Deciding on a culinary career might not take much thought, but how do you choose the right school from more than 1,000 postsecondary culinary, restaurant, and hospitality programs?

First, ask yourself some fundamental questions. Why do you want to go to culinary school? Is it to become a chef, hotel manager, pastry artist? Do you want to specialize in a particular style of cooking or region? Where do you want to work? Resorts, restaurants, bakeries, catering? And, finally, what kind of degree do you want? A certificate or diploma can take from one month to two years. Earning an associate degree takes from nine months to two years, and earning a bachelor’s degree takes four years or more. Fourteen-week culinary programs and three-week tours to epicurean centers such as France and Italy are at the other end of the scale.

Another aspect to choosing a school is to examine the reputation of the program and the resumes of the chefs teaching there. Look for the prizes and awards the school has won. Where are current graduates working? Many programs proudly list their placement rates and well-known employers of their students. Is the faculty respected in the culinary world?

Location also can be a significant factor in your choice. By attending programs in large cities, you will have more choices for externships, and when you finish the program, more job possibilities. Externships in leading restaurants and hotels are a big part of high-quality culinary programs.

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Stephanie Hersh defined her career goal of being a pastry chef at the age of 6 with the gift of a Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven.

It was simplistic cause and effect: She produced the sweet offerings from batters, and everyone fluttered around telling her she was “terrific.” She figured this could last her whole lifetime if she just kept on making cake. Her granny lived nearby and regularly let the diminutive yet determined youngster bake alongside her, making family desserts and good, sweet stuff.

Her parents were harder nuts to crack, insisting on scholastic accomplishment, first at her private high school, then at a four-year college. Looking back, she thinks college was the best for her because “I needed to grow up before going to culinary school.” She worked part-time in restaurants, both front of the house and back, making some headway in the cooking hierarchy as she became more experienced.

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A Word From the Staff at CulinarySchools.com

(Actually, we are going to need a few sentences!)

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. We hope you find the information entertaining and insightful. We have big plans this year for our website, like the brand new Food Trivia poll you saw above. We hope to add one more piece of exciting content to our website at least once a month, but we need your help.

What would YOU like to see on our website? Would you like more Culinary Professional Profiles? More articles about career paths? More fun stuff? Let us know, because this website is as much yours as it is ours! Thanks again, and good luck in your culinary future!

- The CulinarySchools.com staff