January is the time when many of us think about new beginnings such as a new career. And it's also the month when high school students often start wondering about the next step. I always get a flood of emails about training courses for the fashion industry.

It's impossible to recommend one school over another - it really depends upon the program you want (ie. fashion communication vs fashion design) and the experience you're looking for. Personally, I believe that a school in a major centre is your best bet. You'll get a taste for all of the different areas - buying, public relations, manufacturing, design, photography. I left Vancouver to go to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. I took the fashion buying program. One of my instructors said that my education wouldn't be complete until I had visited Europe - so true.

Here's a list to start your research. And I'd love to hear feedback from those of you who went to fashion school. It will be a big help for fashion students.

Ryerson University School of Fashion (Toronto, Ontario)

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising a.k.a. FIDM (Across California)

Parsons The New School for Design (New York City, New York)

British Columbia Institute of Technology (Vancouver, British Columbia)

Fashion Institute of Technology a.k.a. FIT (New York City, New York)

Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Georgia)

International Academy of Design and Technology (Across Canada and USA)

The Art Institute of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)

George Brown School of Fashion Studies (Toronto, Ontario)

Humber College (Toronto, Ontario)

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