Culinary School Rankings: Road Map or Dead End?

With more than 550 culinary schools in the U.S., the toughest part of a culinary education can be choosing the right school. Most people would agree that there are bad ways to make a decision - -choosing a school for its proximity to a beach or tossing a coin, for example. But what about school rankings? Are they useful or irrelevant?

The answer probably lies somewhere in between. In order to make sense of school rankings--and evaluate their usefulness--you should know how the rankings are generated, and, most importantly, know what you're looking for.

How Culinary School Rankings Are Compiled

Many of the publication which conduct rankings, such as U.S. News & World Report, do not offer culinary school rankings. Why not? Because their criteria apply to academic institutions and not to professional training programs, such as those offered through culinary schools.

Just a handful of other sources rank culinary schools; cookingschoolscompared.com, for example, ranks schools based, in part, on tuition cost, job placement, and student/teacher ratios. These rankings may give students an idea of what they face upon graduation--namely, student loan debt and job opportunities. Student/teacher ratios may also be helpful for assessing the degree of one-on-one instruction students receive in the classroom.

Another--and arguably more useful--type of culinary school ranking is offered by Chef2Chef.net. Rather than emphasizing objective third-party data, these ratings are user-generated and reflect the experiences of actual students and members of the Chef2Chef.net community. These rankings represent information that can't easily be quantified: Do students have an overall positive experience at the school? Is the school well regarded? Would they recommend the school to others?

Evaluating the Rankings: Where Does the Information Come From?

One important question to ask when looking at culinary school rankings is who is providing the expertise. Obviously, objective data--such as student/teacher ratios--can be obtained through the school's records. But when it comes to reputation, student experience, teacher quality, and other more subjective criteria, who are the "experts" providing the data?

For purposes of comparison, consider cookingschoolscompared.com and Chef2Chef.net. The former bases its rankings on the opinions of 150 food editors, journalists, and restauranteurs. The latter's rankings are based on opinions of students and the Chef2Chef.net community. Both are valid sources, but the former is likely to say more about a school's reputation, while the latter may be more indicative of student experience.

Finding the Best Fit

Most education experts agree that the most important criteria in choosing a school is finding the right fit. Unfortunately for students who prefer to have rankings make the decision for them, this criteria is highly personal and depends on knowing what you want out of your education.

So can culinary school rankings be valuable? Yes--once you've done the most important work of identifying your educational objectives and the criteria that goes into making a school the right fit for you.