what's the big deal: choosing a culinary institute

[liv4fud]

this question is to the members and readers of the eg forrums. I happened to be in search for a culinary institute to gain some skills and organization in the kitchen.

now, I do understand the value of a big name behind your education ( have graduated with a 4 year degree in IT about 3 years back). but in something that is so practical like cooking, why is there a big difference between schools say with the 'le cordon bleu' title and a local institute?

I mean in terms of money - its like 3 times more!

I don't mean to question the degrees from reputed institutes that people have (j&w, cia, lcb,..) but what I would like to know is - what is the difference?

I m a career changer and one thing that I have learnt in the past is to not put money based on just the name. So I guess the quest is to find the reasons that would justify the charge...

(btw, I do have a part time staging gig with a caterrer and do learn a lot in the unpaid adventure.)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Let me suggest that you view this and see what you think .. I sent it to a friend, a sous chef, who was looking to go to a good culinary school to learn more in depth on the profession. He was thrilled with the website. See what you think:

Cooking Schools Compared.com

[liv4fud]

nice site melissa,

most of the ones I ran across over the web during my many searches seemed like they were paid sites i.e. paid by the schools to advertise them.

this one seems nice and it does list 2 schools in the chicago land area. however, other than the ones it lists - you can't really choose the 4 major ones in Chicago - Art Institute, Robert Morris, Kendall and CHIC for a side-by-side comparision.

and I don't know if my question makes sense - but I am trying to find reasons for investing 40K at Kendall / CHIC as opposed to about 15K at Robert Morris / AI.

[godito]

You're right, unfortunately most of the sites seem sponsored by one school or another. And I'm about to give you a link that's not gonna make it better, because it's part of the CIA website. However, this is what the page says:

Here are six key criteria that can help you assess the quality of different schools and decide which college program is right for you:

This is the link

Now, as for answering your question, I can tell you, as a CIA grad, that coming from a big school does help open some eyes (and eventually some doors). But mostly the advantage of good schools is the hours of practice you get. How many kitchen labs do they have? How long is their externship (do they even have one required in the program?) What kinds of connections will you be able to make after you graduate? What kind of instructors they have? I remember my first day at the CIA, during orientation, some of the chefs that talked to us openly compared the experience of attending that school to going to Harvard to study laws or business administration.

I can tell you that the CIA is not for everybody. First of all, it's very expensive, but it also allows no flexibility of schedules and although it's somewhat "lost in the woods". Sure, it's about an hour and change away from NYC, but it's still in between Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie. If you've never heard of those towns, don't be too surprised, there isn't much to do there.

Still, be careful with your research. I found that tgoing to the CIA was the best decision I'vemade about my career, but I'm trying not to sell you that school. Do your research, you will find what you need.

[Daniel Rogov]

There are three issues here and those are quality of training, quality of training and quality of training.

Many but not all local schools, perhaps funded by various governmental agencies (education, welfare, employment institutes) are frankly poor, and have such low budgets that although they will let you see someone cutting a fillet you will never actually hold a knife in your hand yourself. Others specialize in low-level entry jobs that are often dead-end jobs.

The more prestigious schools on the other hand are far more hand-on, have far better connections for doing stages (apprenticeships), have instructors that are first rate. And the reason for this is that they charge more and can thus pay more.

All something akin to doing an apprenticeship with a short-order cook or a major chef. Depends on where you want to go with your training. And depends on who will hire you after having worked with the short-order cook.

[liv4fud]

so even though school can be what one makes of it, the name definitely matters i.e. name == quality?

[Carrot Top]

Sigh.

Schools are wonderful things. Particularly schools with money and good teachers.

But finally, what school one goes to (or does not go to) does not guarantee success or failure in the workplace.

Success in the real world is up to the real person.

And it can happen with a bunch of letters after your name and a T-shirt to wear with an alma mater emblazoned proudly upon it. . .or it can happen without it.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

so even though school can be what one makes of it, the name definitely matters i.e. name == quality?

←

I'm a CIA student and looked into ICE, FCI and the Art Institute. I'm not a career changer, but am also not quite the typical student. The best chefs I worked with and for over the years went to CIA. I decided to enroll there to become better at what I was doing, and realized within a week that I knew nothing -- even with 15 years in the industry. I've loved it.

