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"As for open enrollments, keep in mind that: there are numerous legitimate open enrollment four-year universities in the U.S.; just about every community college in the U.S. is an open enrollment school"
1). Community colleges like CCRI may have open enrollment but they also require EVERY student to pass a math and english proficiency test. If a student does not pass they have to take courses (for non credit) to bring themselves up to college level. That sorts a lot of kids out right there.
2). Community colleges are generally very affordable. You don't need to run up huge loans to find out if it works for you.
3). Community colleges don't need recruiters running everywhere to fish for students...
I graduated from JWU in 2000. It isn't a diploma mill (there are a good amount of kids who don't make it through the first year, one of my frustrations with open enrollment). It is a university, so you have to take general classes, typically 1 trimester of classroom work (math, english, history, language) and 2 trimesters lab work per school year. CIA is a college, so they can get away with having culinary degrees. You actually get a BS or AAS with a concentration in culinary (or whatever major) at JW. It is a good school, he will learn a lot, but the most important question is to find out what direction he wants to take. If it is culinary, does he want to cook, bake, or manage? Ih he wants to cook, will he go C-4 (bachelors with 4 years of cooking) or mix the degrees, doing 2 years culinary and 2 years management. That option is what I would recommend. RI is pretty saturated with cooks, so to have management background will allow him to advance more quickly. Most restaurants don't really care if you have your 4 year degree in culinary, you still start close to the bottom and work your way up. If it is culinary, he'll be in the dock areas of port of Providence, on the Cranston line. It's better than some areas of downtown,but it's a crappy area. JW is buying a lot of land and developing it in the area, so the campus area is fairly safe, but the surrounding areas can be shady. Make sure that he knows what's coming after graduation, when he's 30+ and still working doubles on weekends and holidays. It can catch you off-guard. The thing I hated most was kids who had to go to college smewhere, so they went to JW. Too many morons in one area. Any specific questions, let me know.
HHH13 & everyone else- Thank you so very much for your insight. My son is a junior in HS & he is interested in JWU because the recruiters came to his HS in upstate NY & said all graduates are guaranteed a job in the field of your major. They really talked it up. My son is also interested in accounting, so the management part might be more up his alley. He is also a hockey fanatic & there is a hockey team there, he was told?
HHH13 & everyone else- Thank you so very much for your insight. My son is a junior in HS & he is interested in JWU because the recruiters came to his HS in upstate NY & said all graduates are guaranteed a job in the field of your major. They really talked it up. My son is also interested in accounting, so the management part might be more up his alley. He is also a hockey fanatic & there is a hockey team there, he was told?
Yeah, there is a hockey team,and they do alright for their division. Everyone is "guaranteed" a job. Just depends if you want to wash lettuce or scrub pots. Remember, you've got JWU, CIA, NE Culinary College, and a host of other smaller institutions in New England and New York. The market is saturated with other graduates who are "guaranteed" jobs. However, Marriott has an agreement with JWU to take a certain number/percentage of graduating students each year. I believe there is still an offer from Mariott that if the graduate works for them for 5 years, Marriott will pay 1/2 tuition costs. Something to check into. they don't always pay the best with this offer, though.
Your son will get a good education, learn how to cook/manage front and back of house operations, and have a very high probability of landing a job right after graduation, if not before (does he have one in a kitchen now? Tell him to get one, and see how he likes it. Better now than after the student loans are dispersed). Just remember, recruiters are paid to talk about the silver lining.
Thank goodness he wants to continue his education!
My son graduated from Culinary Institute of America in 2004. He moved to Colorado Springs and worked at the Broadmoor for a few months, then landed an executive chef position at .....Johnson and Wales in Aurora (outside Denver)!
JW wanted to hire a JW culinary graduate but couldn't find anyone with the qualifications to fill the job.
When he left the job, same thing happened. JW was unable to find a JW grad to fill the spot.
I don't know what, if anything this says about the JW culinary program. Of course my son is a CIA culinary snob and thinks JW's program is a joke. He claims that employers will hire a CIA grad over a JW grad any day of the week.
All I know is that for the huge amount of money he's paying for his education, I hope he's right.
JW wanted to hire a JW culinary graduate but couldn't find anyone with the qualifications to fill the job.
When he left the job, same thing happened. JW was unable to find a JW grad to fill the spot.
I don't know what, if anything this says about the JW culinary program. Of course my son is a CIA culinary snob and thinks JW's program is a joke. He claims that employers will hire a CIA grad over a JW grad any day of the week.
All I know is that for the huge amount of money he's paying for his education, I hope he's right.
JW and CIA will go back and forth arguing who is better. JWU will have more graduates, CIA often has a higher percentage of older students, those who have tried something already and now want to cook (Alfred Portale). While most employers probably will hire CIA grads in the kitchen because of previous experience and maturity, I believe more JW grads get the management positions, mainly because of the differences of college v. university (you have to have certain academic classes at JW that CIA doesn't require).
I am surprised JW wasn't able to find a qualified person. I graduated with quite a few of them. I do know most students don't want to work for the school. There is a belief that the school isn't progressive enough in culinary classes, that traditional French cooking is meaningless in todays culinary world. Maybe they do need to get some "present" in the curriculum.
It ends with the student. I have worked with and competed against many CIA grads, and quite a few of them were flakes, no better than the people I've worked with who didn't go to college. It's all in what your son does while in college.
My friend graduated from JWU with a associates in culinary and a BA in management May '07. It took her four months to find a job and she is only making $10.50 now working in a deli. Soooo not worth it especially after all her loans.
My friend graduated from JWU with a associates in culinary and a BA in management May '07. It took her four months to find a job and she is only making $10.50 now working in a deli. Soooo not worth it especially after all her loans.
Those are the kind of jobs I mean by "guaranteed".
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Thank goodness he wants to continue his education!
