academic experiences and training programs. Most culinary schools offer either culinary arts or baking and pastry arts tracks, of which students commit to one. Here are common courses of study all referred to as culinary school:. Most programs, regardless of the degree awarded or length, introduce students to the professional kitchen environment by having them work in restaurants operated by the culinary school.
Students usually also work in the dining room serving guests to further their understanding of restaurant operations. Some culinary schools have dedicated campuses where students study and live.
Certificate programs typically don't offer housing but might help students find places to live in the area. People attend culinary school to learn a wider variety of skills than they would working a paid cooking job.
Culinary schools expose students to a variety of techniques and cuisines and provide a valuable learning environment with instructors who can give you their full attention.
Students who pursue associate and bachelor's degrees also gain managerial skills that prepare them for roles other than working in the kitchen. However, unlike many trades that require formal training or apprenticeship, becoming a cook does not require attending culinary school. It's therefore not a necessity for aspiring chefs and is more of a personal choice than a professional requirement. Culinary schools excel at teaching you the fundamental cooking techniques and terminology a chef would expect you to know.
At culinary school, you learn:. Related: Interview Questions for Cooks. Professional kitchens are extremely fast-paced environments. Often, ingredients are expensive or in limited supply, making it essential that cooks avoid mistakes as much as possible.
During actual service, if a cook burns a dish and has to redo it, guests may have to wait twice as long to eat and become agitated. These conditions make it difficult to learn as a beginner. However, in culinary schools, instructors expect students to make mistakes.
Among those that have been irrevocably sewn into my fibers: Do your dishes. Nobody is going to clean up after you.
Not only am I a better cook for having attended this New York culinary institute — I am a better person. In the age of food television and other food media, from my experience, many people who attend one of their local culinary schools already think they are pretty good cooks. If you sincerely want to learn to cook, and I mean really learn to cook, there will be a necessary un-doing of some habits in order to develop better ones.
But if you are willing to learn, and by extension, change, you will really learn to cook, and you will change for the better. Regardless of your age, experience, or skills, this New York culinary institute teaches valuable skills in the kitchen and beyond. Enroll at ICE for the opportunity to learn from experienced instructors and extern at the right New York City restaurant for your goals.
In just months you could earn your diploma and embark on a new career journey in the culinary arts. Students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities can expect to get a more in-depth culinary education that the additional time in school affords.
These programs can be useful for students who already have experience in the field and want to increase their knowledge and sharpen their skills, as well as those who are preparing for a brand-new career. Students in these programs get a great deal of time in the kitchen, while also learning concepts such as nutrition, food safety, and menu development.
In addition, some of the culinary programs that can be found at four-year schools may focus on training students to pursue management positions in the restaurant and hospitality business. What advice would you give to someone who is aspiring to become a chef? Your creativity is what will achieve greatness, and your learning will never stop.
The end result when someone has a bite of your creation will always be priceless and the satisfaction is unexplainable. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us.
This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site. Explore programs of your interests with the high-quality standards and flexibility you need to take your career to the next level. While there are many culinary programs out there, they're not all created equally. Choosing the wrong culinary program can be a recipe for disaster, so it's important that prospective culinary students do their homework before committing to a specific degree program.
In order to ensure that they are receiving an education that is a cut above the rest, students should choose schools that have been accredited by the American Culinary Federation ACF , which regulates the curriculum of culinary programs. Institutions that are accredited by this organization must maintain high educational standards in several areas, including the curriculum, teacher-to-student ratios, and the qualifications of the instructors.
Students should pay special attention to the curriculum of a cooking degree program, with an eye toward targeting schools that offer strong coursework in their areas of interest. If they are interested in a specific type of cooking or role in the kitchen, they should look for a degree program that will give them the most training in these areas.
Just as students should pay attention to the curriculum at a culinary school, they should also be sure to do research on the faculty members. Culinary students benefit from the work experience of their professors, so they should look for schools that have teachers with the kind of experience they would like to learn.
For example, if a student is interested in Korean cooking, they would benefit from a program that has professors who have operated Korean restaurants more than they would those who have focused on a different type of cuisine. Some schools might offer diplomas and certificates as well. Some culinary degree programs give students the opportunity to actually work in a kitchen as they complete their degrees.
