EDIT: There is a tl;dr at the bottom.

I can attest to the long hours, holidays working, damaged relationships, and altered social lives.

I never went to school, but I have 32 years in kitchens. I started as a dishwasher, and have over time, moved onto most phases of cooking and kitchen management at many levels and cuisines.

The easiest thing to say is you don't need a degree to cook well. Or professionally. At worst, a degree from a decent school will give her enough knowledge to be able to function in a kitchen and a basis for more growth. At best, it will give her a direction in which she can specialize, grow in her own fashion, develop style and technique, and create long term contacts that can be an amazing asset.

I believe that one advantage to earning a degree is there are TONS of little things you don't learn at every (or sometimes, any) job. Details and classics that you may NEVER use professionally, but techniques and basis for theory that you will use daily.

On the other hand, if you go the "on the job training route" as I have, you need to make sure that you soak up EVERYTHING you can. Read outside of work, sit with a drink at 2 AM when you get home and think about how you would do your bosses job better, then the next morning when you go in at 7AM, and he comes in at 11AM, tell him how you can make his job easier.

I am given to understand that one of the most heralded chefs in the country does not posses a degree (Thomas Keller), whereas another (Grant Achatz) does. IMHO, these are two out of millions. Don't plan to meet them, eat their food, work for them, or outdo them. You may do any or all of the above mentioned, but don't plan on it.

For me, the best key has been to latch onto a fragment of the culinary world. Find the one thing that makes you eager to read, and to learn. Hang onto it and study it. You may feel, for a while, that THIS is your place in the world of food. In a few years, when you have dissected that fragment, you'll move onto something else that excites you. A new idea. A more inspiring way to think. A different discipline, that is alien to you. ALWAYS do this. NEVER stop thinking about what's next.

The downsides to cooking for a living:

• Be prepared to tell SO's, family, and friends, "I can't make it. I'm working."

• Understand, going in, that holidays DO NOT exist for you anymore. You may luck out and get one off here or there, but NEVER plan on it.

• Accept (before you even CONSIDER this to be a real option) that ANY celebrity chef you can name, is someone you will NEVER be. I may be wrong, you may indeed be a name that I look into someday, but don't for a second plan on it.

• Know that wherever you are, people who don't know you, but find out you're a chef, will talk about a given dish they cook well. They will likely tell you their recipe. They may tell you their "secret". Then they may ask you for advice. Take it in stride.

• Friends may be reluctant to invite you for dinner. Some people feel that "...you're a chef. I'd be ashamed for you to see how I cook." They don't realize, and PLEASE tell them, that someone making an effort to cook for you in a social, convivial setting is an absolute JOY.

The upsides to cooking for a living:

• It's not likely you will ever starve. You can ALWAYS find work. (depending upon how far beneath your abilities you are willing to cook) There are NO exceptions to this that I have found.

• You will learn to shop. This sounds silly, but trust me.

• Your palate WILL evolve. Things you didn't like10 years ago, will make you think about what you didn't like, and how to change it.

• When you stumble into a fragment of food that you never really thought about and realize, as you are elbow deep in bread dough, or a wort is boiling over, or you're obsessing over a ten dollar piece of pork belly curing in your closet, that you are doing something that has been done for thousands of years, that you do for a bit of cash, and so that your guests can enjoy a meal, you may feel an indescribable "connectedness" with things you never thought of. (This may happen to ANYONE who is lucky enough to make a living doing something they love doing)

I am a little drunk. At the end of the day, for me, cooking is one of the best things you can do. Show me another career that allows you to play with knives, fire, hot oil, exhaustion, and emotion, all in the guise of science and art, skill, speed and luck all at once.

One of the best chefs I ever worked for (and the one who set me straight) used to say,"You're only as good as your last meal." I think he's right, so if your last one sucked, make your next one perfect. Let me know what she decides, UptownShenanigans, I am interested.

Sorry for the wall of text.

tl:dr: Culinary school can be good or bad.