I know some really good and really lousy workers and cooks from different programs. It has more to do with the person than the school. But I'm also seeing that some sort of schooling is important.

When I started so many years ago, most people either went to college or went to work in a restaurant. There were some exceptions, of course. In the last kitchen I worked in, every cook (with one exception) had an undergraduate, liberal-arts-type degree ... and every cook (with another exception) had culinary school behind them.

[Really Nice!]

It has more to do with the person than the school.

Bingo!

I'm a career changer and for me selecting a school was a matter of convenience. I live (and worked) in Seattle. I needed to keep working to pay the bills and the mortgage, etc. Of the four (I think) schools I looked at only the Art Institute offered evening courses for their degree program.

I sold my house last year and quit my job (high tech) last December to focus on my education as graduation nears. Need to find a job in the biz, too.

I have found that the Art Institute of Seattle has great instructors and is located just 7 minutes from Pike Place Market, which has vendors offering their wares every day of the year.

BTW, the Seattle program was built and designed by Rolland Henin.

[robyn]

As someone who is not in the industry - I'd approach the issue this way. Either you pay the money and go to one of the very top places (e.g., CIA - Johnson & Wales) - the Harvards and Yales of the group - or you look for the places where you can get the best possible training for the least amount of money.

When my husband was looking for cooking courses (as a hobby) - we looked at the culinary program at FCCJ (Florida Community College at Jacksonville). A big deal operation. Very impressive kitchens. Even trains Navy people to cook for thousands on aircraft carriers (they have Hobart mixers bigger than I am!). It's a degree program and costs about $4,000 a year. I'm sure it's not unique.

It was a little too professional for my husband (I think classes started at about 6:30 am - just like the real world).

But I don't see why it wouldn't be a good place to start learning (perhaps it isn't a good place - but I'd certainly explore it in depth from a professional point of view before striking it off my list). And - after starting in a place like this - one can always polish one's craft somewhere else if desired. Robyn

[Carrot Top]

It seems to me that the problem with reliance on academic credentialism as a way to find One's Place in the World is that it is so often unreliable.

It is unreliable for a number of reasons.

The first is that if a person is depending on the name of a school to get them a certain type of position or job offer upon graduation, they may not be assured that this will happen. Why not? The marketplace can change in terms of what it needs or wants. This has happened often in the past. People enter into "going to college" with the idea, and often with high hopes, too. . .and a lot of emotional investment. . . that this will set them up for a job and for a certain life afterwards, and it has happened often enough that graduates end up looking around upon graduation and saying, "What happened? There aren't any jobs of the sorts that I was promised, available now!" This is so very disappointing for people. And it can set a tone that can continue through their lives if they continue to seek promises from institutions. . .for even academic institutions can not forsee the future.

And then, styles in terms of "What's In" in education can change in terms of what real-world clients want (or can pay for). In any time-span, the economy can change enough so that companies that originally sought "high-end" type college graduates will change their direction and instead seek potential employees from "lower-end" colleges or even just plain people who show they can do the job, without the academic credentials. (Obviously there are some professions or fields where this would not work.)

There is also the fact that the personality of the student/potential job seeker will affect whether or not they will be offered certain types of positions in the first place. There are some people that will succeed without academic credentials, because it has been proved that they can think, they can work, and they can perform at a high level. And there are some people that will not be sought for great positions no matter what college they obtain a degree from.

Finally, as a side note, people themselves do change. How often does it happen that a person enters upon a scheme of spending a great deal of money, a great deal of time and effort, a great deal of trying to put oneself in place of being a certain thing that will "become" a certain thing AFTER graduation, after two or four years of focused attention. . .to find that at the end of it, they really do not like the "job" that they have found in it.

To my mind, there is only one good reason to undertake any course of study on the level of higher education. Because you are enthralled by the very studies themselves. Because you feel that here and now, this is what you want to do. And that somehow you can afford to do it.

This notion of "credentialism" is a mass of sloppy ambiguities in the real world. It can not be counted on.

[godito]

so even though school can be what one makes of it, the name definitely matters i.e. name == quality?

