On Thanksgiving day, people across the country sit down to a turkey dinner. Whether it is grilled, roasted, or even deep friend, turkey is a staple on this day of gratitude.

If you feel like changing things up this year and decide to try something a little more gourmet than a regular roasted turkey, here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Smoked Turkey: If you don’t have a water smoker, you can still enjoy this delicious turkey recipe using your barbecue grill. Using hot briquettes and hickory chunks, but not directly under your turkey, you’ll have tender meat in no time.
2. Grilled Turkey: Use your barbecue grill in the traditional way and thaw your turkey, add some seasoning, and grill your bird to perfection, turning it constantly.
3. Deep Fried Turkey: This succulent turkey recipe is very quick. After your turkey is thawed you will lower it into hot oil and fry it for about 3 minutes per pound.
4. Steamed Turkey: To steam your Thanksgiving feast, you will remove the turkey from the bones and cook it over boiling water. This technique retains most of they turkey’s nutritional value.
5. Brined Turkey: Bringing your turkey will make it very moist. For this recipe you will allow the turkey to soak in a salt-based mixture before cooking it.
6. Marinated Turkey: Similar to brined turkey, marinated turkey is soaked in a mixture before cooking. There are various marinade recipes that will give your turkey an amazing flavor.
7. Injected Turkey: Injecting your turkey is a great way to add some flavor. You’ll create a mixture with a recipe then use a cooking syringe to insert the mixture inside the bird before cooking.
8. Crockpot Turkey: If you’re the type of cook who likes to start something, then let it finish on it’s own, a crockpot turkey is for you. Add some seasonings, vegetables, and come back to your mouth-watering turkey.
9. Glazed Turkey: This easy recipe involves cooking a delicious glaze to brush over your turkey during the roasting process.
10. Crusted Turkey: To make crusted turkey, you will remove the turkey from the bone, make a bread crumb mixture to coat the meat with, then bake the turkey.

When you are getting ready to go back to school at an online school, you will find that you have hundreds of options for a major. Depending on the major that you select, you may actually decide to attend an online school that specializes in an area of study. A good example of this would be healthcare majors. There are many online schools dedicated to medical careers and if you opt to major in one of these areas it might be best to pick a specialty school.

Here are ten questions to ask yourself when you are picking a major for an online school. Answering these questions honestly will help you to determine the best area of study for your situation.

1.) What do you like and when you were in high school, what areas interested you and what classes did you enjoy the most?

2.) What type of career would you like to have after you graduate?

3.) Do you want to take classes entirely online or would you like to have some actual classroom experience?

4.) How long do you want to be in school? Keep in mind that completing a Bachelor degree will take twice as long as completing an Associate Degree. A certificate program will likely take only a few months to complete.

5.) How much do you want to earn from your new career?

6.) Where are your weak spots and what type of classes and subjects present you with difficulty?

7.) How much time will you have available for studying and completing your coursework?

8.) What type of personality do you have and do you enjoy working alone or with many people? Do you want to interact with the public daily or would you prefer to work alone in an office?

9.) What are the requirements for the major?

10.) Are there several majors that will support your career choice? If so, what are they and which is the best fit for you?

Starting or returning to college is an exciting time of life, all the more when you chose a major that motivates you. Some students are confused and bemused with an overwhelming selection of college majors, making a choice of one a shaky decision. To clear your mind and strengthen your judgments, simply apply these top ten tips to choosing the college major you are most suited to succeed in.

1. Skills and Talents.
The most popular college majors are not for everyone, so be sure to choose according to your own evaluation of your special talents and skills. This may lead you toward writing courses, speech, athletics or theater, just be sure you are passionate about the subject matter.

2. Salary Surveys
To reach your target earning capacity, you may need to research a few college majors for entry level salaries, promotional possibilities and extended pay with a post graduate degree.

3. Watch the Prerequisites
When selecting your college major, be sure to take note of what prerequisites are mandated for certain career paths. If you have an aversion to math, then you may opt to pursue a major with minimal mathematical requirements or perhaps a line of study that just requires a statistics class.

4. Future Degrees
When you are at the two or four year degree level is the time to ponder the idea if you will wish to pursue post graduate work. Not every major may be extended to a Masters or Ph.D level, so plan your work and work your plan when you begin your undergraduate courses.

5. Easy Does It
Going back to school is a milestone achievement regardless of what you choose to study. However, some students prefer to take a major that seems to be easier and less time consumer to attain. If you are short on time to study, try a liberal arts major that appeals to you and does not require heavy math or science courses.

6. Foreign Languages
Students that have some bilingual skills may opt to major in their area of expertise. If you can speak some Spanish, German or French before your classes begin, you are already ahead of the game and will certainly do well in your foreign language major.

7. Cost Efficiency
To save time and money, try selecting a major with a minimal amount of units to be fulfilled or opt for a standard B.A. rather than the B.S. degree which can have more units required.

8. Specialty Fields
Unusual majors in specialty fields can be a gold mine to the savvy student when its time for graduation and employment. The hiring and competitive edge may be narrower for a graduate in a unique field such as aviation, radiology or the travel industry.

