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Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region

2023 Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region

43 Colleges

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate School for You

Culinary Arts is the #11 most popular major in the country with 22,075 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 43 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which basic certificate programs were the most popular for trade school students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Culinary Arts program at each school on the list.


 

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Colleges.

#1

Ivy Tech Community College

Indianapolis, IN

Our analysis found Ivy Tech Community College to be the most popular school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a basic certificate in the Great Lakes Region . Ivy Tech Community College is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Indianapolis.

About 60% of the students majoring in culinary arts at the school are women while 40% are male.

Read More…

#2

College of Lake County

Grayslake, IL

Out of the 43 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, College of Lake County landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Grayslake, College of Lake County is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 84% of the culinary arts majors at the school.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at College of Lake County

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Elgin Community College is a great place for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. ECC is a medium-sized public school located in the medium-sized city of Elgin.

Of the 33 students majoring in culinary arts at ECC, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Elgin Community College

Out of the 43 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Kennedy-King College is a small public school located in the large city of Chicago.

Women make up 76% of the culinary arts majors at the school.

Full Culinary Arts at City Colleges of Chicago - Kennedy-King College Report

The in-demand basic certificate programs at Gateway Technical College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular culinary arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . Gateway Technical College is a moderately-sized public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Kenosha.

About 35% of the students majoring in culinary arts at the school are women while 65% are male.

Read More…

Sinclair Community College ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Sinclair Community College is a large public school located in the midsize city of Dayton.

About 70% of the students majoring in culinary arts at the school are women while 30% are male.

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Madison Area Technical College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Madison, Madison College is a public school with a large student population.

About 55% of the students majoring in culinary arts at the school are women while 45% are male.

Full Culinary Arts at Madison Area Technical College Report

Fox Valley Technical College came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. FVTC is a large public school located in the suburb of Appleton.

Of the 16 students majoring in culinary arts at FVTC, 38% are male and 63% are female.

Read More…

With a ranking of #9, Lakeshore Technical College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. Located in the rural area of Cleveland, LTC is a public college with a small student population.

Of the 10 students majoring in culinary arts at LTC, 40% are male and 60% are female.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Lakeshore Technical College

#10

Lake Land College

Mattoon, IL

Lake Land College came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Lake Land College is a small public school located in the distant town of Mattoon.

Women make up 23% of the culinary arts majors at the school.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Lake Land College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 413
Indiana 181
Wisconsin 333
Ohio 305
Illinois 668

One of 4 majors within the trade school area of study, culinary arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Culinary Arts Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Culinary Arts/Chef Training 10,546
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef 5,029
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts 3,303
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager 1,394
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant 786
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services 335
Institutional Food Workers 204
Culinary Science/Culinology 203
Bartending/Bartender 157
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager 82
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter 28
Wine Steward/Sommelier 8

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

Related Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 124,611
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,186
Casino Operations and Services 385
Other Personal & Culinary Services 95

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 27 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to U.S. Army Europe Images.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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