School is what you make of it, but you can make it without it. It's your choice, really. Some of the chefs I admire never had any schooling. It's all about working hard and making good use of your time and money. I had already graduated from a cooking school in Chile when I decided to go to the CIA. I wanted to get better and learn more, and I had to decide if I wanted to work those years or go to school. Why did I chose to go to school? Because I have goals in my life. Some day I would like to teach, and also I wanted the name prestige to better sell myself as a cook. Also, I lacked confidence in my habilities and knowledge (not anymore). There are some other reasons... I had the money, for instance. I don't regret my decission, either.

Now, as for name == quality, I think so. Going to school is mor about your efforts and how much you learn and practice than what they actually teach. I had a pretty good group in school, however, I still wondered how some of my classmates were graduating with me. You have good students and bad students. So, since it mostly depends on yourself, then go to the institute that offers you the best possibilities: libraries, classrooms, kitchens, restaurants open to the public, events, teachers and chefs instructors, etc. In my research I found that the good schools are far better than the rest. After all, the good name that a school has isn't coincidental.

[Carrot Top]

Now, as for name == quality, I think so.

Yes, I would agree to this, too.

And it also seems that if a person enters into the idea of going to school with a definite idea of what the realities of the field are, and definite goals that they are aiming for at the end (rather than just "get a good job") then the entire experience can take a different shape.

My own rather cranky posts have been from remembering too many arrogant pansywaist cooking-school grads that could not cook their way around a table in a real kitchen, mostly due to the fact that they thought they "knew it all" because they had gone to school and therefore they should be indulged in practices or ways of doing things that might have fit the textbook and the student class but that didn't fit the real life kitchen. And I remember not only my own frustration at them, but how their attitudes affected the other people in the kitchen that COULD and did and had been doing just fine.

Plus I feel it my duty to remind people that it is, it really is, possible to do well without college if that is their path. It does happen. And when it does, one should not have to be hang-dog apologetic about it, as if one had "done it wrong" somehow.

Yeah, I'm cranky today.

[adegiulio]

Let's say you're a chef looking for a sous chef. They two applicants seem fine, similar experience, and so on. One went to Kendall, the other went to Big Jim's Cooking school and Halfway House. The person who went to Kendall will get the job a majority of the time (unless of course the chef is Big Jim's brother). With a big school, you have a greater chance of meeting someone who also went there, or at least know of its reputation. Just the networking ability of a big school is worth the price of admission.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't judge people based on the college they went to. In reality, we have to rely on the reputations of these top institutions to help fill in the blanks of a person's abilities. A restaurant can't possibly know all the intimate details of an applicants strengths and weaknesses, but it is safe to assume that the guy who went to CIA learned the basics pretty well, had some real world exposure, and is, on average, better qualified (here comes a post from someone who went to Big Jim's saying they can cook circles around any CIA grad )

[Carrot Top]

[...] but it is safe to assume that the guy who went to CIA learned the basics pretty well, had some real world exposure, and is, on average, better qualified (here comes a post from someone who went to Big Jim's saying they can cook circles around any CIA grad  )

What you say in your post about the hopes that one pins on a CIA grad as opposed to a Big Jim's grad is all true, adegiulio.

I'm not a Big Jim's grad nor a CIA grad. . .but I've been a chef hiring sous-chefs, and I've seen the Big Jim's guys do just as well as the CIA guys.

Now. . .if one is looking for the opportunity to "be in a certain world" to "be in a certain circle" of golden opportunity with the Top Chefs of Today. . .then certainly the way to go is the CIA. In general, certain cliques stick to certain cliques. CIA is one way to buy a piece of the clique, if one's skills can follow through on it.

Indeed I would say that, the world being what it is. . .there are certain "socio-economic" backgrounds that might not have as good a chance to enter the clique as others unless they do buy CIA.

This is all yucky stuff. . .aside from the original point that I wanted to make before I got cranky.

Do the thing because it feels right. Not because you expect something from it. Expectations are. . .tricky things.

[liv4fud]

True expectations are tricky and reputations and credibility is what one can get at a big name school.

but what about education / training - is that worth paying 3 times the cost?

[godito]

True expectations are tricky and reputations and credibility is what one can get at a big name school.

but what about education / training - is that worth paying 3 times the cost?

←

I will have to research every school to find out the exact level of education thay provide. My own experience, I graduated from cooking school and then went to the CIA, and the education at the CIA was a lot better. Three times better? Probably not, but it did have a better library, more labs, restaurants, etc. And the rest is paid by the reputation and credibility. Like I said in an earlier post, coming from the CIA opens more eyes when they check my resume... that can lead to more doors opening.