Programs that have externships opportunities often partner with local restaurants, hotels, and resorts in order to provide students with practical learning opportunities that cannot be obtained just from the classroom alone.
Students cannot be properly trained for the realities of the modern restaurant industry without having access to modern equipment. Students have several choices of culinary programs, depending on their needs and career goals. In addition, students who would like to receive a culinary education on the graduate level may enroll in a master's degree program. The following table provides an overview of the different degree levels that culinary students can choose from.
Prerequisites for certificate programs vary from school to school. Many schools require that students are at least 18 years of age in order to enroll, and have completed their high school diploma. Some programs require that students possess professional kitchen experience.
Students in these programs can complete their certificates within about six months to a year, which generally means they finish about 30 credit hours of study. Culinary certificate programs can be found at vocational schools, community colleges, or culinary institutes. What courses do students take when they enroll in culinary cooking certificate programs? In addition to coursework, students in certificate programs may be required to take field trips or attend demonstrations.
In addition, schools are generally looking for those who have completed a high school diploma or its equivalent. In order to be admitted into a culinary cooking bachelor's degree program, applicants may be required to have a high school diploma, a certain grade point average in their coursework, professional restaurant experience, or some college-level classes. These programs can generally be completed with around to credit hours of study. When students are enrolled on a full-time basis, they can usually complete a bachelor's degree in about four years.
Culinary bachelor's degree programs are found at culinary schools, as well as four-year colleges and universities. In order to complete a culinary bachelor's degree, students may also be required to complete internships or group projects in addition to their classroom work. Schools may also require a certain amount of professional experience, as well as a certain grade point average in completed undergraduate work. These programs require that students complete about 40 credits, which generally takes two years for students to earn.
According to U. Depending on the terms of the loan, it could be even higher. These debts are only compounded for college graduates and career-changers who enroll in culinary school. I think you're able to better propel yourself in the future.
One solution to crushing debt is finding a way to avoid paying tuition in the first place. About 90 percent of Culinary Institute of America students "receive financial aid in the form of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. And so on. Dirt Candy's Amanda Cohen argues that it's not just the schools themselves that bear some of the responsibility for drifting beyond the reach of lower income students.
It's the whole ecosystem of both the educational and restaurant communities. She says she has at times considered ways that she as a chef and restaurant owner can help mitigate the costs of culinary school. New Orleans chef John Besh does that in his own way. Dismal minority and lower-income enrollment is a significant downside of the cost of culinary school that ripples throughout the restaurant world.
Besh explains, "We have this weird thing happening where we have mainly upper middle class white suburban boys that could afford to go anywhere, and they're going to culinary school and they're the ones moving to New Orleans and I'm trying to teach them how to cook Creole. Besh's scholarship program does include an internship at one of his myriad restaurants and the opportunity to work for the likes of Danny Meyer, Rachael Ray, Emeril Lagasse, and others.
But why does it focus on culinary school? Though Besh acknowledges that culinary school and especially a high-end one like the CIA may not be necessary to a cooking career, he argues, " Through great education that you gain through these scholarships and mentorships then you don't have to settle anymore. You can raise your own limits and set the bar where you want it set.
And I think you're able to better propel yourself in the future. Any time you're throwing down tens of thousands of dollars on education, it helps to know what you're doing with it. Perhaps even more so in the case of a trade like cooking. Tuition is high and average salaries for many jobs in the food service industry are low. A cost-benefit analysis for culinary school tuition will calculate differently for the cook who plans to work his or her way up the line in a New York City restaurant and the cook who wants to take a higher-paying corporate or private chef gig.
There are all kinds of jobs available to culinary school grads: working in all facets of a restaurant, from the line to the host stand to the wine cellar, and beyond; research and development for a corporation like McDonald's; overseeing the kitchen at a hotel, resort or on a cruise liner; and so much more. During the academic year at the Culinary Institute of America, about 54 percent of incoming freshmen expressed interest in working at an independent restaurant in some capacity upon graduation, according to communications director Jeff Levine.
Another 27 percent were interested in working at hotels or resorts, while 17 percent were considering careers at restaurant chains or other corporate food jobs. So what are the average salary expectations for these two career paths? For those hotel and corporate chefs who are making more money than those who work in restaurants, culinary school may be less of a financial challenge.
