Baking and Pastry Arts Programs

As a baking & pastry arts student at The Culinary Institute of America, you'll receive an amazingly well-rounded education that will prepare you to meet the challenges of a demanding industry.

Choose from the following baking and pastry programs:

Associate Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts

If you already have a bachelor's degree or you're changing careers, the college's proven baking and pastry arts associate degree program may be the best complement to your current skills.

Practice new skills and techniques in extensive hands-on baking and pastry classes—you'll get right into the kitchen and bakeshop during the very first week.

• Benefit from a balance of foundation, hands-on, and theory courses.

• Take academic courses such as Food Safety, Nutrition, Culinary Math, Introduction to Gastronomy, College Writing, and Introduction to Management.

• Flex your creative muscles crafting hearth and specialty breads, desserts, pastry, pâtisserie, and confections.

• Put your new skills into action in an 18-week externship.

• Prepare and serve both savory items and baked goods in a real bakery café environment.

Bachelor's Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts Management

If you're coming right from high school or have had some experience working in the culinary field before college, the Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS) degree in baking and pastry arts management—offered at the CIA's Hyde Park campus—makes a lot of sense for you. The freshman and sophomore years of the BPS cover everything that's in the AOS programs, but you get into so many more dimensions of the industry in the junior and senior years.

• Study business-related topics such as Finance, Marketing and Promoting Food, and Human Resource Management.

• Explore other countries and their foods through language studies and History and Cultures courses.

• Hone your leadership skills in classes like Psychology of Human Behavior, Leadership and Ethics, and Business Planning.

• Map out your own education plan with a variety of electives to choose from in business, liberal arts, global studies, and more.

• Expand your studies as you become immersed in a major culinary region of the world during the exciting Food, Wine, and (Agri)culture trip.