Now, is it worth it? It was for me, but I think only you can answer that question.

[adegiulio]

True expectations are tricky and reputations and credibility is what one can get at a big name school.

but what about education / training - is that worth paying 3 times the cost?

←

I will have to research every school to find out the exact level of education thay provide. My own experience, I graduated from cooking school and then went to the CIA, and the education at the CIA was a lot better. Three times better? Probably not, but it did have a better library, more labs, restaurants, etc. And the rest is paid by the reputation and credibility. Like I said in an earlier post, coming from the CIA opens more eyes when they check my resume... that can lead to more doors opening.

Now, is it worth it? It was for me, but I think only you can answer that question.

←

I like the point you are making here. It's such a highly personal thing. I wouldnt look for a 1-1 ratio on anything that costs more. We spend multiples of lower priced items all the time without expecting an equal multiplication of the quality. A 50,000 BMW is not 3 times better than a 16,000 Kia. $1000 spent at per-se doesnt get 10 times the meal of $100 spent at your local restaurant. But, we still spend the money. So dont think you should be getting 3 times the school for 3 times the price... Just think of it as the price you pay to see that beautiful Hudson Valley foliage...

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Indeed I would say that, the world being what it is. . .there are certain "socio-economic" backgrounds that might not have as good a chance to enter the clique as others unless they do buy CIA.

←

I respectfully disagree. CIA has financial aid out the wazoo, and it appears to be 99% need-based. Even scholarships that should be completely based completely on merit, are not. If someone wants to go there, they will.

There is a mindset that favors one's alma mater. However, anyone hiring a cook or sous chef without seeing them cook and speaking to their former employer, Extern site, and chefs at their school, is not doing their due diligence. I worked for someone who tried so hard to hire from their alma mater and the people refused to clean at the end of the shift. !!

plain people who show they can do the job, without the academic credentials.

Credentials and education are two completely different things. Lots of that is attitude, of course, and how you intend to learn. The CIA is full of people who've been cooking for years, who are not getting positions of more authority because they have no culinary education -- and I have yet to meet one who doesn't say it's worth it for their own knowledge, as well. You can't just buy a credential. Or a CIA education.

My own rather cranky posts have been from remembering too many arrogant pansywaist cooking-school grads that could not cook their way around a table in a real kitchen, mostly due to the fact that they thought they "knew it all" because they had gone to school and therefore they should be indulged in practices or ways of doing things that might have fit the textbook and the student class but that didn't fit the real life kitchen.

Most people reserve that attitude for CIA graduates, which really is saying something for the school's reputation -- some of it is earned (that it is The Best -- heck, Bocus and Vongerichten sent their sons there!). A lot of the CIA's reputation is from graduates from other schools feeling like second-best (and that's not at all true). Sure, lots of cocky-a**ed people graduate from there. And they are that way before they started, all during school, and will be like that until they decide to pull that nonsense on their chef during service. School doesn't do that to them!

What is kind of amusing is the many, many cooks who call CIA graduates "arrogant a-holes," and who would give anything to work for the Bennos, Carmellinis, and Ogdens of the world.

[Carrot Top]

Indeed I would say that, the world being what it is. . .there are certain "socio-economic" backgrounds that might not have as good a chance to enter the clique as others unless they do buy CIA.

←

I respectfully disagree. CIA has financial aid out the wazoo, and it appears to be 99% need-based. Even scholarships that should be completely based completely on merit, are not. If someone wants to go there, they will.

I would agree that the CIA does offer financial assistance. That, however, was not what I meant in writing this.

In the fifteen years that I spent "in" the business, in a fine-food dining environment in NYC, and in the fifteen years since, what I have noticed is (just as in many other occupations or fields) that there is clique (naturally) among those "popular" high-end fine dining purviews (just as there is a clique among the fashion models or designers on the Upper East Side, on and on and on. . .). As has been noted, one hires whom one knows, usually "from" certain schools or even "from" certain geographic places. There is a cachet attached to working at these purviews, and a cachet attached to going to the CIA. That is all well and fine.

