A Career In Culinary College

Becoming a baker has always been a fantasy of mine, but as a person grows, dreams change and become new dreams and new goals. Baking is a profession that stems directly from passion, and because of this not many prestigious colleges offer Culinary Arts as a potential major. This passion cannot accurately be measured or graded, and because of this, only Community Colleges or specialty Culinary Colleges effectively teach the Culinary Arts. Most colleges teach hospitality training courses along with culinary classes. At a community college a person is able to graduate after only two years. At a professional Culinary College, a person can graduate anywhere from two to four years, and is usually required to intern at a restaurant for training

After graduating, there are many different types of cooks that a person is able to choose from. When I first started researching, I believed there was only two types of cooks, baker or a chef. In actuality, a person is able to become a Chef de Cuisine, Sous Chef, Pastry Chef, Garde Manager, Chef de Partie, Saucier, Poissonnier, Grillardin, Friturier, Entremetier, Tournant, Baucher, Commis, and many others. Each different type of cook has a different salary and this difference can be quite a major gap. Some specialities are almost double the salary of others, such as the difference between an average baker, and an average chef. A goal of mine that I needed to factor into what career I would choose, is having a family. I would need to make enough money so I would be able to support my family. While becoming a baker was a dream of mine, my goals have changed over the years and becoming a chef has become a more practical and logical career

Every dish can not be taught, nor is expected to be. For this reason, most business hiring chefs require only a highschool degree. To go to a technical or culinary college would set you above the rest, but not having this education will not prohibit a person from continuing their career a chef. Instead of requiring an education, most business ask for job experience, on average 5 or more years of experience. There are many Culinary Colleges in the United States but most reside in New York, California, Illinois, Vermont, Maryland, Washington D.C., Colorado, Louisiana, or Florida. While going to these schools could improve your application, not going there will not hinder a person’s career either. I started to research places closer to North Carolina, and I found Pierpont Community and Technical College, which is located in West Virginia. This school is a highly ranked culinary college. While this school is not located in North Carolina it is still closer to home than any school in Florida. Another reason I choose to look closer at this college is because in the culinary program there are four separate branches, so a student can focus on what they need to know (Food Service Management). The suggested semester by semester schedule, predicts a student graduating after five semesters. Another college I reviewed was Guilford Technical Community College. This college would be the closest I could get to home and is