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/ed...ml/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.

I hope so, b/c tuition probably increased even more since then.

It wasn't until I got to Ryan's post that I realized it's an old thread. I wonder what happened to him - I know he was sick. I hope he's all right.

I found this by doing a search on Hyde Park and now I am wondering:

1. What ever happened to the OP, did she go off to cooking school? She has no Fodors page, now.

2. How is Ryan (seeing the reference from Panecott which was almost a year ago)? Ryan's page is no longer found here either.