Is Culinary school or any other school that will get me the degree worth it?!
I looooove to cook and I just got hired at this local deli and I am considering going to Sullivan University for Culinary.
Do the jobs pay well and what could I do?
I don't want to get on of those degrees that are money wasters and don't do anything for me.
PS I am talented I have won contests before and not rinky-dink ones either lol
OH YEAH Feel free to tell me other schools in Kentucky [Louisville area] that are good. I'll go to community college if I have to lol I just want to have my own restaurant soooo badly.
Answers:
Learning how to cook is rather unimportant to running a restaurant. Owning a business, managing it, and cooking the food for it, are all different kinds of skills.
Cooking jobs, on the whole, are the lowest paid, longest hours, and have few benefits.
But a big part of college is learning more about yourself, which involves exploring different possibilities for a while to get more of a realistic picture of what's required and how you really like doing it - not what you *think* you may like to do without knowing exactly what's involved. Community college is a low risk and low cost way of exploring different fields of study. By the way, community colleges often have professors who are better than 4 year universities when it comes to vocational fields, because they often are working professionals who only teach part-time, so they are current in their field and they have lots of business contacts. University professors often are caught up in research. I would highly recommend that you research which community colleges within reasonable driving distance have the best culinary program, then fully take advantage of whatever it has. Culinary schools are usually a highly overpriced way to teach basic skills. They are better used after you've finished the community college program and have been working on-the-line for a couple of years. That way you can use the school to learn intermediate and advanced skills at a point when you're ready for them.
I think it is only worthwhile if you are wanting to make a career with it not just filling in time until you want to get married.
You will need to check your area for the wages.
Make sure which ever school you decide on that it is accredited, culinary or otherwise. Best wishes.
I wrote you to tell you of a free US government program for free job training: JobCorps (www.jobcorps.org).
There are many JobCorps centers in KY. It is for 16 to 24 year olds and they offer Culinary Arts. If they do not have it at your local center, they will pay to have to sent to any of their other locations that have it. They have free GED (if you need it), job training, housing (they have dorms), cash, transportation, job placement, food, healthcare, etc.
Good luck - cooking schools are usually expensive unless they are at a Community College, but then you still have to not only pay for uniforms, but your knives, pastry kits, etc. and those are not cheap.
Gemyni, if that's the road you want to take, I would like to be first to welcome you to the industry. I am not going to say the road will not be hard. The hours a long, and in the initial stages, you will not have a social life. At first I have to say that, the pay structure for first and second year suxs. Not sure about you down there in Kentucky. The upside is when you a front line chef, the money is fabulous and the perks are even better, depending on who picks you up.
I did one year of culinary, for what I do, which is not a chefs best friend.
You persevere, and the rewards and travel will be there if you play your cards right.
Best wishes and the best of luck.