# humber, GB or liaison college



## mulak

hey guys

I have 3 colleges to choose from for becoming a chef, which are: humber, GB or liaison college

which one of these colleges give the best possible education and why? or you can give me pros and cons for each college... either way

just a few infos which possibly influence the decision but you dont have to factor in your decision if you dont want to: 

1. i live in oakville, which means liaison is 10 mins away, humber 35 mins and GB is like 45-60mins but I have no car so my transportation is bike/bus/train 

2. I'm deaf, specifically hearing impaired which means i'm deaf but i wear a device to allow me hear but its not sharp as a regular human's hearing. 


Thanks for your time

~Mulak


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## alrm

Hey there Mulak, I am a graduate of Canadore Culinary Arts program in North Bay. I would suggest you get there or go to Humber if going away is a problem. I would highly suggest you stay away from Liason as a personal feeling for the place. It is a very stripped down version of Canadore or Humber. You should go to the local colleges and ask what qualifications the teachers have, are they former exec chefs or someone with experience? What are the possibilities of work when you complete the course? Anyway, if I can be of any help to you I just live down the road from you.

Al


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## mulak

No way... you live in oakville as well? I live on 4th line near st. ignatius of loyola, right behind the monastry bakery.. its a bad location to live since its a walking distance to a bakery haha 

congrats graduating from canadore, are you going into a specific cuisine or style of food? what are you doing right now?

I can't go to canadore because I don't think I can cover the expenses on living on campus. for sure Liaison is the bottom of the 3 colleges because I never heard of it until I research for culinary schools.

you wouldn't suggest george brown?

yeah no problem, I'm going to either send an email or go on campus and ask those questions that you mentioned.

Mulak


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## alrm

The road to where I live is longer than the trip to the bakery. live in Kitchener. And that is just down the road. 

Al


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## mulak

ahhh ok

you didnt asnwer my questions...


why didn't you mention about george brown?

and on personal side.. what specific cuisine/food style are you going into? what are you doing right now?

~Kalum


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## headless chicken

I'm a GBC grad, its an OK school but they do have student disability programs and facilities too, they train aid workers for the hearing and visually impaired there so you can always post up a bulletin to hire a student aid if you feel it's required. I know a few students whose hired note takers by posting through the student association. Their Chef Training program is worth it, a standard 8 month course that trains you the basics and a little advance in the second semester with 1 day a week in the restaurant which BTW, they're currently building a new 1. Some classes are crowded so if you do go GBC, register your class quickly, the program was 3000+ when I went a few years ago and I'm guessing that number has gone up since. 
Some of my fellow CT stayed on for Culinary Management which is Chef Training with an extra 2 semesters (an additional 8 months) of more advance cooking, some wine tasting, business management, banquet cooking, but nobody I know found any of it useful and they're working at places like Liberty Grand and Rosewater, Royal York, etc. 
I'm working at GBC's cafeteria runned by Chartwells, not the start I was hoping for but it'll do for now. 

I understand Humber to be a bit better then GBC but nothing more then that and have heard nothing about Liaison.


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## alrm

I will answer your questions about me and college . I am a mechanic who thought it would be nice to change careers, so at 46 I returned to school and thought I would like to get into the restaurant business. My son was in his first year of Hotel/Resort/Restaurant management and I sometimes had to drive him there. I was in awe of the kitchens and stuff there. So away I went. And I loved it. 
This course at Canadore was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is about 80% theory and is like a new language. (If you are going to walk the walk you better be able to talk the talk) I completed the course and graduated on the same day as my son.(2002) Cool eh? I did work in some nice places and especially enjoyed the banquet , saucier, and pastry departments. I did return to my original trade and own my own business here. BUT, I have a great skill/hobbie and cook some wild stuff for small groups for fun.Anyway, get your butt to college and set your future up and don't look back. Al


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## mulak

hey sorry took a long time to reply ... i had a few projects due today and tomorrow .. finally done with them!

