I know 6 years of college to work in a kitchen doesn't seem very industrious, but I think it's the right move for me. My parents weren't college savvy so I didn't realize at the time how much of a fool's errand getting my 4 year degree would be. Back then, I wouldn't hear anything of a 2 year associate's degree in a specialized field. But now I see that it's a great way to be competitive. Plus with studying under people who know the business and with the internships and externships Le Cordon Bleu offers, I should be able to make strong contacts.
I am also excited about chef school for personal reasons. My wife and I love eating healthy. The problem is, neither of us are good cooks so we don't know how to shop. I plan on bringing my skills home to cook and eat right. It's a healthy step for my career and for my well being. My wife loves my attempts at cooking now. I can't imagine what it will be like when I can actually cook!
wiimiba: Bobster823: Are you going to Le cordon bleu? My buddy just started culinary school in Orlando last week and I'm pretty sure that is where he's going. Apparently he won't be able to cook food or anything for a few weeks since it's his first year. Yeah I'm going to Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, but I start with the next batch of new recruits in April. It's supposed to be 8th in the top 100 schools on chef2chef.net. We'll start with the basics like knife cuts and sanitation. Thankfully with my BA, any general education courses I would have taken at Le Cordon Bleu will be covered.
Bobster823: Are you going to Le cordon bleu? My buddy just started culinary school in Orlando last week and I'm pretty sure that is where he's going. Apparently he won't be able to cook food or anything for a few weeks since it's his first year.
Are you going to Le cordon bleu? My buddy just started culinary school in Orlando last week and I'm pretty sure that is where he's going. Apparently he won't be able to cook food or anything for a few weeks since it's his first year.
Yeah I'm going to Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, but I start with the next batch of new recruits in April. It's supposed to be 8th in the top 100 schools on chef2chef.net.
We'll start with the basics like knife cuts and sanitation. Thankfully with my BA, any general education courses I would have taken at Le Cordon Bleu will be covered.
Cat in the walllll
In a way I totally understand and accept the reality about work in the world today. That reality is of course that it's not what you know but who you know, making "contacts" and whatnot.
However, just because that's the way things are doesn't mean that's the way things SHOULD be. Think of all the extremely well qualified people who get passed over in the working world just because someone who already works there has a friend "they can vouch for". In the end, THIS is what makes it impossible to find work. THIS is what makes an education worthless. When the current format of things is making EDUCATION worthless, you have to start asking if that format is worth saving. It's a format that would rather have an unitelligent, uninformed group of people pretending to know what they are doing, "vouched for" by god knows who. It makes Resumes pointless, it makes interviews pointless, it makes everything that one can do in order to find work absolutely pointless.
It also feeds the attitude that it's not about what you want to do, it's about how successful you can become. This is an attitude that, as we can see in a classic tragic character like Willy Loman, never got anyone anywhere they really WANTED to be.
I like Kenny's approach, though. I think it's a great idea to do what you have to in order to gain some experience so that through that experience you can figure out what you really want to do for a career.
I can't tell you how many times I've been put into this situation, asked:
"What's your major?"
"I'm an English Major"
"What are you going to do with that?"
It's an attitude that suggests there is no value in the arts simply because of the idea of the "starving artist", it suggests that monetary wealth should be the only thing you are concerned with. I think this is absolutely ridiculous, and you should do what you WANT to do with your life. Nobody ever said finding that out is easy, but guess what? Nobody ever said you had to settle on one career either. Spend your whole life trying to figure out what you want to do, just don't settle for something because "there's money in it." Money can't buy happiness.
To add to this, there are plenty of aptitude tests out there and although sometimes they don't help people, they sure helped me figure things out. Actually, the one I took in college pinpointed me as a writer for TV, which I plan on pursuing an internship for. It's not that I absolutely adore writing, it's that I find pleasure in the fact that I have a talent for it. If you're going for a degree in English and you don't really enjoy the field, then you're not really going to know what to do with a degree in that field. I know what I want to do, and the beauty of it is that it is involved with almost every art form in existence: Writing. With so many possible avenues to pursue, I don't hear that criticizing tone of voice anymore when I'm asked "well what are you gonna do with that?", I only hear the several different possibilities open to me, all of which I could easily find enjoyment in.
I think what gets to me is when people keep falling into that same old hole of thinking that they're only supposed to have one career their whole lives. Maybe our grandfathers or great grandfathers had careers like that, but today? Today we can do and be whatever we want, exploring ourselves through any number of different careers. The average person goes through about 4 different careers in their lifetime nowadays. Times have changed -- don't put the anxiety on yourself of feeling the "necessity" to find that ONE THING you were just "meant" to do with your life right out of the gate. Explore, discover. Create yourself, don't let the world create you.
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I think it depends on how you're going to pay for it and how well you can handle life if things go south. What if you get a degree, can't get work, and now you have to make payments? It happens all the time.
Take it further, what if you wind up making less then you did before you got the degree? Industries tank, and many times people loose income regardless of how good they are at thier job! What if that happens to you, with a butt load of school debt over your head?
I'm speaking from experiance, this all happened to me. I have a job that I really like, but I'm not making what I thought I would. I make about 25% less then what I made before, but with "draconian cuts", ingenuity, and the grace of God I haven't missed a payment on anything. That included working 3 jobs last year, among other things. Ouch.
Everyone's input is going to be different, and that's why it's good to get a variety.
Mine is this:
1. Avoid debt like the plague, it will hurt you and your family for years.
2. If you must go into debt, make sure it is extremly well thought out, and only do it for a house or school loan.
3. Go cash and carry for everything other than a house and school loan. This includes cars, tvs, vacations, plane trips, and anything else.