My point here was that it can be bought, this cachet. (Or one can attempt to buy it. . .afterwards it has to be shown that one is "up" to doing the work of course).

Buy CIA, buy cachet. And in this world, there are lots of people who, based on "how the world works". . .would have a much easier time entering into these types of resturants (in any position where they might be considered "seriously" rather than not. . .) if they did buy CIA. It's a style thing as much as a substance thing.

There is a mindset that favors one's alma mater. However, anyone hiring a cook or sous chef without seeing them cook and speaking to their former employer, Extern site, and chefs at their school, is not doing their due diligence. I worked for someone who tried so hard to hire from their alma mater and the people refused to clean at the end of the shift. !!

plain people who show they can do the job, without the academic credentials.

Credentials and education are two completely different things. Lots of that is attitude, of course, and how you intend to learn. The CIA is full of people who've been cooking for years, who are not getting positions of more authority because they have no culinary education -- and I have yet to meet one who doesn't say it's worth it for their own knowledge, as well. You can't just buy a credential. Or a CIA education.

Again I think we are more in agreement than not, although I speak from the other side of the fence on some things and will continue to do so just for the hell of it.

I like the world to be full of all sorts of ways to do things. . .it seems that people get boxed up into planned agendas too often, with results that don't work for them.

To see someone know all the possibilities and then make their decision, thinking through a world full of ideas rather than just the one that everyone considers "the best" seems to me to be a much nicer way. I like to see people write their own narratives. It is just too damn easy to say "Go to Harvard".

As you say, you cannot "buy" a CIA education. Any education must be attained. . . whether it is passed from one teacher with the required textbooks in a classroom to another; or whether it is found in real life with the teachers being those working in the field along with either the same books that schools use or other books. Hopefully one never stops learning, even after they leave their "alma mater".

The piece of paper that says "CIA" can be bought, though. And perhaps some cachet bought along with it.

Granted, one must pass the exams and do the schooling.

But then again, we have many high school grads that can not spell nor write. . .we have college grads that do not know the basics of many common things in the workplace. . .and I've seen CIA grads that came out with absolutely the worst honkers about food, total "mistakes". Naturally, we can all make mistakes. But again, I say, it is the person that will make the experience the marvel that it could be. . .it needs to be a fifty-fifty proposition.

I've seen too many people enter upon the idea of the CIA or of any good college with the idea that it will "fix" things for them. Not to sound all zen-like or anything, but it is the process that counts, not the piece of paper. To my mind.

The potential for the piece of paper to be not of the ultimate value that some people might hope for it I approached in another post.

And again, the CIA or other good school diploma could definitely be of help to "the people who have been cooking for years that are not getting positions of authority because they have no 'culinary education" as you note. These people, to my mind, are different than the person who is entering into this thing as a "newbie" or close to one. And it is to be hoped that in the end, what they seek will be found, too.

My own rather cranky posts have been from remembering too many arrogant pansywaist cooking-school grads that could not cook their way around a table in a real kitchen, mostly due to the fact that they thought they "knew it all" because they had gone to school and therefore they should be indulged in practices or ways of doing things that might have fit the textbook and the student class but that didn't fit the real life kitchen.

Most people reserve that attitude for CIA graduates, which really is saying something for the school's reputation -- some of it is earned (that it is The Best -- heck, Bocus and Vongerichten sent their sons there!). A lot of the CIA's reputation is from graduates from other schools feeling like second-best (and that's not at all true). Sure, lots of cocky-a**ed people graduate from there. And they are that way before they started, all during school, and will be like that until they decide to pull that nonsense on their chef during service. School doesn't do that to them!

Oh, my dear. I don't reserve that attitude for CIA grads. I am perfectly willing to offer it up whenever something seems "bullshit" to me. I've been told that I have "low bullshit tolerance". It is just that in my memory, there were more arrogant guys trying to out me from the kitchen (as a female chef then executive chef) that hailed from the CIA than there were arrogant guys trying to out me from the kitchen that hailed from anywhere else . The CIA guys had that piece of paper with cachet to base their claims on. The other guys just had to find other ways to try to do it. Unfair to them, really. I must add that not all of the guys were inclined to wish me out of the kitchen, no matter where they hailed from. . .for fear of sounding like it was always like that. Certainly it wasn't.

