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What Colleges Offer Chef Training? And What About Chef Trade or Vocational Schools?



This is step 15 in your multi-part online course about how to become a qualified chef.

In the previous step we learnt about the benefits and drawbacks of accredited chef colleges and universities. Now here is a list of some colleges that do offer chef training:

Le Cordon Bleu at Brown College (Minneapolis Minnesota)
Westwood College (Denver, Colorado)
Sullivan University (Kentucky)
California Culinary College
Gibbs College (New Jersey)
Kirtland Community College (Michigan)

There are many more colleges that can train you to become a chef, but you get the idea. Many culinary institutes are just as good as colleges and Universities, and in some cases better.

In addition, Le Cordon Bleu is a recognized chef school, located not only in many parts of the USA, but also in Europe, Australia, Japan and South America.

Culinary academies are basically the same as colleges and universities. The cost is about the same, but you can get your credentials in less time at some of them.

Some culinary academies can even get you credited in as little as 9 months.

Culinary Academies often let you live on campus as part of your tuition, and cover your food costs. They actually train you while you cook all of your meals. That’s helpful and practical!

Trade or Vocational Schools

A trade school offers you the chance to get you accredited as a chef in a shorter time period than colleges can. You will still learn much about the culinary industry but your classes are condensed so as to suit a certain time frame.

Trade schools are becoming more and more popular among those who wish to begin a career as quickly as possible, but there are pros and cons to choosing a trade school as your means to getting your credentials. Let’s take a quick look at them:

Benefits and Drawbacks of Vocational or Trade Schools

Pros   Cons
It is much cheaper than college or culinary institutes.   You are only accredited in the State in which you trained.
You can be certified in less time.   You still must apprentice somewhere.
Condensed classes leave more free time.   Condensed classes neglect some necessary courses.
You can work at your own pace.   You can work at your own pace (you may rush yourself).
You get some hands on experience.   You have to buy your own equipment separately.

As you can see, trade schools can help you get your certification, but it leaves out a bit of stuff too.

All in all, trade schools are great for some people as not everyone can afford to invest the money or the time for a full time college, university or culinary academy.

To continue to the next section of your chef training, please click this link: Colleges that offer on-site chef training