Kansas City or Cincinnati

[luzianne]

I know nothing about Cincinnati so I'm no help there. But there is the Art Institute of Colorado too, and they have culinary. Have you considered Colorado?

EDIT - Oh, sorry. I see you were looking for the closest ones. I would visit both places and see how it feels being there, take a tour of the campuses and surrounding areas and see what you like and don't like. Sometimes a place just feels like "home." The minute I got to Manhattan, Kansas, I knew this was not the place for me. I have no explanation; I just didn't like it. Lawrence, on the other hand, immediately seemed a perfect fit for me.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I have been to Cincinnati many times and I just get a positive vibe from some of the areas closer to there Downtown. Many of the historic houses are well maintained, but of course very neighborhood dependent. skrazzle is right in the fact that KC has an older and more well established Art Institute.

The Kansas City Art Institute has NO affiliation with the Art Institute of Kansas City. The latter is a for-profit educational facility.

Personally, I would strongly recommend that the OP look at some of the many non-profit or community college culinary programs that are generally very similar to the far more expensive private options. To give you a comparison, the tuition and fees at the AIKC is $52,000 for a seven quarter program. On the other hand, the Midwest Culinary Instutute at Cincinnati State is $4800. Admission to Cincinnati State gives you access to all the facilities at the University of Cincinnati.

For the record, i worked in the restaurant and food service industry for 12 years. I am very familiar with the Art Institute of Chicago's culinary program. I really do not see any advantage to that program that would justify the significant difference in cost.

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by <(-^_^-)>

Well, some of the things I look for in a city are safety, transportation, cleanliness, and affordability. Which is safer? Which has worse traffic? Which city is cleaner? Which city could I get more for my money? Thanks!

I used to travel to Cincinnati regularly when I worked for a magazine located there. I liked it a lot; it had a nice urban lively feel to it. I the traffic in KC is a breeze compared to everywhere I've been, including Cincinnati, and I think KC is cleaner. I can't give an opinion on crime stats. And I know Kansas gets a rap for having weird weather, but Cincinnati can really get hammered with extreme weather. You wouldn't think it would get a lot of ice and snow, but there were years when I lived in Chicago and Cincy had worse winters than we had.

Maybe it just boils down to which food you like better: 5-way chili or BBQ and great steaks!

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

I think people may be mistaken when discussing KCAI in reference to culinary arts- I'm pretty sure they don't have a culinary department.

One thing that you may want to consider is the fact the Kansas City has been receiving a good bit of national recognition as an emerging culinary center. Check out this article from the New York Times