It's worth pointing out, though, that it often takes years of working as a line cook for grim hourly wages before making that kind of money. And while salary levels for those who had obtained culinary degrees or certifications are higher than non-grads, the survey warns that "the salary gap — while increasing — isn't as big as you might think.
Too many people do not know what they're getting themselves into when they enroll at a culinary school, and the Food Network is partially to thank.
What these aspiring cooks know about working in a kitchen is a fantasy promulgated by Food Network shows and competitions like Bravo's Top Chef. Some of them see cooking as a pathway to celebrity. They want to become the next Rachael Ray, but they don't know that the odds are terrible for becoming a celebrity chef who jets off to Aspen every year.
Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Suzanne Goin has seen young cooks get tripped up in that fantasy. Culinary Institute of America director of communications Jeff Levine says that the Hyde Park campus enrollment has risen from 1, students to 2, students in the 20 years since the Food Network launched. So, as applications rise, it's increasingly crucial for culinary school applicants to remember that the depiction of restaurant life on reality TV shows is not what the work is like in real life.
The depiction of restaurant life on reality TV shows is not what the work is like in real life. Even culinary school administrators will tell you that you probably shouldn't go to culinary school if you're just interested in being a famous chef or Food Network personality. They want students who are passionate about food. And so the CIA requires students to have had at least six months of experience working in a restaurant — front or back of the house — for admission.
Jodi Liano at the San Francisco Cooking School says her school doesn't have that kind of requirement, but that she personally talks to applicants by telephone to gauge why they want to study cooking.
If they don't convince her of their passion, they don't get in. Some chefs argue that some culinary schools have misled or failed to educate students about these realities of restaurant life. Brad Spence of Philadelphia's Amis says that the particularly egregious programs are those that admit students who have no background at all in restaurants.
Meanwhile, pastry chef and dean of the San Francisco Cooking School Bill Corbett thinks that this kind of misinformation is what prompted the lawsuits at places like the California Culinary Academy. Mario Batali doesn't sit. But students don't always listen to reality. The students didn't believe them, the teachers told her at the time. But the students didn't believe Cohen either. People say, 'Oh, well that's not why I went to culinary school.
This is exactly why you went to culinary school. Chef David Chang tells the story of a retired police chief from a small town near Pittsburgh who had dedicated his entire life's savings to opening his own restaurant.
But, somewhere along the line, someone had told him he could only become a restaurant owner if he first went to culinary school. He believed that was the only option. If there was a global movement to standardize cooking as there is with medicine, Chang says he could understand getting a culinary school degree.
But, as things stand, there's no real prerequisite for getting into the restaurant business. In fact, Chang — who has attended both liberal arts and culinary schools — argues that it might be more beneficial to get a business, philosophy, or engineering degree from a four-year college while working in professional kitchen.
You don't have to live in a city like Los Angeles or New York to build a career this way either. Amis chef Brad Spence agrees. His advice for those considering culinary school — and who can afford the tuition — is to get a business degree at a four-year college while working part-time at a restaurant. But you don't have to go to any kind of school — culinary or otherwise — to get a restaurant job. The tenacious will be able to get a foot in the door at a top restaurant so long as they're willing to start as a dishwasher or prep cook.
Some chefs even prefer to hire inexperienced cooks: Spence explains he's really looking for an employee with a good attitude and passion for the job. He can teach his line cooks the technical skills himself. Spence has a better idea of what aspiring cooks can do with their tuition money. If he had to do it all over again, he says, he would take a fraction of what he spent on school and use it to travel to Italy. He would work in restaurants there to learn about Italian cooking.
Spence didn't know that path was possible back when he applied to culinary school. It is possible. Bypassing culinary school to work in a restaurant is really just the beginning of a different kind of culinary education.
And this kind of education is often intimidating, sometimes risky, and involves a lot of self-discipline as compared to what you get at culinary school. Line cook Sam Brennan had to learn on-the-job when Spence brought him aboard at Amis. Brennan graduated from college with a degree in political science and English, and then spent two and half years working for a life insurance company in Philadelphia.
Fortunately, he also realized he didn't need a degree to work in a kitchen. A friend hooked Brennan up with Spence, and soon Brennan was coming into the restaurant a couple of days a week — unpaid. After a couple of months, Spence hired Brennan full-time.
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