College Education - Where and Why...

[MorrowJ]

Hey, y'all. I'm at this point in my life right now which I am seriously considering what I should do and where I should go to further myself, my education, and my income. Right now since I've been learning cooking for the first time at my current job, looking into Art Institutes with a culinary education sounds like a good idea for me at this point. The thing is I'd have to go out of state if I am to consider any Art Institute. There's always the local college option but would that be as solid an education as if I had gone to an Art Institute?

 

I just wanna know if A) I should seek a quality education elsewhere or stick to my hometown and B) for any of you who have gone/are going to college out of state, how do you consider which is the right one? I could use some clarity in this issue and I wouldn't even know who to ask, so... Just wanna do some moving forward in my life.

[capbit]

I left home myself to go to a school I knew that would help me in the long run. I don't know too much about art institutes, but I imagine they have more dedicated people that have more knowledge in that area than your average community college. You'd probably be able to get a degree at both these places, but having a degree at the art institute would be seen as more marketable. Out of state tuition is always more expensive, and you'll have to see for yourself which is the better deal. You can probably talk to the staff and professors at these places and have a better idea of what they offer.

[keenan]

I wish I could help. I know too much about school, but nothing about Art Institutes or culinary training. What's your long term goal--to be a head chef in a trendy restaurant, to own your own local diner, or something in between? As a start, you can't go wrong with tracking down the people who do what you want and asking them how they got there. Even reading their online bios could be a good start. Also, Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential, No Reservations) has some hilarious books about becoming a chef, and the restaurant biz from the inside.

[MorrowJ]

I don't really intend to own or manage a restaurant in the long run. Maybe a head chef, I guess. I'd just like to have the kind of experience that high class restaurants hire on. At this point I've been passing pizzas and stromboli in a conveyor oven and I'd really like to learn how to make quality cuisine as a career for myself. I just don't know how the hell to figure out which school is right for me if I wanna be a high class chef.

[capbit]

If you want to be a chef wouldn't a culinary school make more sense?

[MorrowJ]

If you want to be a chef wouldn't a culinary school make more sense?

 

Why, yes. Yes it would. But how does one choose which location is right for oneself? Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe? Globespinning? Draw straws?

 

Seriously, I think it would be nice to travel and live in a place I've never been to before, but I don't know how to choose which area I'd like to live unless maybe I was cruising Google Earth or something. Well, I figure I should ask some advice from someone who might have been in my shoes before I get to doing some intensive research.

[CaptainPlanet]

I'd go to a technical college and learn to cook, a cheap and nasty one with some affiliations with local industry. Look around for that if you're looking for an education to become a cook, which I don't understand why you need it. Is cook an interchangeable term in the USA for chef ?

 

Big expensive technical schools just scream "rip off" to me. A school teaching a technical skill should not be expensive. Academic institutions charge for the right to wear their exclusive brand and it will matter because a lot of industries are based on nothing more than image - there is no other competitive advantage.

 

However, if you're being trained simply to do a job - it should be not at all be expensive.