<p>Does anyone here have experience with a kid going to the CIA, or going there themselves?</p>
<p>I'd love to hear your thoughts. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I recently had a conversation with a chef who went there…he was interesting and intelligent…and his food was incredible!</p>
<p>My younger brother graduated from CIA and is now a head chef for Whole Foods in Seattle WA (this was years ago though when he was at CIA --we’re in our early 40’s). To me, it’s the tippy top of culinary schools in US. You will get job placements and are actually required to complete an “externship” in your last semester. I also have two chef friends in NYC now at top restaurants --also CIA grads. They still had to start at the bottom as prep chefs, but worked their way up to head pastry chef, etc. One has her own catering company on the side and does smaller weddings, batmitzvah’s etc. My brother is incredibly talented and I do attribute it to his training. He was not a great HS student, but did so well at CIA because they foster the passion for culinary arts. The campus is gorgeous btw :).</p>
<p>my U Penn graduated cousin went there ~20 years ago and she is a head pastry chef in a NYC 4 star restaurant now. She is also married to a sous chef…</p>
<p>No personal experience, but I highly recommend Michael Ruhlman’s book The Making of a Chef. He was allowed to spend time as a student at CIA, and wrote about it. Great book, and gives what is probably a very realistic view of what CIA is like.</p>
<p>There’s another book called “Inside the CIA” which was great. the author (sorry, don’t remember the name) is a reporter who became a student at CIA. Fascinating read.</p>
<p>A friend’s grandson graduated from CIA about 18 months ago. He loved CIA. His externships were with highly noted restaurants in NYC; I think that they were about 3 months at a time. (He went the chef route, and did the two-year course, not the bachelor’s degree.) Went to LA, got a line job at one of the well known tippy-top restaurants there, stayed about 9 months, came back here and landed a job with the notable restaurant here in town, and just moved to the Bay Area to be with his g/f who is finishing a degree at Berkeley. He catered a dinner I attended, and the food was fabulous; somebody else he’d met in NYC flew him back to be the chef for her husband’s 75th birthday bash. He loved the CIA program – it was the one school to which he had applied – and had worked first as a busboy and then in kitchen prep for a very good restaurant in town here for two years before graduating from high school. The CIA reputation seems to open a lot of doors. (He is the only person I know who travels with an extremely sharp set of knives. Apparently, you bring your own knives to wherever you work!)</p>
<p>Had one of the best meals there 10 years ago…i met a chef in Las Vegas at The Wynn who wasa graduate of CIA,he was working at Daniel Boulod’s place, had worked at Boulod NYC restaurant a few years earlier</p>
<p>I have a friend whose daughter spent a year there, having done lots of culinary camps/internships in high school, but decided she wanted a real college education and transferred to a SUNY.</p>
<p>We know a recent graduate of the CIA four-year program who has done really well in his career so far. His current employer admitted to interviewing him on a lark, thinking someone that young (25) wouldn’t be the best candidate, but was so impressed that she hired him. He had great externships while he was in school. A friend’s niece also went to the CIA, and she runs her own catering business/event facility and is a TV chef personality. My understanding is that the CIA is the gold standard in the U.S. </p>
<p>My son will graduate from college this spring and plans to apply to the CIA two-year program. He’s working part-time as a line cook but wants to work full-time for a while after college so that he has more than the six months CIA requires of applicants. He’s read the Ruhlman book. It’s nice to hear the success stories here.</p>
<p>arabrab, we already get a lot of grief from our son about the state of our kitchen knives!</p>
<p>poetgrl, do you have a child who wants to go there?</p>
<p>thanks everyone.</p>
<p>Yes, geezermom, my youngest is a junior in high school. She is a recruited athlete and is getting a lot of pressure to commit to a school to play her sport, but in her heart she keeps coming back to wanting to go to the CIA. She has an amazing palate, and we raised her going to all the best restaurants and cooking here, and it’s just really got a hold of her imagination.</p>
<p>I support whatever she chooses, obviously, and just wanted to hear what people’s thoughts were on the subject. I said to her, “I’ll ask my imaginary friends on the internet.”</p>
<p>There’s a joint program with Cornell Hotel School – worth looking at if a student wants both the CIA training and the college experience.</p>
<p>Had a student client from the Napa campus ( “graduate students”), and got stiffed for a bill. He was about to graduate. If he got a job, I hope he pays his bill. Unlike school loans, you can blow off your doctor bills. </p>
<p>Got a three day class there with my public television donation and it was among the best experiences of my life. I use a CIA book ( The New Professional Chef) regularly.</p>
<p>My nephew graduated about five years ago. Said it was incredibly hard, but he is an amazing chef with a very solid background. He has always had a good job, moving up with each successive job. He’s been an executive chef for the last year or so in the Myrtle Beach area. It was absolutely the right decision for him to attend.</p>
<p>poetgrl, the young man I described earlier was enchanted with cooking beginning in middle school. He worked all through high school at a small Italian gourmet deli owned by a creative trained chef who also went to the CIA. On Boy Scout trips, he did most of the cooking. When he wanted to go to culinary school, his dad was distressed because he wasn’t going to “real” college. He had only been at the CIA a few months when his dad was beaming because the kid was absolutely in heaven. And he has been ever since (and his dad still beams). If your D is going to do something like this, it’s wise to aim for the best possible training. We’re taking a road trip to CIA in a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know what I think.</p>
<p>excellent. I look forward to hearing what you think of what you see.</p>
<p>You really nailed it. My H is a little nervous about her not going to a “real” college. I tend to err on the side of “life is long” and we all find our way. but, it’s good to hear about all of these outcomes. thanks again.</p>
<p>I think bartering is allowed, shrinkrap. You should go eat off the value of your bill :)</p>
<p>There are 4 CIA campuses. NY, Napa CA, Tx and Singapore. The NY campus used to send students interns to the Vassar dining hall. Don’t know if they still do, but it was a treat!</p>
<p>DH has a good friend who went to CIA and alsw was in the military. Really interesting fellow. Ran some of the officers clubs and even the Senate dining room ( back when Quayle of potato/potatoe fame was a senator)</p>
<p>I guess if it’s your passion, then it doesn’t matter about your hours. We used to know a chef many years ago, he said it is very hard work and hours are not good for family/social life. They tend to work when people are going out and kids are home.</p>
<p>I thought you might be interested in this recent article about a local Houston restaurant that is now considered top-notch again as a result of a new executive chef (aged 25) who had gone to CIA. [New</a> chef makes Tony’s a four-star restaurant once again | Houston Restaurants | 29-95.com](<a href=“http://www.29-95.com/restaurants/story/new-chef-makes-tonys-four-star-restaurant-once-again]New”>http://www.29-95.com/restaurants/story/new-chef-makes-tonys-four-star-restaurant-once-again)</p>
<p>My impression is that kids who are good enough to get into CIA (and it is not trivial to be admitted) get a significant education, but it is specialized. I doubt my friend’s grandson would have enjoyed or benefited from a “regular” college experience nearly as much as he did from CIA. Bu – he lived and breathed cooking before he went. It was (and is) his passion, and he doesn’t mind the late nights, or prepping fifty pounds of potatoes just so. We should all be so lucky.</p>
<p>(And another friend had a daughter who went to culinary school – not CIA – after college, and who is now a 3L at a top 5 law school with her employment nailed down with one of the big firms for after college. People find her culinary experience interesting.)</p>