As you may or may not know, I attend the venerable french based culinary school: Le Cordon Bleu. I do not say "venerable" as kudos to myself or any other person that goes there, I say it because of the simple fact, the school has history and has helped some great cooks in some way; i.e. Julia Child, Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali (partially), Aida Mollenkamp, etc. But a few months ago, while applying for some jobs, I encountered some negative feedback on Le Cordon Bleu for a couple of reasons: 1. the tuition cost 2. alumni students giving current students a bad rep. Interviewers would explain a negative experience with another former LCB student or just describe a general disgust with the tuition amount. I WILL ADRESS BOTH……
1. Tuition Amount:
I will not beat around the bush or generalize with you…the tuition is steep. For both school years, uniforms, books, knife kits, food costs and club fees, the tuition will cost you around 35k-45k. I'm just being honest. Now I did my homework and johnson and wales runs about 35k and the Art institute or America will cost you about 54k. So LCB is NOT the most outrageous thing ever. And you get what you pay for. i have met many people who attended community colleges for culinary arts and they couldn't give me technical names for knife skills. i mean, thats basic. And other non specialty colleges run almost 25k a year and to obtain their degrees, it takes 4 years. so its not too bad considering that 40k will get all you need and you will not pay more as time goes on. Its just back and white. take it or leave it.
2.Graduated "Loser Students":
Many people I have spoken to say the same exact thing, "you pay a ton of money to go there but the people who graduate are stupid. so its like the school takes your money and doesn't teach you crap." I cannot argue the fact that there are some idiotic people who ruin it for the good students. I'll give an example….
I spoke with an LCB graduate a few days ago who was just a total dud. He was peeling and cutting potatoes for mash. Not to brag but if you give me a peering knife and a whole case of large yukon gold spuds, I can finish peeling and cutting the whole case in under 10-12 minutes. This dude was using a ceramic peeler taking about a minute for each spud, just to peel them not even adding the time to cut them. i said "why don't you use a peering knife and just tear through it?" and He said "trust me, I know what Im doing." after I walked away (i could see him from a distance) he pulled out a peering knife and started trying to cut the spuds down. He was moving even slower than before and before long he sliced his thumb pretty good. He later had to make asparagus and didn't know he had to peel them for plating….now none of this would bother me until he tried to convince be that He recently turned down an executive position job and that all of his best friends were master chefs. he also continued to tell me how he should be able to wear a "bigger and taller" chefs had so people had to acknowledge that he is now a "chef" just because he graduated culinary school. I, instinctively, wanted to open-hand smack him. It was annoying.
Now imagine thousands of people like him going around and telling people that he is from LCB, that would successfully ruin it for future LCB alumni, like me. Its not the coolest thing ever. I cannot speak for potato boy but i can tell you this… I am not going to culinary school so that when i graduate, i can brag and tell people that i am a chef. I am going to culinary school because I love to cook, I love art, and I love the reaction I see when people are eating and sharing great food that is made with passion and love and care for each ingredient. I know that even after graduation, I will be a student in the kitchen. always being a "sponge," taking in all that i can and always trying to innovate and create creative, inspiring, passionate, delicious food. If you are a cook on any level, don't get caught up in status or bragging rights. no one likes an arrogant cook who really doesn't know as much as he/she thinks they do.
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-TPS
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