A "trade" is a job requiring specific skills—usually skills that require you to use your hands as well as your mind. A good trade school will help you learn all the skills you need to pursue a trade, a job in a hands-on field.

Community colleges offer a wide variety of programs. Completing one of these courses of study usually results in an associate's degree or a specialized certification. Some students who plan to get a four-year degree start with community college because the cost of tuition per credit is lower than at most four-year colleges. Students can then transfer credits for general education courses to a university.

Traditional colleges and universities offer a broad range of majors, most leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree. These degrees do not guarantee you a job in a specific field. Rather, they assure future employers that you have the skills and knowledge that can help you succeed in a position related to your field of study.

Graduate school programs lead to a master's or doctoral degree and will provide education to students for a specific career. You can enter one of these programs only after you have earned a bachelor's degree in a related field. Many graduate programs offer night classes so that students can work during the day.

Professional schools are similar to graduate schools in that they require you to have a bachelor's degree first. The "professions" taught by professional schools include law, medicine, dentistry, and many more.

Certification is another way to gain additional training to work in a specific field. Certificate programs are designed to help you apply training and new expertise immediately to your current position. People usually seek additional certifications as a way of making themselves more marketable and better able to advance in their current fields.