Columbus Culinary Institute At Bradford School

I must echo Amy below. This was one of THE worst decisions I’ve made in my entire life.
I’m a natural leader. However, I came there to learn. What I got was verbally insulted and attacked by one «Chef Instructor» in particular that was simply intimidated by me, thus attacked me over things that had absolutely nothing to do with my class instruction. Below the belt and personal attacks on my character. She insisted that I «respect» her, but felt it unnecessary to return that same respect to me. I wS diagnosed with cancer during my enrollment there. Had to withdraw to have a required surgery. Was told by administration that it would not be a matter of whether or not I was allowed back, but simply when I was released by my medical team to return. When I did get that release, the school made it impossible for me to return, unless I wanted to get deeper into debt with additional student loans. These loans were because in my MEDICAL absence, they changed the «educational roadmap», which then required me to «test in» and based on those results «take additional courses». The only problem with that, was A. I had already taken and passed with flying colors, those courses and B. Should have been «grandfathered in» due to my circumstances. Clearly, this is not an option for a «For Profit» school. I truly should have filed a lawsuit. But I was simply happy to be ALIVE and call myself a cancer survivor. If I can save anyone else from this financial train wreck they call a culinary school, I will at least try!
And to reiterate what Amy said about externship placements, etc. The REAL reason the school can’t find good, local (and non local) externship placements, is because the «products» they are pumping from this school, get to these places to complete their externships and are complete morons and useless. They have been quoted as being those descriptions as well as «liabilities», «clueless», «irresponsible», to name a few. You see, after my experience, I did my own investigative work on this, and even reputable businesses (from coffee shops to Disney Theme Parks, Casinos, etc) all said the same things: They would rather pick someone off from the street with no culinary background and train them on site, than have a Bradford Student come in their place of business to work under them.
The ONLY things I walked out of this place gaining are:
Great friendships with some of my peers
Student Loan Debt that will forever be a reminder of one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
So, Thanks (?) Bradford.
Any attorney reading this that wants to take a further look into a possible case against them from my situation, please feel free to contact me. I would certainly be open to exploring my options, if any.

I know that everybody has a right to their opinions, but I’m sorry I just could not hold back from a couple of things posted by the one-​star review.
First of all, the «big boobs lady» (as described by the other review) is Michelle and she is a nice lady. Second of all, people need to learn to take what is available no matter if they like it or not. They told us from DAY ONE that we were NOT going to be chefs when we walked out of here. We need to start at the bottom level, and work our way up. That’s just how it is in this industry. And we also need to help ourselves by finding our jobs, not just relying on the school to do it for us. Because I put fourth the effort I landed an amazing externship with the school’s help.
Now on to my review (I felt like I needed to bring the score up). I just recently finished school and I’m graduating in a few months, and it has been the experience of my life. Yes, some of the regular classes (non-​cooking) could be better. But I came in knowing nothing, and I’m walking out believing I can do anything in this industry because of these chefs, who are by no means «average». They are all amaing, and have done a great job contributing to my education. I would suggest this school to anybody thinking of going to culinary school. Yes it is expensive, but I got an amazing education from this place. I don’t know nearly everything yet but this school has definitely put me on the right track for my career in the future.

This place is in all seriousness one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in my life. In fact I don’t even know where to begin to write this review.
I guess I’ll start with the few good things. And I do mean few. Actually I mean one. If you take a tour, you’ll be impressed by the large open kitchens and gorgeous equipment. It’s beautiful and obviously expensive. This is where they get you, because only after you’ve signed your life away by enrolling do you get the truly horrendous experience.
Let’s start with getting in and enrolling. They’ll take you on a tour, all the while explaining all the great things you’ll learn and the fabulous opportunities they’ll provide you in the form of externship/​jobs. Let’s tackle the great things you’ll learn first.
It’s not that you won’t learn things you don’t know, it’s just if you want to learn them, you’ll have to learn on your own because they don’t really want to TEACH you, they just want to PASS you. Every test I took at the place was pretty much handed to me the day before the test to memorize, and people STILL failed. Yet they also still graduated. There were students that showed up once or twice a week. Still graduated. There was one student in my class who vandalized school property and stole a bunch of product, something that anywhere else would get you arrested, but not here. They took a different approach and gave him a diploma. If this is not proof that they only care about their graduation rate, I don’t know what is.
Even worse than the education aspect is the placement department. The placement department is run by a woman that knows nothing about the restaurant industry, and even less about job placement. They promise you the best restaurants for your required 3 month externship, but the students who were not placed in Aramark (corporate cafes) were placed in places like Pizza Hut and Olive Garden (as a dishwasher no less). One girl did get placed into the great management program at none other than BOB EVANS. Yeah, you read right. Bob Evans.
They promise you placement for life. I called after graduation looking for jobs, told the woman in placement I wanted something closer to where I live than my current job (I live outside of Columbus). She called me twice telling me she found me the PERFECT job (those were her actual words). Once was a seasonal position somewhere in Maine, the other in Chicago. Yep. Perfect all right.
I could go on an on about the awfulness that is that school. I’ve barely touched the surface of my experience there and from what I’ve heard it has not gotten better. They’ve gone through two culinary directors, and every decent chef instructor they’ve had has left once they realized what a joke the place is.
If I had it to do over again, I would buy a couple magazine subscriptions and call it a day. I would have gotten the same knowledge, yet I would not be paying student loan bills for the rest of my life (Oh, I didn’t get into the cost, but it’s ridiculously expensive. Like Culinary Institute of America expensive.)
So, all in all, don’t do it. Contact me if you want to know more, I’ve got more trust me. Save yourself the time and money and go fill out an application at McDonald’s, you’ll be better off.