<p>Hello.
My sister really wants to be a chef (had her heart set on it for a while) but she also wants to have a traditional 4-year college experience (much like Yale...she and I are both shooting for it...).</p>
<p>What should she do? Should she go to a four year college and if she did, what would be the best major that would fit with a chef in training? Or should she sacrifice the college life and go directly to culinary school since it would prepare for her career?</p>
<p>Charlie Trotter studied Political Science at the University of Wisconsin. It was only after graduating from Madison that he changed his focus to cooking. I'd say he did ok for himself. Clearly, Trotter is an oddity in the culinary world. Most chefs go straight to culinary school. However, there is no reason why your sister cannot first get a traditional education and later on focus on honing her culinary skills. While in college, she can take cooking classes.</p>
<p>Of course, if your sister wants to immerse herself in the culinary arts, she should probably enroll directly into a culinary school. In the US, I believe the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park (near Poughkeepsie, NY) is one of the better schools to attend.</p>
<p>I think that her plan to attend four year college is a good one. She can get the culinary training later. Money Magazine had an article that said that culinary training is not a good value if you look at cost versus earning potential. Still, it is right for some people. Many community colleges offer it at low cost, but they are not chef schools. She can't go wrong getting a college education first, in my opinion. She may go through several career chances in the future, plus the education will be valuable in her personal life. Johnson and Wales U offers a four year culinary degree, but it is not the same as a general LAC or university-definitely not for someone who is attracted to Yale. If she looks, there may be a large state university that offers culinary along with the traditional offerings.</p>
<p>Johnson and Wales also offers a degree program for those who've already obtained bachelor's degrees elsewhere. While the caliber of their regular academic courses is not much to write home about, their culinary training programs are exceptional. Just as other people don't obtain the more specialized training necessary to enter many fields until graduate or professional school, your sister might also think about planning to obtain the more vocational portion of her education after she's completed her undergraduate years studying whatever else is of interest to her.</p>
<p>My nephew just graduated from J&W with a 4 year degree. I know he struggled a bit with classes where he had to write papers and analyze poetry...my sense was that J&W realizes that chefs in order to be successful need more than great knife skills. They also seem pretty intent on becoming a 'real' university.</p>
<p>I was shocked at how little some of his fellow classmates are earning, but he got a job making 60,000 with bonus right away and they have already reassigned him to a bigger position with a promise of a pay increase.</p>
<p>While I would advocate getting a liberal arts education first(Anthony Bourdain went to Vassar), I think an ambitious talented kid would do just fine going to culinary school alone.</p>
<p>Part of the 4year program at J&W are courses that prepare the student for the business end. I'm sure these courses are what helped my nephew in securing his job.</p>
<p>Someone with a liberal arts degree and a 2year culinary program would not have this preparation. They would probably have to start on the lower end of the pay scale.</p>
<p>honestly, if she is truly interested in being a chef, then culinary school is the place to go.</p>
<p>As mentioned, there are many offerings of culinary training from stand alone culinary schools, community college programs, to options at 4 year colleges, like U of Delaware & Johnson & Wales. However, I think the best place for training in the U.S. is the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY as noted above.</p>
<p>A relative is a graduate of the school and worked in the hotel industry for a time before coming back to be a Chef Instructor at CIA for many years. He also earned a designation as a Master Pastry Chef and now works in the food industry & is not currently teaching.</p>
<p>CIA is a very lovely campus on the banks of the Hudson River. (It was a former seminary) It has a college feel to it, but the courses that you take are very practically focused. CIA runs four restaurants on campus and students work in all facets of the operation. You will also take some basic business courses, like management, inventory, accounting, & language classes. Classes also operate almost on a year round cycle. I think there is a long break at Christmas/New Year and 3 weeks off in July, otherwise you are attending school.</p>
<p>It is not cheap and it is not for everyone. The average student age skews a bit older than traditional college 18/19 year olds, because many students choose this path after working in the food industry or choosing it as a career change. The best advice my relative gives students considering culinary training is to work in a restaurant/diner etc. for a little bit before committing to this field. Very demanding physically and mentally.</p>