Suffield, CT: Interested in hotel or restaurant management? The International College of Hospitality Management could be what you're looking for. This is a great field where you meet all kinds of people and have the pleasure of making them happier. My dream is to own a restaurant. With the help of my counselor and my sister, I found this school to help me meet that goal.

ICHM is a great college with a two-year program full of fun classes and training. For the first six months you're learning in the classroom. They have a five-week culinary class where they teach you new cuisines, including French and Russian. Working with the best chefs (who have experience from all over Europe), you are guaranteed to learn wonderful cooking secrets. The school also has beautiful dining rooms where they teach elegant methods of serving.

When I visited, the students and staff were great. It isn't a very big campus, which makes it even better since the staff knows each student by name. It's a very welcoming environment. Even after long hours in class every day, students have study groups and stay up late preparing for the next exciting day.

After six months of hard but fun work, you then do six months of paid training. They have an endless list of five-star hotels all over the United States to choose from. After this valuable experience, you return for another six months in the classroom. And then, of course, back to the real world! You get to choose another hotel to train at for the last 22 weeks.

Those two years of hard work are worth it in the end. ICHM does such a great job preparing its students for careers that I was told students have a hard time deciding which job offer to accept upon graduation.



Reviewed in 2004