[CardSharpCook]

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CardSharp, would you say the average grad has better, equal, or worse cooking skills than someone who spent two years working in fine dining?


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Far better. Two things: first, the guy thrown in a fine dining rest. for two years will start peeling potatoes. Second, he will likely never see the big picture - rarely have teh experience of applying past knowledge to a new problem. Then, of course, there is the problem of being stuck in the same cuisine preparing the same dishes night after night. Additionally, the CIA doesn't just teach you how to cook - they teach you about food. and wine, and table service, and menu design, and managemnt, etc. Take the 2year guy and a CIA grad and put them both in a new restaurant and tell them: become a sous chef as fast as possible - the CIA grad will get there much quicker. His skills are moer rounded and he is more able to adjust to a new position and new styles of cooking.

Few CIA grads are either ready for or eager to get a sous chef job. One of the things the Chefs would hammer home is that getting a degree doesn't make us a Chef. We still have to pay the dues and learn out in the field. The degree helps you immediately in your ability to adapt to any job and priority screening for an entry level position. The bigger rewards are paid later with your ability to continue to offer diversified menu items to your customers, your attractiveness to management offers or investors, and your ability to preform those jobs once you get them.

One of my roommates came in for the same start date as I. My age, he was running the kitchen of a homeless shelter in CA after varied restaurant experience. He repeatedly expressed dissapointment at the skills possessed by his classmates. He felt mere enrollment should place him amongst the best in the culinary world. He failed to understand that we were students hoping to become the best. He also felt unchallenged by the first few classes. There were a handful of other students like him. As I mentioned, I was very impressed by the quality of my classmates and their desire and ability to learn.