I'm currently in school doing business administration - marketing at sheridan college, this is my final year .. cant wait to finish it and do culinary afterwards

thats awesome alrm

not many people have the guts to do what you did that you are 46 and doing culinary for a personal interest. haha that pretty cool you graduated the same time as your son.

almost 5.5 months to go... and my passion for cooking gonna flare up like a bunch of fat got dump in a BBQ, haha 

I'm hoping to open my own little place like a cafe i guess, when im 25 .... its going to be Caribbean American Cuisine, a fusion of caribbean and north american food. something new to bring to the table, the menu going to have like 50/50 mains and snacks/desserts


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## alrm

Hey Mulak......... Thanks for the nice comments. When you start your cafe call me I will come do all your *prep* for you.(for a small fee) It took more than guts to complete my course at *46,* it took a lot of hard work and determination. You know when you take a good culinary course it is going to be mostly theory. This was my favorite part. Ya see as a mechanic I love to know how things work. And remember this... No one can teach you how to cook they can only teach you the principles and then you get to think for yourself.I believe a person needs to really understand the priciples or as in food, the Classics before they go any place with it. I read here where others said that some of the courses they took involved wine, dining room and stuff they don't use. Wrong-o. I guess they only wanted to learn half of it so they could be half as good.Anyway, let me know what you do I can maybe be a small help to you .

Talk later
Al


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## mulak

haha i will consider it ... the cafe is going to be small, nothing big.. want to start small and build the biz as time goes by

Don't ya have your own business plus you live in Kitchener, isn't like an hour drive?

yeah its takes more than guts to complete the program at your age, my mom is thinking of going back to school and get her accounting dipolma.

oh yea for sure.. that why I'm going to school.. its going to help me expand my thinking/mind because while growing up my mom makes typical things ... she rarely make new things, so my mind is so limited to specific ingredients ... I'm also going to get a nearly a 900 pages book called "on food and cooking" by mcgee, I'm going to read on the plane to st. lucia for x-mas where my family origin is from, its a 5 hrs flight


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## headless chicken

Beautiful place, I only got a glimps of it on a shore excursion earlier this year. 

You'll be learning a lot regardless of where you go and much of it may not be of use to you though. After basics, what you'll be learning is more regional specific which may prove useless unless your intending to open a french or italian cafe. If you're turely into wanting to open your own place, I would recommend doing the Culinary Management or at least take some additional hospitality business courses, even if its down the road.


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## mulak

I'm not going to open a french or italian cafe.. its too common around here ... that why I'm doing caribbean american cuisine, its a fusion of caribbean and north american together, something new and seperate myself from other competition

the trip is personal since we are going there to spend x-mas with the family but i'm going to use the trip as my advantage for culinary purposes as well and learn more about the food down there

oh ya i'm going to do a couple culinary management courses in the near future ... my mom and I might go to a seminar of some sorts, technically my mom is the one, who want to open a place. She told me like beginning of this year, I never thought she was going to do it. I want to open my own place in like 10 years but with my mom's annoucement, the place can be open within 5 years hopefully. 

she always want a place, people always telling my mom to open a place since her food is so good, especially her famous cake and fruit cake, she sell them from her own kitchen every once in a while, like 40-50 bucks a cake


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## jennb76

Mulak

I have worked in the indusrty for over 15 years and I graduated grom George Brown in '99.  I would never hire someone from Liason College!  They are extremely expensive, and don't seem to give their students their monies worth.  I have worked with several "graduates" from the Liason program and their knowledge and skill level is beneth basic level.  If I were you I would only consider Humber and George Brown, both are amazing schools with a reputation that is recognized nation wide.

Hope that this helps.

J


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## chefbuba

Do you realize that this thread has been dead for five years?


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## chefedb

Never heard of any of them !   No college makes you a chef, they make you a person who may be capable of holding a job in food service, but that also is questionable. As stated manytimes over and over,   IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE STUDENT


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