In continuation of featuring schools where you can get started fulfilling your career dreams, the CollegeSurfing Insider is here to share with you some very interesting places to study a variety of fields. This month you’ll find technology, health care, and other career training programs. Check these out and some of our previously featured schools! Good luck searching!

Full Sail has been serving students since 1979 in fields like music, animation, design, technology, and other areas. Offering bachelor’s and associate degrees, Full Sail also has great resources, like soundstages and studios that will help students get the most out of their education.

A career college ready to help adult learners and high school graduates alike, Western Career College is a great place to search. There are eight campuses located throughout California that provide career training programs. Health care careers are in abundance here, with registered nurses, massage therapists, ultrasound technologists, and others in attendance.

New York is where it’s at for the Technical Career Institutes, better known as TCI. Students will pair a learning of technology with real world experience in one of the greatest cities in the world. And with a fairly simple admissions process, TCI is a great place to pursue a technology degree.

With campuses on the East Coast, ECPI College of Technology can help you decode the latest computer terms in order to become the go-to person for all things computer. Online classes are also available so get going on your research!

One of my friends from high school just came back home from her semester at school. Unlike most of my friends, she didn’t graduate this semester. Now, this isn’t because she just couldn’t cut it – she’s actually super busy in a six-year intensive pharmacy program. When she graduates officially in two years, she’ll have her doctor of pharmacy and will be able to go out into the world as a pharmacist.

A lot of us go into school, not knowing what we want to do. And even if we have an idea, it’s very likely that that will change throughout our four years at school. My friend basically had to know that she wanted to do this when she was 17 years old, when she applied for the program. She was admitted and has kept up with it ever since. I really admire her for sticking to her guns! She’s always very busy with schoolwork and it’s all pretty interesting. Let’s examine the career…

Pharmacists don’t just fill prescriptions, you know. They must have a working knowledge of all the drugs out on the market, while being the go-to person for healthcare information. What kinds of drugs interact negatively with each other? Which prescriptions should people not take because of allergies? This profession carries a large responsibility in handling the lives of many people and, as a result, it’s very important to pay attention to detail. One wrong move, and it can cost someone their life. But that likely won’t happen since pharmacists have much experience and training.

Since the end of high school, my friend has worked at CVS in the pharmacy as an intern to get hands-on experience. A pharmacy isn’t the only place pharmacists work, however. They can also do research at pharmaceutical companies and work in hospitals. Throughout school they take basic science classes, including biology and chemistry. As the years go on, students take more specialized pharmaceutical classes, with professors who are specialists in each topic. My friend’s last year will be spent doing various rotations at different locations. Here, she will get very specialized experience that will prepare her for a career in pharmacy.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), pharmacists held about 230,000 jobs in 2004 and the number continues to grow. It estimates that a career in pharmacy will grow faster than the average career by 2014. The median wage in May 2004 was $84,900, as reported by the BLS.

Looks like a good career to get into, especially if you like the medical field but don’t want to go as far as getting your M.D. If you like helping people you’ll definitely like a career in pharmacy, as you deal constantly with others and helping them with their prescriptions (depending on your place of employment, of course). I had coffee with my friend the other night and she’s definitely dedicated to her profession. She’ll spend her summer interning and reading up on all the drugs so that she can get a good handle on them and what they do, she told me. She’s moving along on the path to a successful career in pharmacy.

Click here for a different take on pharmacy: View Health Care From All Angles Through Pharmacy Technician Schools

-Amanda Fornecker