What is kind of amusing is the many, many cooks who call CIA graduates "arrogant a-holes," and who would give anything to work for the Bennos, Carmellinis, and Ogdens of the world.

Yeah, probably. I never wanted to work for Benno, Carmellini, or Ogden though. But offer me a dinner made by them and I'll be there in a New York minute. . .

Karen

Edited August 10, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[Carrot Top]

In reviewing what I've said here, I think something else needs to be said.

My own posts were arrogant in their own way. In the time and place that I did what I did, that was almost what one had to develop as a persona in order to "survive".

And while I hope that the doors of opportunity will always be open (they have been throughout most of history as far as I can discern) to those who do not have "the best" education one can buy. . .or indeed in my case, no education i.e. self-taught. . .it does seem easier if one can follow the traditional path, if that path is in any way open to them and if it feels right.

If I could look back in time and wish a thing to be true, it would be that I could have entered upon my career in a way that would not have had me proving myself each and every day I did it. . .and justifying my success to others afterwards forevermore.

A good school can provide this entry to those that this might happen to otherwise.

We know who we are. . .I don't have to define our "categories".

So I would say, buy the opportunity for the best education you can. Even moreso now that this business is becoming more academic-credential oriented.

People who "go it alone" will always hold a special place in my heart.

The stories are more dramatic, the hurdles different than the usual. More than anything, I love a good story.

But the story is not always what it is about, in life, for everyone.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[jvictor930]

As a Johnson and Wales Grad, I am, of course, partial to my alma matter. The school has great instructors with a lot of hands on experience. Not to mention a 4 day class week!

However, I saw there was some talk about aid, and I wanted to make everyone aware that there are a number of scholarships available through the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Foundation (AHLEF) for most culinary programs. As a member of the Scholarship Committee, I get to help give away over $100,000 a year in aid to students. A number of scholarships go to "non-traditonal" students, who have considered the Culinary Arts as a second career or a first attempt at college. They also go to younger students who are transitioning from high school to college. Check out www.ahlef.org and click on the Scholarships link.

There have been recipients from CIA to Cornell to Community Colleges throughout the country. It is all about merit and financial need, not where you go to school.

I'd love to be able to sort through more than 40 or 50 applications per scholarship, so I'd encourage everyone seeking an education in the business to do so!

[liv4fud]

interesting carricature for your avatar you got Jeff and appreciate the help from all to share their experiences and thoughts.

though many of us have worked in a burget joint at one point in time during our careers, it is difficult to get a grasp of what the industry might hold for you.

as of now - from my research (strictly in the Chicagoland area) I have found that Kendall, CHIC (LCB), Robert Morris and Art Inst. have a program. Other than CHIC, all have a certificate-type program for about $X. To get an associates degree, the cost could be about $2X. The program at CHIC is $3X straight up. Thus, questions arose in my mind, that with limited experience, career-changing with family responsibilities, is that extra $X or $2X justifiable.

Not that I am doing something bass-ackwards, but discussions between famousfoodbabe and carrottop got me thinking quite a bit. Its like how a non-starter from a big-name school gets to go second-overall in professional sports whereas a long-time starter from a smaller school goes in lower rounds or goes undrafted. Not digressing from the point but I have seen (atleast i IT) that a big name school gives you a much higher platform from which to take off and a lot more targets/weapons. But then one has to be able to keep that level. And with about a year or so of experience, the playing field does even out. Agreed it will harder for the meek to survive this trip to the level field coming from a smaller school but I do believe that hardwork and breadth of experience can help cover it.

So, as of right now, CHIC is out of my plans. Still have to check one of the schools out (of the other 3) but my financial situation as of yet might not allow me to go to CHIC yet. I was very impressed by the facilities and did talk with a couple of students who were very helpful in guiding me.

I will request the moderator to keep the thread open so other people can also jump in with their thoughts. And I will keep posting what I find in my search.

[LESider]

I recently graduated from a community college and am now working in a NYC four star restaurant. If you can afford the CIA or Johnson & Wales program , your going to get a good education. But if you can't it shouldn't stop you. You'll have some good instructors/bad instructors along the way. Really, you get out of it what you put into it. Then you may have to work your way through some decent kicthens to get where your going. You'll need someone willing to give you a shot. Doing an Externship at a multi-starred restaurant will help your cause. Best of Luck