we get your students in to work with us at the ritz, some are really good, some not, my feeling`s are if you have that much money go for it, you will learn loads of thing that restaurant`s and hotels might not, from my understanding its lots of money. when you say this route???? do you want to become a pastry chef??? if so then i would say no, get into a good place, and start at the bottom, i take it you have some knowledge in pastry as your on here, do an apprenticeship in pastry, the outlay you would of made on a school will make up for the poor pay us chefs get it really depends on what you want, to work as a chef, or just learn more about what you enjoy.