9. Research the Required Courses
You will do well to look ahead at what is down the road with each major’s coursework and graduation requirements. You may browse the university’s course catalog to ensure the following year’s courses meet with your approval and you enjoy the subject matter. Students do the best when they like what they study, so be sure to jump a head to learn all you are responsible for to graduate. Education is one place where you don’t want any surprises, so be sure you have researched your major through the final year of graduation.

10. Your Decision Alone
Too often the first time college student is bombarded with kindly advice from well-meaning people, however, you are the one that must complete the college work and you must be comfortable in your own skin. Yes, take their suggestions, but never let another individual make the decision for you about what you are going to study. Its your life, hard work and joyous reward to get to the finish line as you see fit.

Here are ten questions you should ask yourself when choosing an online College.

1. Do they offer the program that you want?

Online colleges have been popping up left and right recently. It’s important to keep in mind that not all online colleges offer every program. The higher level of specialty a program requires, the harder it will be to find an online college that offers the program.

2. What level of advancement do they offer in this program?

Just because an online college has a particular program does not mean that they automatically offer both bachelors and masters degrees for it. If you’re looking to work towards multiple degrees, it’s often easier to get them all from the same school, so this is something to look for.

3. Do they offer other suitable program choices if you decide to change majors?

A high percentage of people who begin college switch majors at least once. Since classes from online colleges rarely transfer to other learning institutions, it’s a good idea to think ahead to what majors you would consider switching to if your first choice doesn’t work out like you hope it does.

4. What are the average class sizes?

Just like in traditional classrooms, a smaller average class size means each student has access to more direct communication with the instructors.

5. How many classes does the average professor have?

Since online classes require less time in person from professors, you should find out how many classes the professors have. A professor who is overloaded with classes can become as inaccessible as a professor with a large class size.

6. What type of online class management software is used?

There are various programs that online colleges use to manage classes. You should choose an online college that uses a reputable program, like Blackboard.

7. What kind of discussion forums are available for the classes?

Because online classes do not have the traditional face-to-face interaction between students and instructors, it’s important that easy-to-use discussion forums be used to facilitate this communication.

8. What grading scale is used?

Some colleges use a ten-point grading scale, while others use a seven-point grading scale.

9. Are paper or electronic textbooks used?

Paper textbooks usually cost more than electronic textbooks, but you can sell them after you’re finished. On the other hand, you can take paper textbooks with you to study anywhere.

10. What sort of financial aid is available?

A lot of online schools have special types of financial aid that aren’t available to students from traditional schools, which is another advantage to choosing the online college route.

Deciding to go back to College is an important choice when looking towards one’s future because it opens a person up to many new avenues of work, further education, and personal growth. One of the biggest decisions is selecting your major, but it does not have to be a scary choice at all. Here are ten things to consider when trying to decide which major you should choose.

1. The first thing to remember is that you career is not set in stone by your choice of college major. Many people end up doing work completely different than they expected, so don’t stress out. Think about your choices and be flexible!

2. What do you find interesting? You should choose something that you’d like to know more about so you don’t get bored of the subject.

3. What are you good at? Picking something that you have trouble with can make your life harder, so assess your skills wisely.

4. How good is your focus, or what kind of learning style do you have? If you like to work hands-on with projects than you should consider what majors let you do that more rather than intellectual pursuits.

5. Find out what careers are supported by your major. If you want to work in hospitals then choosing a program in agriculture might not be the best idea. Find out what people with different degrees actually do!

6. What kind of school work will you have to do for your major? Will there be lots of reading or more lab work? Are you better working on projects or taking tests on large amounts of information?

7. How much money can your major bring to you? If you want to live a certain life-style this should be considered.

8. How does your major suit your values? How can your choice help you be a better person?

9. What do other people in the different majors say? Ask them what they actually do on a daily basis.

10. Should you double major or minor? How can this help or hinder your scholarly career?

My Colleges and Careers is giving away a free iPod Touch, called the “greatest iPod to date” by IGN’s Scott Lowe. To enter click here. Then all you need to do is like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Don’t pass up this opportunity to win one of the most amazing mobile media platforms ever designed. It will be a perfect thing to take with you when you go back to college.

Do you want to spend your college weekends on the beach with sun-kissed blondes on the West Coast?

Or are you partial to the cool factor that the tree-lined streets of the east coast is dripping in?

Do you know how to work that wool peacoat or would rather year round t-shirt weather? Are you more Beach Boys or Velvet Underground?

It’s a paralyzing decision for some. Remember that OC Episode where Summer and Seth debate over Brown and Berkley? Serious stuff people. My Colleges is committed to giving you the skinny on West Vs. East debate, starting with major selection. Have you ever wondered what types of majors are most popular on the east and west coasts? So did we and with that burning question we got up to our elbows in researching popular majors of over 30 universities and colleges from both sides of the divide.

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Do you love watching Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, or ER (regardless of whether George Clooney is acting or not)?

Do you find satisfaction from the precision required to pull a splinter out of a friend’s toe, enjoy cleaning and bandaging a roommate’s cut finger?

Does the thought of medical school sound like financial (and social) suicide?

Then perhaps you should look into a medical assisting job!

WHAT IS MEDICAL ASSISTING?

Medical assistants perform a range of administrative and clinical tasks in offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners. Unlike Physician assistants (who can examine, diagnose, and treat patients with physician supervision), medical assistant duties vary from office to office.

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