Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Chefs
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Ozarks Technical Community College.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider STLCC - Forest Park.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider STLCC - Forest Park and East Central College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of STLCC - Forest Park and Ozarks Technical Community College.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Mineral Area College and Jefferson College.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Le Cordon Bleu • St. Louis, MO
Studying Culinary (completion in 2010)
• 9/17/2011
"I enjoyed the program and the teachers. However, I finished the course in June and had to wait until November to have a graduation. Then I had to wait until about May of the next year for the certificate, and even then I had to pay to get it."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | The course was great for getting a start in the career. I would have liked to learn more but due to the distance traveled and the time of the classes, I could not. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | They are a more well known school. They have a lot of commercials and you hear people talk about them a lot. |
| Program Quality | 9 | The class was only a year long. The teachers had to cram a lot of information into a short amount of time. |
| Instruction | 10 | Teachers were very interactive and willing to help. They were also creative and gave advice from personal experience. |
| How Difficult | 3 | There was not too much homework and cooking comes easy to me. I didn't like the essays on famous cooks. I would have rather learned more hands on stuff instead. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Almost everything was hands on learning. We did, however, write essays on famous chefs and had to write out recipe cards from the text book. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | They currently have set hours for their classes. I wanted to take the extension class on baking but they only offered it at night so I wasn't able to. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | They are still a brand new school so the equipment is nice. However, they should probably add more stuff to accommodate the students' needs. |
| Social Life | 2 | The classes were pretty small so we all got along. However, there weren't really any school functions except for graduation. |
| Placement Services | 2 | We had to do an externship and they said they would help find us one. When the time came I had to find one on my own and almost couldn't. After the course I received no help in finding a job. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I was there the first year they opened so they were still figuring things out. I haven't heard anything of a reunion or groups or anything. |
L'Ecole Culinaire • St. Louis, MO
Studying Culinary Arts (completion in 2009)
• 10/10/2011
"As I've mentioned throughout, I thought L'Ecole Culinaire was fantastic. It was challenging, and I had to work my butt off, but it was definitely worth it."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I was trained in basic and complex skills. We learned each station completely and ultimately, how to run a kitchen. It was well worth the expense. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | I was strongly encouraged by my chef to pursue studies at L'Ecole. The program in culinary arts was outstanding. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I was trained across skills, with hands-on learning emphasized. I, personally, would have loved the ability to specialize on more unique skills - say focusing on special diets. |
| Instruction | 9 | The chef instructors were tough, with extremely high standards for food prep and quality. I learned a ton, though. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The program was great. It was difficult, however, to maintain a FT job in a kitchen while attending/meeting all of the necessary requirements. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Traditional skills and history (book learning) was important and critical to understand the reactions that go into creating amazing food. However, the emphasis was hands-on, and for good reason. If you can't actually deliver high quality food time and time again, you can't run a kitchen. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Overall, flexibility was fine, but it could have been better. It was definitely easier for my peers who went through without concurrently holding a FT (or PT) job. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The most useful resource was the hands-on time in the kitchen with amazing instructors. Having access to other resources - libraries, group support, etc., was also good. |
| Social Life | 5 | I didn't participate in any school spirit things, but there were definitely some awesome, non-school sponsored parties. |
| Placement Services | 6 | I already had a job and was promoted when I finished. I really didn't use this, but I heard good things. |
| Alumni Network | 7 | I haven't really taken advantage yet, but the alumni network seems strong. I've definitely heard good things from other chefs across town. |
Macon County R-1 Vocational School • Macon, MO
Studying Culinary Arts (completion in 2001)
• 10/29/2011
"I wish I could say otherwise, but I am not satisfied at all. I only attended the school because it was free for me."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | I would tell them to go to a big name school. If you go to a smaller school it barely even shows up on the radar when you hand out your resume. |
| Program Reputation | 1 | When I took the program they where talking of shutting it down. This in turned caused cuts in funding and standards. |
| Program Quality | 2 | I felt it was very basic. Overall we just learned about food safety and sanitation and not cooking/presenting food. |
| Instruction | 6 | The instructor was very knowledgeable and seemed to know a lot about the field. I just feel we didn't learn the broad cooking spectrum and instead just learned the basics. |
| How Difficult | 2 | Working with food is not rocket science. If you read the books and have any common sense, it is too easy. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It seemed like we didn't cook anything for the first 4 months of the class. That wouldn't be bad, but the class was only 6 months long! | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | During the day it was either 8-11 or 1-4. There was no weekend or night schedule. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | The school had a great library. The classroom was also very large and we had all the proper tools to work. |
| Social Life | 7 | There where lots of people interested in social events. Being a part time student, I didn't really get into them that much because I was living a life outside of the school. |
| Placement Services | 1 | There was none. We worked internships, but that was it. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | There is none. A few of us talked about starting one, but the number of people interested was too low. |
L'Ecole Culinaire • St. Louis, MO
Studying Culinary Arts (completion in 2009)
• 1/26/2012
"Nice school; just needs to focus on applications in the real world."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Depends on if they are prepared for the work ahead. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | Premier culinary program in St. Louis. |
| Program Quality | 7 | Taught me cooking knowledge, not real-world applications. |
| Instruction | 7 | Lots of communication. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Easy, if you pay attention and do the work. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | About 50/50; classes and kitchen work. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | Morning, afternoon and evening classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 2 | Teachers were receptive to helping, but the library was shameful. Computers and one bookshelf with Betty Crocker books. |
| Social Life | 4 | Friendly people who I hung out with, but not much school activity. |
| Placement Services | 5 | There were lots of job listings. |
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