Here's What Rachael Ray Studied Before Dropping Out Of College
Rachael Ray has had many accomplishments. Over the course of her career, the food media personality has shown her chops as a culinary star and expert with her "30-Minute Meals" multimedia franchise. She's won multiple Daytime Emmy Awards for her talk show, "The Rachael Ray Show" which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is in its 16th season (per IMDb). Ray has also written countless cookbooks, founded a magazine, and used her celebrity powers for good, creating her Yum-o! nonprofit to help families learn about healthy food and eating (via Food Network). She has and continues to have a full career and life.
Per ABC News, the self-proclaimed "hick from the sticks" grew up in upstate New York, where cooking was part of her daily life. She told the network, "I think that cooking was just a byproduct of the way we lived, and life happened around the food. We were always in the kitchen and talking and sharing, and it was just where you had a good time." So, Ray's foray into the world of gastronomy seems logical, but being a celebrity cook was not always her end goal. In fact, before finding her way to stardom, Ray had enrolled in college and was charting a completely different trail.
Rachael Ray studied comms and literature
Rachael Ray's career is proof that there's no single path when it comes to reaching your professional goals. According to Good Housekeeping, Ray was accepted to and attended Pace University after graduating from high school in 1986. There, she enrolled in classes that centered around literature and communications. Ray spent two years at Pace University before taking a hiatus to earn money and reconsider what she really wanted to do with her life.
It was that break that allowed her to do the exploration she needed to find her way, taking a job working at a gourmet grocery store. Telling ABC News, Ray explained, "Food makes me excited. It's like, the one thing in life that genuinely makes me childlike. I mean I get really amped up about it, it makes me happy." That passion eventually led her to the Food Network. And while some chefs have criticized her for her lack of training, she readily admits she doesn't have a culinary pedigree, saying, "I'm not a chef ... and that's fine. They're absolutely correct. I don't bake. I don't do things the right way. I chop an onion wrong, and I am teaching people how to do it — all that stuff." It's this down-to-earth, easygoing approach that makes Ray special. A theme that emerges when reading about her is how relatable she is, so perhaps she got a lot out of those two years in college studying communications.