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OP writes: I think I'll just go ahead and get a degree in something fairly lucrative like pre-med, that way I'll have something that I can easily fall back on should I decide that I don't actually want to make my passion my career.
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Wrong, and wrong. There is no such thing as a "pre-med degree". Pre-med is a label you apply to yourself and indicates you are planning on satisfying the requirements for admission to med school (calculus, biology, etc). You can take these classes with any major, from anthropology to zoology. Furthermore med schools are very difficult to get into; these days probably less than 1/2 of those who apply get into even one school, and this in itself over-estimates the odds because there are lots more people out there who looked at their grades or MCAT scores and decided it wasn't even worth applying.</p>
<p>I'm going to fly against the grain here and say if you want to work in a kitchen, then do it!! Read a book by those actually in the business like "Kitchen Confidential" by Bourdain and you'll see most people in it are not college educated. You don't need to go to college to get into the business, you need to get a job and go from there. Get a job, get some roomates and move out, and you're on your way. Even if you decide to go to college, nothing is stopping you now from pursuing what you love part-time during school and full-time during summers.</p>