The time had come to decide what I was going to do with my future.  I knew I wanted to pursue a good career, but which one?  I had to decide that first, as it would determine what type of school I went to.  Here were my choices:

• Traditional University – The traditional path is, of course, to attend a traditional four-year college.  This usually means juggling work and school – the expense makes it impossible for most students to get through school without working, yet the inflexible class schedules make it difficult to plan a full-time work schedule around school.
• Culinary Institute – If I decided I wanted to become a chef, caterer, or even a restaurant reviewer or food writer, I would need the proper culinary training to help me pursue a career in the culinary arts.  Depending on what I wanted to do with it, I might want to simply take cooking class instead of pursuing a culinary arts degree, so I would need to have my career in mind when I made my decision.
• Online Degree – Attending an online school would definitely be the most convenient: I could work full time, have plenty of time for social and family obligations, and still get my education.  There are online degrees for almost every type of career you can imagine: paralegal, information technology, management, and more.  But I’d have to make sure I was making that decision for what I wanted to do with my career, not for the convenience of taking online classes.

Ultimately I decided on a traditional university, but that was several years ago.  Now alternative degrees, such as culinary arts degrees and online degrees, offer many more options and much more credibility than they did back then.  Plus, I know now — having gone through a traditional university — that that kind of education is not suited for everyone!

Technorati Tags: education opportunities, career choice, culinary institute, culinary arts degree, online degree