Culinary Career? Food industry members, preferably?

[O'Malley]

I am a sophomore in high school, and I am a decent cook. I really enjoy it, and cook when I can. Do you have to be a great cook to go to culinary school, or do you learn there? What is the career path for a potential chef down the road? I would probably have to go to college due to familial pressure, but could I take night classes or something to see if I am really cut out of the pro-cooking world? A part time gig, so to speak?

Would you recommend it to a young man as a career? Does everyone end up with no social life and heart damaging stress and anxiety?

[holey moley]

A culinary career is very hard on a person's body (standing a minimum of 8 hours a day), pays poorly unless you are Martha Stewart, Wolfgang Puck, or Rachael Ray, the hours suck, and it is incredibly stressful.
My brother went to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, had an externship at the Fairmont Hotel, and still had to take a $10/hr job when he graduated despite the fact that he was a fully-qualified executive chef. He has wrecked his back, and his feet kill him.
If you want to cook, have dinner parties.