le cordon bleu grande diplome

Has anyone here attended this program? I am looking at culinary schools for Sept or January as I am finishing my degree and am looking at programs ATM I am trying to stay in Canada and this instition seems to be the most recognizable... I'm also looking at sait in Edmonton but their history is not quite as well known. looking mainly for opinions as to where i should be sending applications. If a US culinary school is significantly better I'm open to international studies.

Did you mean Calgary for sait, or nait in Edmonton sait had amazing chef instructors no idea about nait. If you want to stay in Canada I forget the bane at the moment but look into the school in p.e.i. if not cia in the states

I'd recommend SAIT I went there has great instructors and a fairly well rounded program.

Is there a hiring advantage in Canada for having gone to culinary school? In the states there are actually quite a few class action lawsuits against for profit culinary schools that put students fairly deeply in debt and earning at the same rate as anyone who got a job doing prep, got good at it, and got promoted to cold apps. I have worked with some cooks that struggled under pretty staggering student loan debt making intro line cook hourly pay.
You may be better served applying for positions or stages at places that will look good on a resume, that way you will possibly get paid, or at least not have to pay someone while gathering experience outside of a classroom setting.

Dardeau said:

Is there a hiring advantage in Canada for having gone to culinary school? In the states there are actually quite a few class action lawsuits against for profit culinary schools that put students fairly deeply in debt and earning at the same rate as anyone who got a job doing prep, got good at it, and got promoted to cold apps. I have worked with some cooks that struggled under pretty staggering student loan debt making intro line cook hourly pay.
You may be better served applying for positions or stages at places that will look good on a resume, that way you will possibly get paid, or at least not have to pay someone while gathering experience outside of a classroom setting.

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At SAIT at least if you are a citizen it is fairly low at around $12000 for 2 years it is far from crippling I came out with 0 debt as I didn't take a loan and just paid straight up.

Edit: I also forgot to add that if you complete your certification you can get up to $4000 I believe $1000 per year of apprenticeship up till you get your red seal. Also you can take a different route where you take the apprenticeship courses (6 months total over 3 years) which some companies will pay for.

That is far more reasonable than what goes on here in the states. There are no apprenticeship programs, they just sort of sucker kids in to programs that can cost many times what your program did.

If you do the apprenticeship program at sait it's about 3000 government covers the rest

Dardeau said:

Is there a hiring advantage in Canada for having gone to culinary school? In the states there are actually quite a few class action lawsuits against for profit culinary schools that put students fairly deeply in debt and earning at the same rate as anyone who got a job doing prep, got good at it, and got promoted to cold apps. I have worked with some cooks that struggled under pretty staggering student loan debt making intro line cook hourly pay.
You may be better served applying for positions or stages at places that will look good on a resume, that way you will possibly get paid, or at least not have to pay someone while gathering experience outside of a classroom setting.

Click to expand...

THIS.

I used to weep for the kids from the Northeast whose parents paid Ivy League money for them to get a degree from CIA for them to end up making salads in New Orleans. We had awesome cooks and guys that were badass chefs from elsewhere in the country who would come to NOLA to learn the cuisine and work for some of the bigger-named houses. One of the places I worked offered to sponsor me through the local culinary school and I respectfully declined because at that time you still got your next job based on where you were now and who you drank with after service.

I landed my most prestigious gig in New Orleans by busting my ass in a local place and gaining some experience, then having a beer with the right guy, which led to my volunteering to "trail" (which is now "stage"), to landing the #2 line position behind the sous. The culinary grads were getting ridden like rented mules for no money and none of us who'd been cooking our whole lives wanted to hear about what Escoffier had to say on the matter.

In your case, it sounds like Canada has some fairly priced programs, so if the quality of instruction is good and you come out with solid fundamentals and not a lot of debt, no reason not to go for it. The degree isn't worthless by any means, it's just that in the U.S. very few grads see the return on investment any time soon.

Just applied to Nait and Sait, both have aprenticships. Tuitions so cheap. One course from my masters costs double the cost of a semester here. I also like the over seas transfer options, that could be interesting. Thanks for the recomendations

We used to bring culinary students to help during busy holiday seasons. No pay slave labor, it was a chance for them to see the real world of kitchens. That's how I knew they needed guidance with sharpening wailing away with sharpening steels & knives that did not cut well. Here the local kids pay less then out of state students. Actually certain % are from Europe and Asia. I volunteer to teach about knives and sharpening because I live in walking distance of the school. It gives me pleasure to work with the kids & give them skills that I know will pay off down the line. I am not alone others volunteer to teach things like sushi making.

The hotel union with help from Hotel owners used to have an Apprenticeship program. Most never went to school myself included. Some of the best workers I have had English not their first language. Martin Weiss the Swiss chef hired me at Kahala because they needed an Ice Carver. He used to take the best dishwashers and train them as cooks. When he retired he started his own Swiss Inn staffed with Kahala workers like the hotel busy every night. He had a strong following because he was a great Chef.

keithsaltydog said:

The hotel union with help from Hotel owners used to have an Apprenticeship program. Most never went to school myself included. Some of the best workers I have had English not their first language. Martin Weiss the Swiss chef hired me at Kahala because they needed an Ice Carver. He used to take the best dishwashers and train them as cooks.

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Ahhh The good ole days Keith... When busting your *** actually meant something. When I worked at Disney they had an apprenticeship program as well. AFAIK the ACF still has an apprenticeship program in the States. The trick is to find a certified Chef willing to train you. I never knew much about the Canadian system but I remember reading they had something called the Red Seal program.
In either event LCB has a very good global reputation. IIR the only LCB school in Canada was in Ottawa.

Dave