Associate Degree in 
Baking and Pastry

If you have a passion for baking and pastry, Monroe College has a place for you. 

Baking is an art that combines creativity with scientific precision. It takes dedication to excellence, patience, and the kind of training you’ll receive at the Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College.

Fully accredited by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), CINY boasts an award-winning faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and hands-on training in one of the culinary capitals of the world. At CINY, you’ll do more than learn how to craft the perfect pastry. You’ll pull together all the necessary ingredients for a successful career.  

The proof, they say, is in the pudding, and nowhere is that more true than at CINY. To be a professional baker or pastry chef, you need more than just a theoretical education. You need: 

• Hands-on learning experience in state-of-the-art kitchen facilities;
• Mentorship from successful professional chefs; and 
• Training in real-world environments, serving real food to real people (with real customer feedback). 

You’ll get all that and more in CINY’s Baking and Pastry Arts program. Niche, Chef’s Pencil, and more have ranked us as one of the best culinary schools in America, and our award-winning Baking and Pastry Arts program has received numerous medals from the ACF and the Société Culinaire Philanthropique. 

We owe those accolades not only to our faculty, but to our students. All Baking and Pastry Arts majors complete an internship at our own Pastry Kiosk, where they get to prove their talents to the judges that matter most: the dining public. By the time they graduate, our Baking and Pastry Arts students have the confidence of knowing they’ve honed their skills to a professional level, having met all the requirements to become a Certified Pastry Culinarian (CPC). 

Candidates for an Associate Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts must meet the following general admissions requirements: 

• Applicants must possess either a high school graduation credential or high school equivalency diploma, or a recognized college associate degree or higher as listed in the transfer admissions policy.
• Applicants must also submit a completed application for admission, as well as a personal statement or essay.

Applicants also participate in a pre-admission interview.

Learn more about how to apply to Monroe College.

Year after year, Monroe ranks as one of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Value Schools in Regional Universities North, and for good reason. We’re proud to offer both affordable tuition and fees and manageable payment plans, but that’s only the beginning of our commitment to affordable culinary education. 

Our dedicated financial aid counselors work with every student to secure them the maximum possible aid package (a combination of grants, scholarships, and loans).We also offer several scholarships exclusively for CINY students, including:

• The SKILL (SkillsUSA) Scholarship:  Students who have completed the SkillsUSA program and show exemplary promise in their high school culinary program may be eligible for either a full or partial scholarship. 
• The Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) Scholarship: These are scholarships awarded to academically qualified high school students who have placed in nationwide culinary competitions and have been recommended by the C-CAP Executive Board.  
• The ProStart (PROS) Scholarship:  CINY awards full and partial scholarships to  graduating high school students who a) have been exemplary in their high school culinary programs, b) completed the ProStart National Certificate of Achievement.   
• America’s Best High School Pastry Chef Prizes: Every year, CINY hosts the America’s Best High School Pastry Chef (ABHSPC) competition. All qualified entries receive at least a partial scholarship, with a full tuition scholarship awarded to the first place winner!

Learn more about financial aid opportunities.

Maybe you dream of a career as a chocolatier at a Michelin-star restaurant. Maybe you dream of owning and managing your own bakery. Whatever your professional goals may be, they begin at CINY. Here are a few of the jobs our graduates have taken upon completing their degree in Baking and Pastry Arts:

• Assistant pastry chef
• Cake decorator
• Artisan bread baker
• Junior chocolatier
• High volume dessert and baking cook

And at CINY, you’ll have a wealth of opportunity just outside your door. The New York metro area is home to thousands of bakeries and patisseries. We know them — and they know us. They know the quality of our graduates; and they’ll know you have what it takes to make it as a professional. 

Every Baking and Pastry Arts student starts building their professional résumé at our student-run café, the Pastry Kiosk. The Pastry Kiosk offers a full lunch menu, including gourmet sandwiches on freshly baked breads, as well as a full pastry case with decorated cupcakes, mousse-filled cakes, tarts, biscotti, and croissants — all made that day by CINY students.

And every year, CINY sends a team to multiple culinary competitions, including the annual ACF Student Team National Championship Tournament. Our record speaks for itself: to date, CINY teams have won over 1000 medals in competition. Year after year, we’ve placed as the ACF Northeast Regional Champion, and in 2022, we won the ACF National Championship.

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