# Trying to decide on the BEST culinary school



## perretta066 (Apr 4, 2014)

Hello, how is everyone doing? I am writing this post because I am trying to figure out what is the BEST culinary school to go to? I have looked at ICC, Le Cordon Bleu, and CIA. PLEASE I NEED HELP ASAP!!!


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Which ever one does not put you in hock and you can afford. Since almoat all of them teach you how to make a real consomme he same way. Take the least expensive.


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## cschley (Dec 11, 2013)

There is some bias here, but Johnson County Community College has a good program.

I suggest looking at your local community colleges, and see what they offer.


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## perretta066 (Apr 4, 2014)

Well Community College is most definitely not what I am looking for. I am really looking for the best school possible to go to even Le Cordon Bleu London or Paris and Ferrandi. What does everyone rank these schools and what are your thoughts ? Thanks so much


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

@Perretta066, how are you defining "best school"?

IMHO, most all culinary schools, from the local community colleges to the most expensive private schools, will expose you to the same basics of the culinary trade.

Most community colleges will fine tune their curricula to what the local business community desires, e.g. fast food, quick service, family service, upscale.

Beyond that,it is my opinion that some culinary students make an erroneous assumption that name schools provide an advantage in securing employment. If you will take the time to search these forums, I think you will be surprised at how many working chefs hold a far differing viewpoint.

From my perspective, it appears that a great majority of working chefs place far more value on

Work ethic
Practical experience in a commercial food establishment
Demonstrated on-time performance
Reliability
than they do for the name on the diploma/certificate/degree.

In addition, again from my perspective, working chefs place little value on your creativity or passion for pushing the frontiers of food and far more on your ability to rapidly turn out plates of food that consistently meet the standards of the chef with the minimum of waste of food, time, or energy.

A diploma/certificate/degree is simply a piece of paper that says you met the minimum standards of the issuing institution. It says very little about your ability to satisfy the needs of a hiring chef.

I do not believe it is possible to "buy" your way into a successful culinary career.


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## perretta066 (Apr 4, 2014)

Well I appreciate your thoughts on this topic but for my situation at hand, I WANT to go to school for it and am curious as to which school would be the best route to take. I am interested to hear back thoughts on ICC , CIA, Le Cordon Bleu London or Paris, and Ferrandi. If anyone can help me with this, it would be much appreciated. I don't have a lot of time and am needing to decide on something quite quickly since I just graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Film so therefore my lease is up in a month and am really needing some help . Thanks so much, I appreciate it.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

I think the "best" culinary school would be the one that required you to work at least a year in the industry before applying....

Therefore, I don't think there is any "Best" school.

Don't you think it would be a good idea to know what you're getting into before you plunk your money down?


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## perretta066 (Apr 4, 2014)

So I am assuming no one on here can give me any feedback about the schools that I've listed?


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Perretta066 said:


> Well I appreciate your thoughts on this topic but for my situation at hand, I WANT to go to school for it and am curious as to which school would be the best route to take. I am interested to hear back thoughts on ICC , CIA, Le Cordon Bleu London or Paris, and Ferrandi. If anyone can help me with this, it would be much appreciated. I don't have a lot of time and am needing to decide on something quite quickly since I just graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Film so therefore my lease is up in a month and am really needing some help . Thanks so much, I appreciate it.


Honestly the silence is deafening for a reason....

... go make some films about cooking and/or school. If you are good you'll make way more money and have a much better reputation than almost any Chef.

Schools teach basic skills and traditional batch preparation - both of which you can learn on your own easily enough.

They don't teach you how to move / think / work and live in a kitchen environment.

There is no best school because all schools produce great students... or poor students. Remember no one attending school is doing anything other than attending school, grades mean little in the real world.

School reputation may be a big thing with lawyers or scientists and many others but with cooking it means nothing. There are too many varieties, styles and interpretations for any one school to dominate.

Except for the school of Hard-Knocks... that is the only one that can teach you everything but you never graduate you just keep going to the top of the class.

PS - learn to use the search function... it will help you in everything you ever do.


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

[thread="80236"]Trying To Decide On The Best Culinary School [/thread][thread="44842"]Best Culinary Schools Around Nyc [/thread][thread="63284"]What Is The Best Culinary School For Fine Dining [/thread]
I agree with MichaelGA ALL the way around!


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Let me rephrase the above comments in summary form:

THERE IS NO BEST CULINARY SCHOOL!

There are those that will teach you basic skills very inexpensively, e.g. community colleges.

There are those that will teach you basic skills very expensively, e.g. private schools like you mentioned.

There are those that have better networking than others.

There are NO culinary schools that are able to guarantee you more than an entry level job, say dishwasher or prep cook, and even then, the guarantee is nearly worthless.


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## perretta066 (Apr 4, 2014)

Well I appreciate everyones time on here even though I feel that this was a waste of mine. Using a search engine and search key is what brought me to this website. I suppose I am going to have to  keep on "searching" for the information that I desire which is what are the opinions of Le Cordon Bleu London, CIA , Ferrandi, and ICC.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Perretta066 said:


> Well I appreciate everyones time on here even though I feel that this was a waste of mine. Using a search engine and search key is what brought me to this website. I suppose I am going to have to keep on "searching" for the information that I desire which is what are the opinions of Le Cordon Bleu London, CIA , Ferrandi, and ICC.


Ah, NOW the question has changed!
[thread="14345"]Le Cordon Bleu J W Or Cia [/thread][thread="72261"]I Want To Go To Ferrandi But [/thread][thread="75342"]Cia Neci Or Community College [/thread]
Simply click on the SEARCH BAR and access a wealth of information from former students of a variety of culinary schools.

You are neither the first nor the last to inquire


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## brandon odell (Aug 19, 2012)

Asking for opinions about particular schools is completely different that asking what the "best school" is. There is no "best school". You aren't getting a good answer to your question because the question is flawed.

As for the top schools, I have worked with and/or employed chefs from the CIA, Le Cordon Bleu, Johnson and Wales, Art Institutes, Scottsdale Culinary Academy, and several small programs, several from Johnson County Community College mentioned above. I have chefs from four of those schools working for me currently. Far and away, the best chefs I've worked with have come from Johnson County. Yes, a community college. It's not even close. Johnson County requires three years of apprenticeship and has apprenticeship agreements with many award winning chefs and restaurants. Their chefs have better management skills right out of college and more experience than those I've worked with from the other schools.

While the name might not impress, those community college chefs from Johnson County come out better prepared in my experience. They are simply better "chefs" upon graduating, acknowledging that graduating from culinary school doesn't make you a "chef" any more than taking skiing lessons makes you an Olympic skiier.

Sorry you didn't find the answer you were looking for, but from the perspective of working chefs, it was a silly question. No offense intended.


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## chefnicknack (Aug 13, 2013)

As Brandon said, Johnson County is the "best" school because they require you to do an apprenticeship. Experience in the industry surpasses any type of schooling, and that is coming from a culinary student. All of those schools give you the same basic skills to enter the industry. No culinary school is better than another, they are solely what you put into them. The more you strive to learn, the more will be taught to you.


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## brandon odell (Aug 19, 2012)

Exactly. I've worked with great CIA chefs and worthless ones. You should worry more about where you work than where you go to school. Experience trumps all.


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