4. Save, save, save. You never know what could happen. Don't rely on the credit card to bail you out.
If our country operated by these 4 principles - THERE WOULD BE NO RECESSION.
For me, it looks like getting some debt might be my only option. I already have a BA so I am ineligible for the Pell Grant. The school was quick to inform me that alternative funding like a private loan might be my best bet.
Then I saw the pricetag. The interest charges more than double the original loan in repayments. I was all amped for this, but the debt is crazy!
wiimiba: For me, it looks like getting some debt might be my only option. I already have a BA so I am ineligible for the Pell Grant. The school was quick to inform me that alternative funding like a private loan might be my best bet. Then I saw the pricetag. The interest charges more than double the original loan in repayments. I was all amped for this, but the debt is crazy!
There are people who kill themselves over the interest rates owed on school loans. I read a story last week about one guy who has over $500,000 in debt from school loans. I really don't want to take out any loans if I don't have to. Nothing like a good old "recession" (why don't we call it a Depression? The last time unemployment rates were this high, at least here in Oregon, was DURING the Great Depression) to point out all the flaws of a capitalist society. Ugh.
stoudman: There are people who kill themselves over the interest rates owed on school loans. I read a story last week about one guy who has over $500,000 in debt from school loans.
There are people who kill themselves over the interest rates owed on school loans. I read a story last week about one guy who has over $500,000 in debt from school loans.
That's the main reason I would personally be iffy about a culinary degree, when one already has a BA. If the man wants to be a chef, then he should do it, and not let anything get in his way. Try to be as frugal as possible with the funding. The stories of people who get in debt for that sort of education are not uncommon. For example I read one in particular about a woman who wanted to be a pastry chef. So she went to the #1 school for pastries in the nation, and got her degree in it, at a very hefty price tag. Now, as a pastry chef, she makes under $12 an hour. Nevermind how you're supposed to live off of, and pay your loans back on $12 an hour, but if she wanted to make $12 an hour, she should have just gone to work for any restaurant, learned the ropes on the job, and have been making $12 an hour in less time than she spent in school.
Being a chef can be great, but unless you're actually a chef, or a manager or something, it's not going to pay well.
As for getting a 2 year specialized degree, I'm all for that. That's what I'm doing. Luckily for me, the local community college happens to have the #3 law enforcement/criminal justice program in the nation. Sure, I'm having to run 4 miles every other day, when I only need to be able to do 1 1/2 for employment, but where else am I going to get such a good education, specialized on my chosen field, at rock bottom community college prices?
I'm so glad I entered the service after high school. Right now I'm going to school for free since my University is a yellow ribbon school, which is free for veterans so I don't have to worry about paying back student loans. I also get an extra $987 a month from the GI Bill which I pretty much just use to pay rent and blow on games and beer.
The GI Bill is really awesome. I think it should be expanded.
As of right now I'm probably not going to attend the culinary academy mostly because I don't want to pay for that loan.
Thanks for the great replies. You all helped me figure out some things.
Now I'm not sure what to do. I know I still want and need to go back to college, but I'm not sure what to do. I'm leaning toward pursuing the teacher's certificate as I originally planned.
wiimiba:The GI Bill is really awesome. I think it should be expanded.
Indeed. It bought my current truck (in cash), my longest lasting vehicle by far.
My college time was paid for in grants, so all that money was banked/rent money. Was even nicer once I landed my first tech job while in school.
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I'm not sure if you have or are planning to have kids, but you may want to think about the nights and weekends and holidays you'll be working away from home. I was planning on attending culinary school because i love cooking. But, after speaking to the head chef at Flemings (who left to go teach at the culinary school afterwards)I decided that no matter how much i want to be a chef I my family life would suffer. Just something to think about.
pinkfreud81: I'm not sure if you have or are planning to have kids, but you may want to think about the nights and weekends and holidays you'll be working away from home. I was planning on attending culinary school because i love cooking. But, after speaking to the head chef at Flemings (who left to go teach at the culinary school afterwards)I decided that no matter how much i want to be a chef I my family life would suffer. Just something to think about.
A solid piece of advice I'd say. I never thought about the work schedule of a chef, likely a lot of evenings and weekends.
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Kenny007: pinkfreud81: I'm not sure if you have or are planning to have kids, but you may want to think about the nights and weekends and holidays you'll be working away from home. I was planning on attending culinary school because i love cooking. But, after speaking to the head chef at Flemings (who left to go teach at the culinary school afterwards)I decided that no matter how much i want to be a chef I my family life would suffer. Just something to think about. A solid piece of advice I'd say. I never thought about the work schedule of a chef, likely a lot of evenings and weekends.
Yeah no doubt. That's a big thing for me too. Not to sound cheesy, but me and wifey are still attached at the hip. No kids yet, but we want to have kids. If I could become a teacher, my wife and I could work the same hours and have the same time off. A plus considering how much we want to travel abroad.
I know being a chef could take us anywhere in the world. But I couldn't stand working only nights and weekends knowing that's the only time my wife doesn't work!
wiimiba:Not to sound cheesy, but me and wifey are still attached at the hip. No kids yet, but we want to have kids.
If you can afford to, I would continue to nurture this. There's a whole heck of a lot of life that can wedge between a couple that can be hard to mend. Not to dissuade you from a chef career, but if it's the polar opposite of your wife's career, you could be asking for trouble.
My wife and I were like that until the military, opposite work schedules, school, etc got in the way, and we're only now back on level footing. Problems I'd of rather skipped altogether.