COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

(2) Choose a school that emphasizes hands-on, in-kitchen learning and real restaurant experiences.

Look for a high level of teaching kitchens and in-kitchen instruction hours.

• At the CIA, you'll learn hands-on culinary and baking skills in our 41 professional kitchens and bakeshops on campus, the most in culinary education. And in your freshman and sophomore years, you'll have an extraordinary 1,300+ kitchen hours to develop your skills and build knowledge.

Seek schools that have a variety of first-class restaurants on campus for professional training.

• At the end of your sophomore year at the CIA, you'll train in some of our five award-winning restaurants on campus. Under the guidance of your instructors, you will prepare menu items (learning the "back of the house") and serve customers ("front of the house"). And you'll be cooking and serving real restaurant patrons, many of whom travel long distances to have the chance to sample the dining experience the CIA and its students are famous for.
• Ranging from our casual, walk-in bakery café to white tablecloth restaurants such as the Ristorante Caterina de' Medici, our student-staffed restaurants have earned high marks from the Zagat Survey and won prestigious honors such as Restaurants & Institutions magazine's Ivy Award.

Select programs that include externships at leading restaurants, hotels, and resorts for real-world experience and industry connections.

• All CIA students get an invaluable opportunity to gain real-world experience and industry connections during their 18-week, paid externships. You'll "go on extern" between your first and second years at one of more than 1,600 top foodservice properties around the world, such as Disney resorts, Ritz-Carlton hotels, Chocolatier magazine, The Breakers Resort, Amy's Bread, Jacques Torres Chocolates, Four Seasons hotels, the Food Network, and fine restaurants like Restaurant Daniel in New York City, Rumi in Miami, Marche in Chicago, and One Market in San Francisco.