im going to johnson an whales in about 3to6 months and i was wondering which campus to go to, i live in florida an would love to go to miami but i wanna see the us so is their anyone on here enrolled at colrado or nc or rohde island. What would you recccomend
-------------------- Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect. Hunter S. Thompson Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs. --Robin Williams
|
Being a proud alum of the Providence campus I can vouch for this subject. I would go with either Providence or NC. undoubtedly NC will be the more up to date, cleaner, more moral boosting and motivational educational enviroment. The Florida campus is out dated and from what I've heard isn't in a pretty neighborhood (if that's a concern) that isn't to say that Providence is a picture perfect town, sure the winters a tough, the people are rude and the area around the culinary campus leaves a lot to be desired (although they are currently in the process of a major renovation and rebuilding) but the close proximity to Boston, NYC, Connecticut and outlying areas like Newport have great opportunity for jobs where you'll get really good experience... and pot! (lol) Just don't hold your breath on a great wage, but that's expected; compare that with NC which is just now building up its downtown area (of course due to the JWU campus) I would think it would be better from an experience point of view especially while your going to school, I think it's important to augment your formal training with real world experience, one thing ,I regret to say JWU lacks (no student run restaurant??!) this is a big pitfall for many freshly graduated culinary students as they tend to keep their bad kitchen habits from labs. Also, I don't want to sound like a guidance counselor or anything but I would also recommend doing at least four years either C4, P4 or a combo of both or foodservice business, (all of my nutrition major friends are finding it hard to get a job, but this depends heavily on what field you want to concentrate on) Nowadays with a highly competitive job market, an associates degree just isnt enough to cut it, and in fact I believe their business school is switching to an all bachelors cirriculum. Also I would recommend traveling to Europe or a major metropolitan food capital like NYC, Chicago or SF and immersing yourself in their awe inspiring food culture, products and restaurants to get ideas keep up on trends and get inspiration. Also, I hope you are currently working at or have worked previously in restaurants that you would like to get a serious job at, too many people get into the program expecting totally different things once they graduate. JWU is a great school, they're more real world in terms of preparing you for after you graduate(compared with CIA), with their business, food science(personally worth the four years alone) and leadership courses and great connections and outlets into the industry and of course great faculty. I just hope you're really serious about committing yourself to a tough industry, it's very hard, tedious work, no weekends, holidays or much of a social life and you will work with overbearing egotistical assholes that will drive you up the wall and leave you with homicidal thoughts. On top of that, not everyone will like all the classes they will have to take(dining room, nutrition, and of course academics and electives) or find interest in all of the culinary labs(although the wine program is hard to beat) but that's all the more reason that the four year program is (obviously) geared towards serious culinarians. I see too many grads who don't take it seriously and end up wondering why they squandered two or four years of their life and not to mention thousands of dollars, or see some who graduate and become complete hacks in the kitchen, I see too many hacks!! Hacks are for places like the Cheesecake Factory or Legal Seafood. So please, for mine and your own sake and sanity think it through real hard, and don't get to thinking that this is some glamourous job where you'll get paid big bucks and get your own tv show. It's not.
Cook for yourself.
Good luck 
Soochi '05
JWU C4
-------------------- Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie, O, what panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle!
Edited by soochi (05/26/06 10:12 PM)
|