May 24 2008
Comparing Western Culinary Institute with the Competition
It’s always been important to me to be able to say that I’ve achieved things that were difficult. I was always the kid who took honors classes in grade school and who pushed herself to the next level in sports. So it was no surprise to anyone around me when I told my sister that she needed to compare her culinary program at Western Culinary Institute with the competition in the industry.
My sister isn’t anything like me. As long as she’s content with what she’s doing, she doesn’t care at all about what’s going on with anyone else. She doesn’t need to beat out the competition or to excel at the most advanced programs. So of course she didn’t take me seriously when I said that she should look at other schools like the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago to determine how her program ranked.
Being the big sister that I am, I did the footwork for her. I chose a few schools from around the country (including those mentioned here and Le Cordon Bleu Minneapolis) and ranked them against one another. I compared the different programs they offer, their rates of job placement for graduates and their reputation in the industry. And when I told my sister that she had chosen a good program, she just rolled her eyes and said, "I know, I like it there".