That's right. I took the leap and enrolled in culinary school. I shall be attending Le Cordon Bleu affiliate here in Sacramento for their 12-month Extended Certificate program.
As I await the start date of my new adventure, I want to make a few things clear to the general public - to those thinking about attending culinary school, to those with opinions on culinary schools, and to those with delusions influenced by the food entertainment we see on TV.
1. I have no plans to abandon comics or music. Let's just leave it at that. But I need a job, preferably one that I like. I've already done my time with the job I hate so I can come home and work on the things I love, and it didn't work out so well. I've been thinking of going to culinary school for at least five years, give or take. I always dismissed it as a fleeting dream, something I would save for the age of 35 or so if I wasn't successful in the other areas of my choice. Currently, I'm not unsuccessful. I teach drums and write music for a living. It just doesn't pay very well, and that's gotta change. Like I said, I'm not leaving music behind, but in my search for a dayjob that I like, I revisited the notion of going to culinary school. People, in any economy, continue to go out to eat, yes? I love food and cooking, yes? It seems like a logical choice. While I have no idea what the future will bring, I hope that my acquired skills will help find me a job, which in turn will afford me a comfortable living once again. I understand that working in the food industry will probably mean a commitment of many, many hours and that other things in my life may have to sit in the proverbial back seat, but I'm willing to take that chance for a career that looks like it will satisfy me, both personally and financially.
2. I do not know what will happen beyond graduation besides me seeking employment. I want to try working in a professional kitchen. It looks like fun. It looks like hard work. It looks satisfying, creatively. I could be dead wrong. I won't know until I reach that point. What I do know is that I have no delusions about the glamourous career television makes the professional kitchen out to be. I have no plans to become the next celebrity chef, or the next owner of a national chain of restaurants. I have no plans to become the next guy who will travel the globe eating all sorts of stuff we're no accustomed to in America. Would those things be nice? Sure. I'm prone to daydreaming. But I'm not going into this with those goals in mind. My goal is to learn technique, methodology, efficiency, and ingredient interaction, all of which will help me be better cook. From there, my goal will be to seek employment with my new skills. Where that takes me remains to be seen. I won't know until I have some experience in the field.
3. I will be attending Le Cordon Bleu affiliate in Sacramento. After much research - though, admittedly, there's always more research I could have done - I decided this would be the logical choice. My criteria:
- Money: I don't have a lot of it and I can't take out too much in student loans.
- Time: I can't spend two years in school, as much as I'd like to. There are other things in my life that need attention.
- Location: we can't relocate. We can't afford it. That ties in with the money issue, except in this case relocation would impact my wife. As much as I'd love to check out the Culinary Institute of America or Johnson and Wales, it's not feasible.
- Externship: I want to do one. I want part of my graduation requirements to include working in a real, fine dining restaurant.
There isn't a whole lot of choice here in Sacramento. We've got Le Cordon Bleu, which is an affiliate of the Paris school, but not run by the same faculty. We've also got the Art Institute and the American River College culinary programs. ARC, though I've heard they have a fine program and would be considerably cheaper than LCB or AI, was off the list because an externship isn't part of the program. Instead, students work in the school-owned cafe. This is fine, but it isn't what I want. The program offers a certificate and an Associate's Degree (two years) program, and each program requires students to take classes in hospitality management (food costs, restaurant management, etc). I have heard that people really like the program, but the cooking half of the curriculum didn't seem like what I wanted and the lack of an externship was the deciding factor.
The Art Institute's program also looks very good. Half of it is hospitality management and the other half - the cooking half - looks very appealing as well as diverse. They offer a certificate and an Associate's Degree, and program does include an externship. If I attended this school, I would want to enroll in the two-year program, but that wouldn't be feasible. The one year program would be a good choice, too, but in the end the decision was based on cost... and they want a ton of money.
The Art Institute's total tuition for the diploma (about one year; 5 quarters) is $32,093, and their two-year program is $58,691. I'm not sure what is included (ie. are the application, enrollment, lab, and student activity, and other fees included or separate from tuition?), but if this is the base price to go on, wait until you read about Le Cordon Bleu's tuition.
Le Cordon Bleu has an application fee of $50, which you pay at the time of enrollment. Then, tuition is $18,971 for the 9-month program or $22,380 for the 12-month program. So the Art Institute wants $10,000 more than LCB, and there are other fees that need to be paid on top of that? Yeesh.
Le Cordon Bleu only offers certificates and there are no hospitality management classes, but that means there is a large emphasis on cooking. While it's always good to know the business side of things, I figure I can learn that as I gain field experience or I can take individual classes at American River College. According to the admissions representative, the basic classes (Foundation I, II, and III, Food Safety and Sanitation, and Baking and Pastry) are comparable to the basics curriculum at the Paris school. The extended program, in which I've enrolled, offers three more classes and the earned certificate is issued from the Paris school (the regular certificate is not).
For my money (loaned money) and time, Le Cordon Bleu is the logical choice.
4. An admissions representative from the Art Institute talked with me the other day and she did not seem to hold Le Cordon Bleu's program in high esteem. This was probably part of her job, but since I have no evidence to the contrary, I can only take her words at face value. I did some poking around on the Internet to see if anyone had any opinions about both programs. I mostly found people commenting on Le Cordon Bleu, the CIA, and a few notes here and there about Johnson and Wales.
Without getting into detail, let me say this: I've never known an organization where 100% of it's members were great. I'm sure a lot of incompetent people go to Harvard and a lot of smart people go to California State University, Sacramento. Just because a student attends the CIA, doesn't mean he or she has the makings of a three or four star chef. Just because a student attends a community college program doesn't mean he or she has inferior cooking skills. I'm willing to bet that, no matter where a student goes to school, most of the student body don't work hard, aren't interested in learning, and basically waste the money required to attend their school. It's the relatively small percentage that do work hard and do want to learn that actually have any desirable skills and knowledge after graduation.
I have read statements and blogs from students that have attended other Le Cordon Bleu campuses that have enjoyed their time at the school and learned a lot.
The truth is, I don't know what the school will be like. Any school will teach you something, but you also get out what you put into it. I think there will be a lot to learn by attending the Sacramento campus. I think the curriculum promises a large culinary education. Will they deliver on that promise? As with any school, I'll find out when I start classes.
I can also tell you this: I'm not interested in the actual, paper certificate itself. I'm not interested in any sort of prestige a school may or may not have associated with its name. I am interested in learning and acquiring good cooking skills. Sure, a certificate and a school's name may look good (or bad, depending) on a resume, and that's how the world works, but when it comes right down to it I want a potential employer to assess me for my skills, my knowledge, and my personality, not the name of some school I went to.
I'm excited for school to begin. I will learn what they have to teach me and I will work hard at being a good cook. We'll see where my adventure in professional cooking takes me from there.
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