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It Takes Just a Few Minutes to Start Your Culinary Arts Career Below!
Culinary Arts Institute Degree Options
Just as with numerous other trades or professions in West Virginia, there are a variety of degree programs that are offered in the culinary arts. At the most basic level, you can join a nearby cooking course, which are more casual in nature and can run from several hours to a few weeks. Typically a diploma or a certificate is provided after completion. They can be comprehensive in nature, such as instructing how to cook Spanish dishes, or they can be rather specific and concentrate on one dish, such as Crepes Suzette. Naturally if you are looking for a more formal education suitable for a career in the restaurant profession, you will probably choose to enroll in a degree program. With a degree program, you will be required to invest significantly more time.
- Associate's Degrees can require as long as 6 months to 2 years to finish.
- Bachelor's Degrees typically call for as much as four years of education.
- Masters Degrees can take an additional two years or even longer after acquiring a Bachelor's.
Even more advanced training alternatives may be offered, such as specialized or Doctoral programs made available by culinary arts institutes. The most important issue to keep in mind when deciding on which degree to pursue is ensuring that it furnishes the education and credential necessary to advance your ultimate career objectives.
Culinary Arts Schools
Once you have made your choice regarding the kind of training and degree that you would like to pursue, you can start your search for the culinary school, college or institute that offers it. As an example, if your desire is to become a chef specializing in Spanish cuisine, then naturally you will focus on those institutes that provide the proper training. Or you can select a college based on its reputation or other factors (we'll review some of those later) and then select the most ideal degree program offered that is consistent with your career objectives in West Virginia. However you make your choice, culinary arts schools basically fall under three different categories:
- Cooking Schools. Certain cooking schools do offer degree programs, but typically they offer diplomas or certificates. Their programs tend to be more specialized in nature, and they can range anywhere from one or two months to as long as three or four years.
- Community Colleges. Area community colleges can be more inexpensive than most private colleges and a large number have exceptional programs. They almost solely offer Associate's Degrees and are founded and maintained by either state or local governments.
- Culinary Arts Schools and Institutes. The more advanced training and degrees are offered by culinary colleges and institutes. A few institutes provide the most respected and highest level of training in academia. However, since they are private institutions they tend to be more costly than their public counterparts, some a lot more.
Selecting a culinary college will not only be based on the type of degree or program you would like to pursue, but also the amount of money you have to invest in your education. If you decide to enroll in a public institution to minimize expenses, keep in mind that out-of-state residents usually must pay a higher tuition than in-state residents. In addition, numerous community colleges and regional public schools have lower tuition rates for area residents. So make sure to look into the public options within West Virginia to discover the most economical options.
Cooking Online Degree Programs
A number of potential students may discover that there are no culinary colleges that are within commuting distance of their West Virginia residence. One alternative is to attend online training within the convenience of one's residence. The convenience and flexibility makes it the one solution for a number of students that continue working full time while attending school. Plus there are more schools online than ever before that are accredited. Remember that a significant portion of the training will be furnished under an externship. Externships are programs where students work with local chefs or other cooking practitioners to ensure that they obtain practical training outside of the virtual classroom. Just make certain that the online college you decide on is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education approved agency (more on this later). Therefore if you are dedicated enough to be able to participate in classes and study in this more independent fashion, attaining a cooking degree online just might be the best choice for you.