Atlantic Technical Center

I went here for the Baking & Pastry program. Whether you are paying with student loans, grants, or out of pocket, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY AT THIS SCHOOL. The bakery program is an absolute JOKE. Granted, they are giving the instructor 2 – 3 classes at a time and would not be easy for anyone to keep up with that. However, the way he handles it is atrocious. My last 3 weeks of school, after we came back from Winter Break, he informed us that because the school had given him too many students that quarter, he is done teaching us, and we were to practice on our own for the remainder. He was constantly eating the food we prepared, but God forbid we got to even TASTE the food we were preparing, which you need to do in order to know what it should taste like. Very often, he would say we can’t try it because there isn’t enough there to feed the paying students in the cafeteria. Quite frankly, I paid for this course, and it does not matter whether there is enough for the school to sell. The money I paid to go to the school should be covering any food we need to taste during class.

I went there a few years ago, full time, for the 1 year culinary program. While it is a very short time to learn everything they want to squeeze in to teach you, you definitely leave with a lot of great knowledge. I liked that in the cold foods, if you show interest, Chef will teach you about food carving. In the bakery, if you let Chef know you want to try «something», he’ll make time to do that with you or with the class.
It was an overall great experience. The only negative I have is about one of the Chefs, I won’t say whom in particular… she told me on a couple occasions that I’d probably do better at the front of the house, I was not fit for the kitchen. Harsh truth? I worked in a commercial kitchen after graduating and loved it. I think she spoke too soon. I now make custom tiered cakes. Guess I exceeded her expectations.