In May of 2010 I'll be graduating California State University-San Marcos with a degree in Business (Marketing) and a minor in Women Studies. If all goes as planned I hope to attend culinary school in San Diego in September.
The School:
The San Diego Culinary Institute--if you're in the Southern California area you might know this particular school by the cheesy commercials and I must admit the first time I went for an interview I was a bit nervous.
While waiting for my interview my mother suggested that I look up reviews from past students again to reassure myself. She was right, it did reassure me and I went into the interview feeling a lot better. I met with a very nice woman named Lorie and she went over the general overview of the school with me and my mother. We briefly discussed financial information and then Lorie gave my mother and me a tour.
The "classrooms" were amazing, and watching the students listen to their chef and begin work on their cuisine was nothing short of exciting. The pastry students were working on Opera Cake, which looked delicious. The classrooms are small, each program only accepts 16 students, so if accepted I'd be fairly close to the Chef at all times and when I met him during the tour he told me that there would be a lot of hands on experience.
The Program:
Diplome Professionnel du Boulangerie et de la Patisserie--The program is a total of 1060 hours over a period of 6 months. 5 day a week, 8 hours a day. Best part of all is that I get to take everything I make home, which is kinda crazy. I hope all my friends and family are prepared to gain at least 15 pounds. There is an entire week devoted just to chocolate cakes! Quick breads, yeast breads, breakfast pastries, cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, individual pastries, petite fours, dessert sauces, dessert containers, chocolate and sugar work! It's enough to make a girl's head spin just from the thought of the sugar alone!
I'm going to the school on Tuesday to sit in on a class and really begin the application the process.
It's weird, a few years ago this whole thing just seemed like a dream and now that I'm starting the process it's all a little surreal.
The "classrooms" were amazing, and watching the students listen to their chef and begin work on their cuisine was nothing short of exciting. The pastry students were working on Opera Cake, which looked delicious. The classrooms are small, each program only accepts 16 students, so if accepted I'd be fairly close to the Chef at all times and when I met him during the tour he told me that there would be a lot of hands on experience.
The Program:
Diplome Professionnel du Boulangerie et de la Patisserie--The program is a total of 1060 hours over a period of 6 months. 5 day a week, 8 hours a day. Best part of all is that I get to take everything I make home, which is kinda crazy. I hope all my friends and family are prepared to gain at least 15 pounds. There is an entire week devoted just to chocolate cakes! Quick breads, yeast breads, breakfast pastries, cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, individual pastries, petite fours, dessert sauces, dessert containers, chocolate and sugar work! It's enough to make a girl's head spin just from the thought of the sugar alone!
I'm going to the school on Tuesday to sit in on a class and really begin the application the process.
It's weird, a few years ago this whole thing just seemed like a dream and now that I'm starting the process it's all a little surreal.
I am looking into attending SDCI and pursuing a career as a pastry chef coming from a completely different field and was wondering if you could tell me how your experience has been. Any advice? Thanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently about half way through the pastry program right now. It's a really intense program, as it is roughly 40 hours a week it is like having a full time job. Having said that, I completely love it.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely check it out they have you do a class sit in so I think that can give you a better idea of how the class runs.