Pickens Technical College — Local services in Aurora

I just graduated from their Culinary Arts class last month and here is what I have to say about it. They have pretty decent communication and got back to me pretty quickly whenever it came to emailing them or going to the office in Building B for help. Once I saw one dude who worked there go through multiple buildings to find and help someone understand something they asked about after researching it. There is also a Starbucks and another place that serves food in the lounge and staff were kind and treated us like family 👍. My teacher was also nice and although she hasn't ever worked in food service, she has surprisingly taught me a lot about cooking and my mom who has worked in food service for years, can confirm that I learned the basics and some advanced cooking methods. The class was fun and challenging most days and some days were pretty easy. The uniform is comfortable, although most of us had to roll up the bottom of our pants for them to fit properly. It was easy to navigate to my class unlike some classes. The teacher was a really light grader so you don't have to worry too much about that. You mainly have to worry about showing up on time. You mostly learn how to follow complex recipes and be creative sometimes. It is mostly hands on but occasionally we did some writing assignments and even learned a bit about the world and history. It is also accessable for people with disabilities and I know that because one of my classmates was legally blind and another one had only one leg. And they both were given accommodations and were treated well. As long as you follow the basic rules like having your school ID on you, wearing your uniform, and making sure you have your book and knife kit/basic supplies, you are basically set. And I bought a different brand knife kit that was cheaper and they allowed it and you can borrow their books and knife kits if you want for the year rather than buy them because they are kind of expensive. I graduated this class as an honors student and I got into the college a few days into the year because they didn't have enough students and still got all A's and All of the credits and a 4.0 GPA somehow. It was mostly because I had perfect attendance and the class was easy though lol. And if you want to see most of what we cooked, I posted it on my Instagram at arielwillcutt17 so y'all can have a heads up👍. All in all, if you take this class I'm sure you'll...

As a disclaimer, the following review is strictly my personal opinion as a parent of someone attending Pickens Culinary Arts Program. It seems to me that this program may be great for some people and not so great for others, depending on what you are looking for. This may NOT be the best program for you if: You are already proficient in basic cooking and can follow a recipe or a YouTube video on your own. You are looking to dive deep and learn intermediate or advanced level techniques and recipes. It's important for you to get your money's worth and learn something new every class. You hate the feeling of wasting time. You want to have a chance to practice every step of the recipe yourself, as opposed to working in a group, where two or more people work together on the same dish - thus you only practice part of the process. On the other hand, this may be a great fit for you if: You are just starting out in the kitchen and want to learn basic cooking skills. You are not really interested in acquiring extensive culinary knowledge and skill. Maybe you just need credit hours or a certificate and this program seems like a good option. Your education is paid for by someone else and you are not worried about getting your money's worth. You are not the type who feels like your time was "wasted" if your 3 hours of class did not feel productive on some days. You don't mind taking two semesters going through material that theoretically could be mastered in a semester. You don't mind working in a group with people of different skill levels, and your brain can handle not having ownership of anything because other people's mistakes affect your outcome.

In general, there seems to be a positive environment, with the challenge being that there are students of different skill levels who are in this program for different reasons. People who are interested in learning more and moving faster are not able to do so because the program is not designed to account for differences in strengths or interest levels, so everyone is kept together at the lowest common denominator. This is unfortunate, but probably not unique to this program. I would imagine that this program would be a great High School class, but as a post secondary level program, it would be great to have a more...

One of the most disappointing academic experiences I’ve had. The lack of communication and support is unreal. Grades not being updated from 1st semester due to a honest mistake , but still not fixed. The SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT program I enrolled in looked promising online, but once I started, I realized how misleading it was, things we never did etc. . They have you add skills and experience to your resume that you didn’t actually gain — which is embarrassing and damaging when you're job hunting. Employers expect you to know things the program barely touches on, Things are just signed off weather its done or not . Plus , employers are looking for a minimum of an Associates Degree , not a Certificate. Invest your money into a real Let’s be real: the only solid skill we walked away with was how to do a basic W-2 form for taxes. The rest? We were told to “just Google it.” The instructor meant well, but was constantly unprepared and clearly overwhelmed and still learning himself . We often had to teach ourselves or rely on outside resources to learn what we needed. Most of the course was though on free online videos. On top of that, the program mixes high school students with adult post-secondary students in the same classroom — which might work in theory, but in reality, it creates a chaotic and unprofessional learning environment. It’s hard to focus when you're dealing with classroom drama and immaturity.

Bottom line? If you're serious about your education and want real job readiness, and education , this is not the place. I don’t recommend this program to anyone, even if your looking to just open your business , if that's the case , ChatGPT will be your best friend . There is about a handful of students looking for a refund due to the disappoint...