What is the best culinary program out there? For that matter, what are the top twenty culinary schools and how would you choose the one you should attend. Is there some criteria that should be used to weed out the schools that I would rather not attend?
If you are a prospective culinary student and you’re looking for the best school, those are questions you’re asking. How does a prospective student define what will be the best school and weed out the remainder? IS the reputation of a school important and should you be reviewing those as well as the actual school? There are some important elements that the schools you consider should have in order to remain in the running. They will help you to decide where you would like to attend and then to narrow it down.
Choosing the best culinary schools takes more than just these factors, however. The best school for you is completely subjective. Depending on where you want to be, what type of career you want, and what sort of chef you’d like to be, those are factors you will have to consider too.
When you are sorting out the schools that you don’t want to attend, you will want to make a list of all of those which you may want to consider. Pay close attention to the list, but you can’t always be strictly guided by the school criteria, since you have your own personal issues too. Remove the schools immediately that you can’t attend due to your own criteria, such as travel distance or places you would prefer not to live during school. This pares down your list a little.
Next, look at the schools that will give you a great experience in restaurants. You will be a much better chef when you attend one of these schools with more hands-on experience. The schools that do not offer this type of experience can be removed from the list.
Your third consideration should be a school that is a little larger. In most cases this will give you the best chance to get faculty who are more experienced, which is precisely what you are looking for. In most cases, those same larger facilities will have better programs, such as mentoring in their campus, as well as other things like externships. Check out what is available. The schools that do not offer the programs you want can also be crossed off your list.
Check lastly to be certain that you have some type of accreditation in the school for culinary. While this isn’t always possible, in most cases they will be accredited by a state or regional agency which is a very good sign, particularly if the school is not well known. Accreditation isn’t truly necessary but will make your resume look a bit better.
You can pare down your school list fairly readily if you use personal criteria as well as what you want in a school to remove those schools that you do not want to attend. From what is left on your list, you can then choose several that you would like to visit in order to narrow down your list still further.