I don't know how many of you have seen the commercial on the Food Network for the French Culinary Institute with Jacques Torres, but I HAD to find out more about this school after seeing the awesome things they made there So, I requested some information about the school. Unfortunately, for a 6 month course, tuition is nearly $34,000, plus $1,000 a month for housing

I just wondered if anyone has been to a culinary school and how they liked it and if it was worth it.....and was a little kinder to my credit cards

Woooo! That's the price of a car! And just a six month course! Ouch!!

Holy toledo! That's more than my brother's first year out of state tuition for Pharmacy school. Wow, never realized it was that expensive to go to a culinary school.

Have you tried Johnson and Wales or the CIA? And people wonder why I go the self taught method. A lot cheaper to practice this as a hobby than to go to school. I do not know what your present job is or your salary but most only start at about $11.00 an hour thats if your lucky. There is a great forum on the web called ChefTalk.com I think you could go there and have your question answered it is a great website. Also StarChefs.com is a great website also. I think you will find both helpful.

Check out your local community college.

I have a niece who is going to culinary school, upstate New York and her tutition was around $2,000-$3,000 per seminster, if you are interested, I can ask her mom and get the name of the school and perhaps phone number of the school. Just PM and let me know in the mean time I'll ask her any way just in case some else is interested.

I think PastyDiva goes to one, you should pm her.

I think that school is to much money. I went to check it out along with the American Institute and now they won't stop calling, e-mailimg and sending mail to my home. I felt that six months was such a short time frame for everything you had to do. I even took one of Scott Wooleys classes here in NYC and he said a few of the instructors came to him to learn something for class and he could believe how they were going to teach it the next day after taking only one class. He felt it was a joke and told us if we take classes on our own we will learn more. Don't get me wrong his classes are VERRRRRRYYYYYY costly. I guess it's up to you and what you want to do.

Hi,

I go to Johnson and Wales University in North Miami Beach.

It cost 17 thousand a year. I have a few loans, some achievement loans ( I only have to pay 50 percent if my gpa falls bellow 3.5. Nothing if I keep it above 3.5 harder than it looks!..lol)

Regular loans that I have to pay back but the interest is 5% not to bad, that I can defer payment after I graduate for 10 years if I put in the right paperwork.

At my school you can "FAST TRACK" you can come in and do your Associates in about a year and some months.

Any education that you recieve is worth it.

The brain is a muscle, and it also needs excersice...education can be recieved from anyone and anyplace at any time.

It's a big sacrifice for me, the time and the effort but not recieving my degree was the only thing that I've ever regretted in my life...and now, I'm getting it done!!

Thank you all for the great advice. You've all given me a lot to think about!!

Well IMHO...I went to the FCI and ICES...
The FCI is way too expensive and ICES is about $7k less x course...You have more study hours in the FCI than you do in ICES, but more externship hours with ICES if I'm not mistaken...It's been a while since I checked...

If you want to open your own bakery, be the pastry chef of a top hot spot or create / expand a catering business, then I would recommend you do this. This will give you that broad spectrum that customers would look for. You will learn to do everything...

But if you only want to specialize in cakes, then specialized courses would be the best way to go...and practice of course...The ICES offers a Pastry Course for about $1380 that covers about 100 training hours.
Then they have baking classes, but not too sure if they specialize in the science behind baking.

They offer tons of 1, 2, or 5 day classes in different areas that are affordable as well...

So it all depends what you want to accomplish.

Scott Clark is expensive indeed, but I think well worth it. I attended a business class with him and he helped solidify my plans and views in terms of my business (if I ever get started that is). With cakes is all about flowers...The nicer they are, the better the cake will look...
For example, look at Ron Ben Israel...The guy CANNOT pipe! What is his trick? Lifelike flowers, snail trails and fondant cutouts! And yet his cakes sell for thousands...He's studied all over the place, I'm sure he can bake you a killer cake, but you do not get in depth wedding cake decoration classes in pastry school.

I just remembered there is a pastry school somewhere in PA that is about 7K, and another in Chicago around 11K...Same stuff, but cheaper states/cities. In NYC, you have to pay top dollar...And forget about the CIA!

Godiva

what is ICES?

ICE Culinary ' Institute of Culinary Education
www.iceculinary.com

Godiva....your cakes are very beautiful!

oh gosh...I went there in about...1996 for the weekend classes!

When it was Peter Krump's Cooking School and the culinary labs were up a pair of ricketty steps in an old manhattan building!

I got my baking and pastry certification there.

I went on Saturday for Pastry and Sunday for Breads!

it cost about 1 thousand dollars each...

I still have my recipe books with countless notes written on them.

Nick Malgieri was a sort of Dean there and Toba Garret did the cake decorating classes!

When I thought I wasn't going to have a teaching job this year, I looked into Culinary Institutes....the one in Pittsburgh which is one hour from me is 36,000/year. I can't imagine that........I know there are some local culinary schools that are more reasonable around.

I've looked into many culinary schools, including FCI and ICE...because I also want to find a culinary school where I can find as much training in the cake department as possible, LoL. ICE is where Elisa Strauss (http://www.confetticakes.com/index.htm) attended culinary school. Granted, she had design and art experience and talent beforehand...she had to learn her fondant and other skills somewhere. And ICE is a little cheaper than FCI, if I remember correctly.
I've also looked at Le Cordon Bleu schools. A few of those schools actually participated in a pastry competition (cakes weren't included, but showpieces were...) between culinary schools, sponsored by Disney and the Food Network.

I haven't decided where I'm going yet...I've looked into tehse school and many others as well. I hope I decide soon...and I hope this helps you!! Good luck.

Definitely check your local community colleges. They can give you basics and a good foundation as well as being a lot cheaper! Johnson & Wales is also a good school with locations all over the country.
My plan is to take the Culinary Certificate course offered through my local community college to build on my interest and love of all things desserts!!
Leslie

I went to Cincinnati State for Culinary Arts and am enrolled to complete Hotel Mangament along with Pastry Design. I have found to be worth every dime I have had to pay back on student loans. I think it has a lot to do with whom and how you are taught, I ended up with great chefs.