Johnson & Wales University

One of the Top Culinary programs in the nation. A high quality faculty and staff. If you are interested in culinary arts, J&W is worth the visit.

J Dub, Johnny Wad, whatever you want to call it, I call it a gigantic waste of money. I studied Culinary Arts as well as Baking & Pastry there in the mid 90’s and dropped out because I felt that I was wasting my money and getting very little back in return. The problem with the school is not the chefs who teach there– most are excellent, well trained chef’s from all over the world who bring a lot to the table with their experience and knowledge, but due to class size and the array of misfits who attend this particular trade school (don’t let the fancy name fool you– it’s a glorified vocational school), as well as the administration who runs this place, they can only do so much. People who are considering attending need to do themselves a favor and work in a restaurant for at least a year, decide if that is the path for you and then look into local culinary programs that will give you 80% of the education for 10−20% of the cost. Graduating from J & W with an AA in Culinary or Baking and Pastry with get you a $ 10−15/hour job and you’ll have a huge debt to pay off. I was a 4.0 student who also worked 40 hours/​week and did not get a single dime in scholarship money, even though I applied every year.