You're right, one night I dug around (curious) and one program was $120,000!!! wow!

I will stick to the Food Network, Epicurious, and Cooks Illustrated!

In NYC, the best option is probably the French Culinary Institute. There's another school in Chelsea called the Institute of Culinary Education. The most famous school in the area is the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), but that's a much longer and more expensive program of study. And Johnson & Wales in Providence is one of the best culinary and hotel management schools in the U.S. but it's a traditional 4-year university, and I'm not sure if they have a cooking-only program. Cornell has one of the most famous hotel management schools in the country, but I don't know if they do culinary education.

A friend of mine from my old office left to attend the CIA; she loved it.

Johnson & Wales does (I believe) have a cooking only type program. We have a fairly new campus in Uptown Charlotte - www.jwu.edu. If it were me & $$ was no object (& I have to stay in the US) then I believe CIA would be the place to go.

I am looking at CIA...my friend told me about it. Now I am reading EVERY book I can....I'm like a turkey, "gobbling" up everything I can find. Right, now I am reading, THE MAKING OF A CHEF, just finished THE SHARPER YOUR KNIFE THE LESS YOU CRY, read a few years ago, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, oh and also now in the middle of JULIE AND JULIA. Maybe I'm just feeling domestic and wanting to make a nest, but heck, I may as well next in Hudson Valley or Vermont...lovley. ((but HOLY CR@P, why so expensive? Panel??? Any thoughts on WHY I can get a Nutrition degree for $7,000 a semester (around 14,000 in student loans, as opposed to $28,000 for cooking.....) Why is it soooo expensive?)) **$14000 in student loans is just less than 1/2 of the cost my parents paid for thier house 40 years ago.....

Well - 40 years ago is totally immaterail.. CIA is the best in the country - and like all other bests will charge for it.

There are nutrition (nothing to do with cooking) school everywhere but few decent professional grade cooking schools.

I know a woman who attend the precursor of the Instiute of Culinary Ed and after grduation she was able to get a starting job at a restaurant in VA. If you don;t want to be a professional chef - I think you probably would want to just investigate local cooking classes.

nytraveler~good advice!

Doug~Now that I read yours twice. Thank you for the scoop on Cornell. I am investigating right now. I'll let all of you know what I learn/do, come January....that's only 2 months and 1 week away...

It won't be until next year. CIA requires months of 'practice' before getting in. Like they want to make certain you really want to do it. So, thanks for all of your help!
Gypsy.

Hi GypsyMaiden - my son just graduated from CIA this past march, but from their branch in St. Helena in Napa Valley, which has an accelerated program for people who already have kitchen experience and a 4-year hospitality degree. It is expensive, and the only reason I can think of other than demand, is that they have very expensive teaching facilities, and also a very low student-teacher ratio. His cost was about $36K for the 9 month program. If you're interested in employment, though, it gets you instant credibility anywhere.

According to my son, the other program that's thought to be on a par with CIA is Le Cordon Bleu, which is based in Paris and has about 10 or so schools around the world. They don't have any actual schools in the US, but the closest is in Ottawa, CA. We visited there and it's small, but extremely well equipped. Cost is about the same as CIA, maybe more now that the dollar is tanking.

But Le Cordon Bleu has affiliations with culinary schools in the US, so if you go to their website you can find which ones they are. According to my son, though, they don't have the reputation that the main branches outside of the US do.

I went to The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in the University City section of Philadelphia (near Penn and Drexel). I had an excellent experience. I have friends who went there and have gone on to great careers. It doesn't have the pedigree of the CIA or some others but that doesn't mean you can't reach your goals.

http://www.walnuthillcollege.com/

We visited the CIA in Napa Valley. Awesome building. I am not into cooking so can't relate to the school but really enjoyed the visit.

Probably not what you are looking for but Lane Community College- Eugene Oregon has a Culinary Arts Program very well respected in the Pacific North West - and am sure cost is much more reasonable than what you will have been looking at.

Will check with a friend of mine who is a chef and get her opinion also - will see her tonight I think.

My daughter has her bachelor's in Baking and Pastry from the CIA in Hyde Park. It cost us over $100,000. Her first job was working for Marriott taking out frozen pastries and baking them. I think she made about $12/hour! Hard to pay off student loans at that rate.

In the meantime, my husband's company closed and he decided to buy a small restaurant (seats 80) in upstate NY. DD came home and works for him. In retrospect, not sure she really needed a bachelor's degree to do what's she's doing. On a bright note, last May she married the Chef who came with the restaurant when we bought it -- also a CIA grad.

