A culinary arts degree can be an exciting start to a new career.  But is this the right degree — and the right career move — for you?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before deciding whether to pursue culinary training.

• Do I enjoy cooking?  Unless you have the money to eat out all the time, cooking is probably a part of your everyday life.  Do you enjoy cooking your meals everyday?  Are you always on the lookout for interesting new recipes to try, or do you find yourself cutting corners with convenience foods more often than not?  In order to be successful in a culinary arts degree — and, ultimately, a culinary career — you have to enjoy cooking so much that you choose to cook in lieu of easier alternatives, such as eating out or buying convenience foods.
• Do I have a natural inclination for the culinary arts?  Do you instinctively know what flavors will go well together?  While it’s not necessary to pursue a culinary career, you should at least be able to cook well when following a recipe or making up simple recipes.  If you have the culinary equivalent of a black thumb, culinary training will probably be very frustrating for you.
• Are you ambitious enough to succeed in a competitive career?  While there are many opportunities in the hospitality industry for someone with a culinary arts degree, there is also a lot of competition for the best positions.  To succeed in this career, you will need to be willing to put in your time in the lower positions, but you will also need a healthy dose of ambition and skill in order to reach the highest positions.

Sometimes the only way to find out for sure whether a culinary career is right for you is to take a few cooking classes at a culinary institute.  If you don’t enjoy them, or find them exceptionally frustrating, a culinary arts degree might not be the best move for you, after all.