Choosing a Pastry School in France

Ever since I made up my mind to transform my passion into a career, I have started to look for a professional French pastry school that would suit me. At the time, the only one I knew is Le Cordon Bleu which has been so well marketed for the past 10, 20 years that even my parents know about this School. But, all we have heard of is the name so I decided to do more research into this area.

To be honest, at the beginning, my choice was Le Cordon Bleu plus they had 2 campuses in Australia. It seemed like the best option for me because I don’t need to worry too much about the expenses of living overseas. However, apart from my passion in pastry, I have always wanted to live in a foreign country. After deep thoughts, I decided to find a school in Paris instead.

After about a month of research, I found there were several schools in France whom offered Pastry class for international students where it was taught in English.

I have made a summary table for the main areas I valued:

	Le Cordon Bleu	FERRANDI Paris	Lenôtre Paris	ENSP	Gastronomicom
Course	Diplôme de Pâtisserie	Intensive Professional Program	Lenôtre Master Class	French Pastry Arts	Diploma in Gastronomic Pastry
Training	Approximately 9 months	5 months	28 weeks	5 months	6 months
Internship	2 Months (not guarantee)	3-6 Months	Lenôtre production workshops	2 Months	6 month
Class Size	Small Class	12 Maximum per class	Small Class	Small Class	Small Class
Location	Paris 15th Arrondissement	Paris 6th Arrondissement	Plaisir	Versailles	Agde
Price	€ 21,600	€ 20,000 February 2016	€ 29,400 VAT	€ 18,500	€ 16,504
Tuition Include	- Uniform - Equipment	- Uniform - Equipment - Excursion Fee - Lunch at school during training	- Uniform - Equipment	- Uniform - Equipment - Excursion - Breakfast at school during training	- Uniform - Equipment
Intake per year	5 intakes: - January - March - June - September - November	2 intakes: - February - September	3 intakes: - January - April - August	2 intakes: - April - September	3 intakes: - January - April - September
Housing	No*	No*	No*	No*	Approx. € 370/month

* School will assist student in finding housing

Please be aware that there are actually more culinary schools in France but I only looked into these 5 specifically.

Therefore after considering all the above factors, I decided on choosing FERRANDI Paris because I love the fact that they organise so many hours in the kitchen which means as a student, I will have many opportunities to enhance my practical skills. I believe it’s always practice makes perfect rather than reading a textbook. Also, it is limited to 12 persons per class to ensure each student receives a comprehensive experience and individual feedback can be given from the chef.

Another main reason I chose FERRANDI is that there is a 3-6 month compulsory internship included in the course. It can give me an opportunity to gain first hand industry experience. We all know that what we learn from school is not the same as when we start working.

I hope this post will help any future culinary students in choosing the right school for you.