Top Five Reasons Why You Should Study at the CIA

1. Benefit from our reputation as the world’s premier culinary college
2. Get a great CIA education
3. Have a rich college experience
4. Gain the best opportunity for career success
5. Join our famous CIA alumni network

1. You’ll Enter the Job Market with a Degree from the World’s Premier Culinary College

You’ll gain more indepth knowledge and top-notch skills here than from anywhere else—it’s our mission to deliver the world’s best culinary education to you.

• Benefit from our experience—Founded in 1946, the CIA was the first culinary college, and we set the standard for excellence in culinary education.
• Get an immediate foot in the door—the CIA is recognized and respected throughout the food world as the leader in culinary education.
• Advance your career—A CIA degree is a prized passport into the world of food professions. Our graduates become leading chefs and restaurant owners, food and beverage managers, foodservice entrepreneurs and executives, media personalities, research chefs, and more.

2. You’ll Receive a World-Class Education

Your CIA education will prepare you to do great things in your food career. As an independent, not-for-profit educational organization, the CIA uses its resources to deliver on our core mission—providing the best professional culinary education to thousands of students each year in our degree programs.

• Get the knowledge you need to succeed—As the first culinary college, we literally wrote the book (The Professional Chef) and created a proven, comprehensive curriculum with people like you in mind.
• Learn from expert faculty on the largest team of teaching chefs and certified hospitality educators on one campus—with more than 150 chefs and instructors from 19 countries at our main campus in Hyde Park, NY alone. The faculty on all CIA campuses are dedicated teachers whose industry credentials and experience are unmatched in culinary education.
• Become immersed in our unique degree programs—You’ll build your knowledge and skills in the proper sequence as you advance from skills kitchens to meal preparation kitchens to our award-winning on-campus public restaurants and learn about foods, cooking techniques, and cuisines.
• Gain invaluable practice that only comes from “learning by doing”—No matter which degree program you choose, your CIA education will give you an extraordinary amount of hands-on learning; more than 1,300 hours in our kitchens and bakeshops!
• Expand your culinary foundation—Today, chefs are managers, entrepreneurs, creative artists, media personalities, and educators; they need to do much more than just cook well. You can prepare for future leadership with our bachelor’s programs that include management and liberal arts courses that cover restaurant management, finance, marketing, world cultures, and much more.
• Experience the excitement of learning in the CIA’s world-class facilities—Outstanding teaching kitchens, sophisticated restaurants, computer labs, and the resources of the Conrad N. Hilton Library.
• Embrace the global culinary scene—The newest CIA campuses in San Antonio and Singapore are enhancing the college’s cuisine research and deepening CIA leadership in the rising Latin American and Asian cuisines.

Your college choice is important, so it’s crucial that you know where your education dollars are going. Many other culinary schools are for-profit businesses, and some large ones are owned by major corporations. Tuition paid to for-profit schools covers both their business costs and the profits they must deliver to shareholders. Their costs may include heavy advertising and recruiting expenses, and they may spend 20% or more of tuition dollars on these marketing expenses. So, a significant percentage of your tuition dollars will not contribute to your educational experience. As a not-for-profit culinary college, the CIA ensures that your tuition dollars stay focused on our mission—to give you the best professional culinary education.

3. You’ll Enjoy a Rich College Experience

You will feel right at home on our food-centric campus. All kinds of people come to the CIA—some right out of high school, some from the work force or the military, and others from different colleges. A singular, shared passion—food—immediately connects you to other students and faculty in our welcoming CIA community.

• As a student at the CIA in Hyde Park, you’ll experience a more traditional college environment, including modern housing in a variety of styles, a recreation center, sports, clubs, and year-round student events. From Hyde Park, you can enjoy recreation in the famous Hudson Valley region, and take advantage of our easy access to New York City for entertainment, top restaurants, and new cultural experiences.
• As a student at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, you’ll enter a close-knit campus community. Set in the Napa Valley, the CIA at Greystone offers an exceptionally rich food and wine experience, enhanced by the conferences, research projects, and education programs going on there. And at Greystone, you’re a short ride away from San Francisco, world-class vineyards, and much more in this renowned region.
• As a student at the CIA San Antonio, you’ll join a community rich with culinary heritage and vibrant flavors. The CIA San Antonio is not a “traditional” college campus, but is rather a unique education and research center. Located on the historic Pearl Brewery site, it’s host to amazing industry conferences and home of the exciting Center for Foods of the Americas.

4. You’ll Have the Best Opportunity For Career Success

Get right to the top of an employer’s list. Leading companies in the food world look to the CIA degree as a valued credential when they’re hiring. And you can expand your contact list with the college’s exclusive online database of employers, averaging 2,000 job opportunities at both national and international businesses for student job searches.

• Your industry exposure starts with your externship at a leading foodservice establishment, between your first and second years. There are 2,000-plus CIA externship sites to choose from, including Aureole in New York, the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida, Restaurant August in New Orleans, The Lodge at Pebble Beach in California, and Roy’s Restaurant in Honolulu.
• You’ll have direct access to the many job opportunities in the college’s online job database when you’re out there looking for that ideal job for you.
• You will also have the opportunity to interview for permanent positions with top employers right on campus. And at Hyde Park, employers representing the best in restaurant, hotel, resort, club, and corporate chain operators come to campus quarterly for CIA Career Fairs.
• Your success is only just beginning with your first job. Our graduate surveys show CIA alumni have strong career and salary growth as they advance to chef, management, and ownership positions (CIA 2008 Associate and Bachelor’s Degree Alumni Surveys).

5. You’ll Be a Part of the Famous CIA Alumni Network

You’ll be joining an exclusive club of 49,000-plus alumni—an accomplished, supportive network throughout the industry, whatever your career goals.

• Advance in the kitchen to become a sous chef, executive chef, or chef/owner.
• Advance outside the kitchen to become a restaurateur or business owner, food and beverage manager, or restaurant and hotel chain executive.
• Lead in other areas of the food world as a media personality, food writer, research chef, or culinary educator.

Check out our list of celebrated alumni. It’s as diverse as it is extensive—including Grant Achatz, John Besh, Anthony Bourdain, Cat Cora, Johnny Iuzzini, Melissa Kelly, Charlie Palmer, Michael Symon, Roy Yamaguchi, and Sherry Yard, to name just a few. They’ve found success doing what they love. They embraced the idea that Food is Life.

Now, it’s your turn. Inquire today!