Culinary School

I'm considering attending culinary school at the Art Institute of Seattle (AI) and enrolling in their Baking and Pastry Associates Program.  I took a tour of the campus about a month ago and I really liked what the school and program had to offer.  Without preparation, my tour turned into an interview with the admissions officer that gave me the tour.  Luckily, and surprisingly, she liked my answers to her questions and thought I would be a good fit for their program.  She even offered to help me with the application process right then and there.  I was so tempted to jump right into it, but I pulled in the reins and let her know that I still need to think things through and go over everything that she gave me.  Of course, she was very understanding of my decision, but she really wanted to make sure that I keep them at the top of my list.  She offered to RSVP a spot for me in their open house.  Unfortunately, I had to decline since the next open house they had scheduled was during a time when I would have out of town guests staying with me.  Maybe the next open house...

The program takes two years to complete and costs roughly $45k for full-time students.  For me, I'd be a part-time student since I would want to keep my current job and go to classes at night.  I'm sure I'd be pretty stretched thin on time and stress would be a huge increase, but these are things that I can adapt to.  What scares me is that after I complete the program, starting wages are roughly $10-11/hour.  Not much, right?  Well, given that starting wage, it would mean that it would take me quite some time to payoff the loans that I'd need to fund my education.  This would be a huge paycut and lifestyle change for me, but the exchange is that I'd be doing something that I truly love!  *Sigh*  Decisions, decisions...

AI is definitely at the top of my list for culinary schools.  I've also looked into Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) and the Seattle Culinary Academy (SCA).  Both of these options would definitely be cheaper than AI; however, they also have some drawbacks that I think weigh much more heavily.  For example, LCB only offers a certificate program, so it's not as comprehensive as AI.  Also, I've heard that since they are a for-profit organization, the schooling and services they provide are all aimed at increasing profits for the school...basically, they come off a bit shady.  SCA would be my second choice; however, they only offer classes during the day.  So, I would have to quit my current job and work part-time at night somewhere.

On top of all this, I'm not certain of what I would want to do after completing the program.  Work in a bakery?  A restaurant?  A catering company?  Start my own business?  I'm sure I'll get more of a sense of what I want to do as I progress through the program.  It would be my dream to own and to run my own high-end pastry shop with plated desserts, baked goods, ice cream/gelato, and coffee and tea.  The only place that I have been to that resemble what I would like to do is Sucré in New Orleans.  There is also Yigit Pura's soon-to-be-open Tout Sweet in San Francisco's Union Square.  Obviously, I haven't been to Yigit's shop yet, but based on what little tid bits of info he has released, it should be similar to what I would hope to do.

I think before I can make the decision on schooling, I should reach out to some local businesses to see if I can shadow their pastry chefs/bakers.  I hope doing this will give me a better sense of what I may want to do and what it would be like to work in this industry.