i applied to FCI a few years ago, when I was thinking of quitting finance altogether and while I knew that my salary, coming out of school would be paltry compared to the debt I would incur, I do remember the "sell" of the school - that I would come out making good money, that most of their graduates do exactly that, and so on and so forth. I wound up not matriculating because I realized I didn't like cooking for people I didn't know and didn't want to do it for 14 hrs a day... but I wonder how many people are actually under the illusion of becoming a star chef after 15 months of culinary school??

I graduated from a Technical College Culinary Arts Program (we used CIA materials) where we saw approximately one-quarter to one-third of the students quit the program after the first year, if not earlier. This was because, when it comes down to it, cooking is physical labor. Having worked in kitchens prior to Culinary School, I had no unrealistic expectations, so the "hard work" of school was somewhat easier than the real kitchens I had worked in. Reading most of the article (I only read three pages),I couldn't help but wonder what the classes were like at CCA, that it didn't weed out students who weren't serious. My chef instructors had no tolerance for lazy or unmotivated students, and those students didn't last the entire length of the program. Also, in order to graduate we had to intern at an acceptable (one where we would really learn something) restaurant. I say all of this, but all the while I am disgusted that a school would play on the pipe dreams of students and at such an exorbitant price...it's truly criminal. My first day of Culinary School our instructor informed us that chefs have one of the highest incidence of divorce, alcoholism, and suicide. Not exactly a pep talk, but a dose of reality. No mention of Emeril...favorably anyway.

I attended the CCA after working professionally in kitchens for several years. In my classes, there were definitely a large number of people who were wooed by the school with no concept of what the industry was actually like. But for me, the whole experience with the school was exceedingly frustrating as well.

I decided to go to culinary school because I was tired of working in crappy restaurants, and without a culinary degree, could not even get a chef at a nice restaurant to talk to me except to say "You need a culinary degree." To break into high-end kitchens these days, a culinary degree is a must. In fact, almost immediately after I began the program, I got a new job at a restaurant I'd been begging to give me a chance for quite some time, based on me demonstrating that I was committed enough to enroll in the school.

Going to the CCA cost me around $50,000 for 12 months of school and a 3 month unpaid externship. After I finished, I was able to get the job of my dreams, but contrary to what admissions reps told me, I was not making more than I had been making slinging hash at crappy restaurants. In fact, working at super high-end restaurants paid way less than my previous cooking jobs (close to minimum wage, and in real dollars, less than minimum wage, since we were required to work several hours a day for free).

I ended up having to leave the industry in order to pay off my debt. Now I cook professionally, but only part-time as a supplement to better paying work.

So I guess what I'm trying to communicate is:
1. It isn't just students without an understanding of the industry who get screwed.
2. The industry, by requiring these worthless and expensive degrees (I don't think I learned a single thing about cooking from the school) before they will consider employing someone, bears quite a bit of guilt in this situation - it isn't just the school

I dreamed of attending the Cordon Bleu in Paris when I was 12; my parents considered it an inferior career, and I was disallowed from pursuing it. It didn't stop me; I've been employed in food service most of my working life and have a realistic sense of the passion, ego, and rigors. When I reached my mid-20s that I started pursuing a degree and was intensely disappointed by the offerings, even in California.

I've visited three culinary academies for enrollment tours. The first went out of business shortly after I visited. Its teaching kitchens were cramped, and I wouldn't trust to get out of the building if there was a fire. The set-up had fire hazards abound, including exposed wires.

Five years later, I visited the CCA. A grand, beautiful building in San Francisco near the opera house, it was the loveliest death trap I had seen in years. The financial and physical costs of commuting pre-dawn (I lived near Sacramento), staying all day, and returning only to do it again four hours later were unreasonable. Despite that block, the salesperson put the full pressure on, first using glittery sprinkles and happy students then pulling out the FUD to get me to commit that day. I had to nearly yell that I couldn't do the commute because the salesmonkey wasn't listening. He was trying to sell me the "Star Chef Dream"!

Last year, however, I went to the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena. I won't look at private colleges any more because of the CSCA. He wanted me to commit to a $25,000-plus tuition for just the B&P program (which he pressed me to put down a non-refundable deposit of several hundred dollars to "reserve my space"). It started badly because he was over a half-hour late after I had made the effort to be early. I'm sorry, but if one wants my money and accepts everyone into one's program, one should have to work for it. This man was more skilled than the CCA cheerleader; he was a nice guy would could have successfully sold it had I not been wary because of my CCA experience.

Their star educator was a man who had cooked for the royals in Britain, but he wasn't on-site (or named on the teaching list, as I recall). They had many lovely poster-sized pictures of many lovely professional chefs teaching the staff, though the salesmonkey implied students could go to the seminars. Maybe. Sort-of. It was confusing, because he'd sell one thing, change what he said, then move on.

What put me on the "not in a million years" track was the brag board in the break room. Recent graduates had gone on to Tony Romas and Cheesecake Factories and other chain restaurants which I knew didn't pay enough to reimburse loans (the actual cooking degree's cost made my eyes go wide and my salesperson panic, knowing he'd lost me on the bottom line). The only four-and five-star restaurants on the brag board were the ones who offered free internships. That one detail told me that graduates worked in renowned kitchens then got dropped by school and renowned kitchen as a new intern took his/her place. This was in direct conflict with what the salesmonkey had told me -- job placement assistance which drops you in a Chili's Restaurant isn't my idea of helpful.

I used "issues with the commute" as my reason to put off attending, but he was undeterred to at least get some of my money. He wanted me to commit to a non-refundable deposit to reserve a spot I wasn't sure I wanted. Every time he pushed, I pushed back with: "Well, then I'll lose the spot and attend later, won't I?"

After the disappointment, I looked over the list of the names of the culinary teachers. NOT ONE graduated from their own school, despite what he had told me. Many of their culinary educators had four-year degrees in unrelated fields. The majority of those WITH culinary degrees were graduates of Long Beach City College, which still offers a culinary course at community college prices.

These days many fields are like this one, taking an education and making it prohibitively expensive while the industry pay scale is far beneath expectation. Until more community colleges add culinary degrees to their course lists, the small private colleges will be the only game in town. What disgusts me most? The Cordon Bleu has sold its name to these money-starved colleges and diluted the value of the Cordon Bleu name just to make money and add false legitimacy to sweatshop "culinary academies".

(I want to note that this is only my opinion. I am sure others have had positive experiences with the three culinary schools I visited.)