I think you need to think about what you want to do after you have the education.

ah

The $120,000 price tag at J&W would be for 4 years. They also have the stat that 60 days post graduation (and it can be two years) 95% are employed in the field. It costs about $30,000/year. Top rung culinary schools have a LOT of tuition help, and the hours are such that there is time for employment to support yourself.
I doubt that top rung schools are dropping fees because they don't have the demand.
The Art Institute schools seem to do very well, and often there are Community Colleges that are excellent.

If Rocco Despirito is the CIA example, blech. However, Bourdain is OK. But there are other schools, and with ANY of them, after graduation, you are going to pay some dues. It's hard work. You might want to try to do some kitchen work to make sure it is the thing for you--to the OP.

I used to work with someone whose husband was a chef. I had no idea how much hard work it was until she would tell me about it, and he was never home on evenings or holidays because he was cooking for other people.

It makes sense that such study would be so expensive--think of all the food supplies that the schools must supply to each student for each class and also the cooking labs with all the equipment for each student. I know at the French Culinary Institute in NYC students share a station--imagine providing one professional stove for every two students.

YOU ALL ROCK. Thank you for your helpful suggestions. I will wait for more suggestions!! I can't wait.

I received the application for the school in Vermont, called New Englad Culinary Institute. They are #2 or #3 behind the CIA, but more expensive...isn't that interesting...

OK, more later. Back to reading.

New England...

A very good friend of mine is a senior faculty member at the French Culinary Institute. Just be aware that their applications are at all times highs when thinking about timing.

I wouldn't profess to know which school is best. I would suggest however that you read both Kitchen Confidential by Tony Bourdain and Heat by Bill Buford. The latter was written by someone with little formal culinary training that worked in Mario Battali's kitchen at Babbo.

Culinary school kitchens are set up by stations, not usually by "students". A hotel kitchen won't have a stove per employee.

Hi Ryan,
Thank you for this. I read Kitchen Confidential a few years ago, and now am reading a book called, The Making of a chef, pg 206 today. I will certainnly read HEAT. Thank you for the recommendation.

*something additional: NECI and CIA both were waiving applicaton fees for the winter of 2010. I was thinking this might be because their application levels were running low. I may be wrong.

aha! Michael Ruhman has a website and blog. He mentions a link to a website...eggbeaters....a blog that talks abou the weight of debt for folks who are leaving culinary school, making $12 an hour.

At this moment, I feel like I would go to culinary school if I paid cash. No student loans on $100k without becoming a Dr.

I used to work the "front of the house" at a well-respected restaurant, and still follow the industry a bit. If you haven't found it already, you might check out the website http://www.starchefs.com/ (and sign up for their newsletters.)

It has a classified section that will give you a good idea of what kind of jobs are out there, at what kind of pay, in various parts of the country. Also listings re culinary schools, articles, etc. Perhaps most importantly, a survey containing info re education, salaries, and hours worked that's well worth a read: http://www.starchefs.com/features/editors_dish/salary_survey/2008/html/index.shtml

Bottom line - looong hours for low pay. Our chef and sous chef worked 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week, on average. You really have to love it. Not just cooking (which you can obviously do on a much more relaxed level at home, on your own schedule), but the atmosphere in a restaurant kitchen.

All very true about kitchen pay. The way people in the restaurant business make decent money is by being an owner. Of course, that is one of the riskiest businesses in terms of failure rate, but it also attracts some of the worst business people.

Lesli, said it best. It has to be a "passion" you can't do without. Lots of "dues paying" before the top echelon for those that get there. But those that love the business on its MANY levels are great folks, and add to OUR lives.

In the D.C. area, L'Academie de Cuisine has a good one year program that is only $27,500 tuition. The whole year (tuition, apt. rental, groceries, etc.) can come in under $60,000 if you plan well.

http://www.lacademie.com/

It's a cheaper option you might consider.

The cost per year at Johnson and Wales is about $30,000. And they have very nice "student" housing in apartments. Work opportunities available in all our city restaurants. The very high amounts posted are not for a year, in my opinion. It is also a typical 9 month "year", with opportunity to work for the summer, and half days so work in the off time--morning or evening. Doesn't mean it is easy to do--but if it is a "calling" then it seems to be very worth it for what is happening at our campus.

I didn't want to rain on your dreams Gypsy Maiden but I recommended the book Heat because it does get into the economic reality of working as a chef. I think that book will give you a good sense of what the life is like in a kitchen of a top NY restaurant.

If it's your passion to do this definitely follow it. But, do so with a sense of the economic reality, which is probably something most of the culinary school admissions and recruiting staffs might not be so willing to discuss without prompting.

Thanks all!!

They told me Kendall in Chicago is great as well.

This thread is 3 years old. I think the OP found a school.