For my 300th review, I thought I might pay tribute to the school responsible for educating me in…read morethe ways of the mother sauces, the primals and table service, not to mention chocolate, pastry, buttercream, coffee, croissant, danish, bread, garde manger, sausage, and tallow carving NECI is the unsung hero of culinary schools. Perhaps because it is based in distant Vermont, not many are familiar with it outside of New England. The school itself is housed in two campuses - one in Montpelier (pronounced "mon-PEE-lee-yur" not "mon-pel-yay") and the other in Essex Junction. I did something odd - I attended both campuses over the period I was in school there, and I received a great hybrid education from both. Unlike some culinary schools, almost every outlet at NECI is open to the public, except for the cafeterias for the students, which are staffed by first year students who are usually pretty inept in the kitchen. Imagine Hell's Kitchen. Now imagine those same people working in a cafeteria. Bound to be, uh, challenging. In Montpelier there's a bakery, a fine dining restaurant, and a grill/bar. Students who work these restaurants are basically experiencing trial by fire. I was at school for only a few weeks when I started working at the restaurants for $5/hour (in 1995 dollars). By the time I graduated, I had the opportunity to run the dining room at the Inn at Essex on Sunday nights. Good times. NECI really was great for a hands-on experience. Nothing I made went to waste, and every waking minute of every day was spent either in the kitchen or studying some sauce or another. Not one to burn the candle on both ends, I made the best of my time there, and took advantage of all the school had to offer. I interned with cheesemakers, restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. I learned a lot and had a pretty interesting time. Alton Brown was my classmate and later, after NECI, I appeared on his show (along with a number of other NECI graduates and faculty). I wouldn't have had that opportunity had I gone to J&W or CIA. One advantage of NECI's location is proximity to Montreal. WIth that great city so close by, a student attending NECI would be remiss to fail to visit. I have head that NECI has changed quite a bit since I was a student. The average age per student is declining, some of the restaurants have closed (NECI commons in Burlington, I have heard). But it is still a great place to be education. You just might need to be a little younger than I was when I entered (26 - which seems so young to me now!).

I had dinner at NECI for the second time this evening. The service was excellent. The waitstaff was…read morevery professional and courteous. A lot of effort was put into the presentation of the food; it was absolutely beautiful. Every dish looked like a picture from a magazine. That said, the food left a little to be desired. To start, we ordered the salad and the Beet Tartare. The salad was good, but nothing special. The Beet Tartare was good, but there was not very much goat cheese, and the capers really took away from the flavor of the beets. For the entrees, we ordered the swordfish and the maple duck. Both were very good. The dessert was not good. We ordered the Gianduja Mousse Bar and the Cranberry Almond Cake. The mousse was excellent but, it came on some sort of spice cookie that was not to my preference. The Cranberry Almond Cake was your typical coffee cake. We could not finish it. I will say that the price was right. They had a 3-course Prix Fixe Menu, so we each got a starter, entree and dessert for $27 apiece. The atmosphere was also nice. It was just the right temperature, the lighting was great, and the table setups were conducive to conversation. I wouldn't say that it was a bad experience, but I can't say that I would go back, either.

Online graduate program worked well with my lifestyle, received my MPA in 2008read more

Norwich University is the Military College of Vermont, and is a private senior military college in…read moreNorthfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus and online. I decided to walk the campus for my daily exercise, while I was visiting family in Central Vermont. This is a very small campus that is very old, and only known by a few folks that maybe military affiliated. It's located in a very small New England town called Northfield, and the winter weather can be very very cold.

The only reason I am still at this school is because of the head of the education department and…read morefinancial aid I got. The school is role play army unless you are the 20% who will commission or have aspirations to join the military. It was created by a West Point reject and is full of West Point rejects who all hate on the real cadets who are doing things they could never do. As a civilian, the school is miserable. In a nothing to do town and area filled with rude self centered people (that is all of the northeast). All the students either go home during the weekends (which I don't blame) or just sit in their rooms. If you like doing nothing all day you will enjoy this university. Counting down the days to my graduation so I can leave this dump of a school and never return to the state of Vermont. The disrespect from some people within the school is disheartening. #BringBackAnarumo