I want to go to college and take culinary arts. I've looked at a few colleges. I live in Bellefontaine, Ohio and want to go to school in Columbus, Ohio. What college would you prefer: Columbus Culinary Institute at Bradford Schools or Columbus State Community College?? Any answer will help??
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Honestly, I don't know anything about any of the schools you mention here -- but perhaps I can offer you some information that will help you decide for yourself: First of all, I don't really believe in the idea that there's a 'best' school; the choice of the best culinary school is personal and the best school for you might not be the best school for someone else. So, my first piece of advice is that you consider carefully what you need to get out of your culinary school experience. What gaps in your knowledge are you looking to fill? Are you just looking for a piece of paper (you know, a diploma or a degree...) that attests to your skill in order to get your career started? Take the time to list out the things you need to get out of your experience and then go out to each of these schools and measure how they score on your own personal evaluation scale. If you're looking to launch your career and feel you need that diploma to get you started, then the reputation of the schools with the chefs you hope will hire you once you graduate will be at the top of your list. Go out and speak with chefs, HR people, etc. and ask them about the reputation of each of these schools. Most chefs are willing to help someone out that has a passion for this profession (I recommend you try to catch them in the morning around 11am or in the afternoon, after the lunch rush and before dinner -- respect their time!). Other things you should look into: The qualifications of the Instructors. How many years experience do they have? Is that experience in fine dining? or in more industrial sorts of operations? Ask about any awards or accolades. Also ask about their teaching experience and what kind of training the school provides them to keep them sharp and on top of the latest culinary trends. Ask about class sizes: many schools talk about their student teacher ratio because their classes are very large. Then they throw a few under-qualified 'Assistant Instructors' in the classroom to lower their ratio -- you want a school that limits the number of students in the kitchen classroom to 20 or less and you want to make sure that you'll be working with qualified Head Instructors, not 'assistants' or 'associates'. Inspect the facilities. Make sure they have enough equipment for the numbers of students they're teaching. Do the kitchens look new, clean and well-cared for? Definitely speak with at least a couple of students and recent graduates. Ask about their experiences at school: did they learn the sorts of things they expected to learn? was the teaching environment conducive to learning? did each student get plenty of hands-on experience or did they have to compete with their fellow classmates for their turn at the stove (every student should really cook every day, but at some schools they make some students watch while their classmates cook and take turns)? Ask graduates about their experiences after graduation. Did they get the sort of placement help they expected? Did they learn the things in school that their hiring chef expected them to know once they got on the job? Also interview the Chef Instructors. You will be counting on these people to teach you. You should probably like them and absolutely better respect them, their experience and their attitude towards cooking. In addition to placement rates and graduation rates, the schools should be able to tell you about where their graduates go to work. It would be worth your while to contact those hiring restaurants or hotels and confirm the school's claims. Also ask the the hiring chef their opinion of the quality of the program. It's a lot of homework to perform, but considering the investment of time and money you're about to make, it's worth the up-front investment. We hear from a lot of students that start in a program only to quit before they finish because it didn't turn out to be ask they expected. Don't make that mistake. I hope you find this helpful. Good luck to you.
