If you’re investigating an institute to help you in your career goals, you first have to evaluate what you want your career to be. There are so many specialty colleges catering to very targeted fields of employment that vary vastly. From business institutes to culinary arts, or from criminal justice to fashion, there’s really no end to the choices. Fashion and design colleges are appearing everywhere for those looking for solid jobs in these fields.

You can spend all day online browsing through pages of schools of fashion and design that all claim to be the best. Better still, they will have testimonials of job placement and overall incredible experiences from the alumni and current students. I have taken the time to lay out some of the better options for schools offering a fashion design course that will produce the designers of the future.

These fashion colleges all sit at the same level, and consequently there is no order to their listing here.

A good place to begin is with LIM College located comfortably in the heart of Manhattan, NY. They consider themselves as among the premier fashion colleges in the entire country for those looking for serious employment in the fashion world. While their main draw is undergraduate programs, they also have graduate MBA programs for those wanting to take their potential interest in the fashion industry seriously.

The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising is also very worth mentioning. For example, they have various campuses all over California, which allow more range with regard to who can get in. The campuses are situated in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and San Diego. They too regard themselves as the pinnacle of design training, and this is evident by the fact that the hit show Project Runway is shot on an FIDM campus. Additionally, the school offers significant internship and apprenticeship possibilities for diligent students who meet the criteria.

The last school that deserves a spot at the top of the list of fashion and design colleges is the Academy of Art University. AAU won “Best Fashion Design & Apparel Design & Programs of 2008″ for their above and beyond dedication to their students’ impending job prospects. Their commitment includes offering courses and programs online, so that students who can’t move or travel back and forth can still hope to have a serious shot at employment in the fashion world. Among the companies that pick up AAU graduates are: Louis Vuitton, DKNY, BCBG and many, many more.

These schools should be a place for you to start your search. They’re all serious contenders in getting you employed. The choice depends on where you want to go, or where you presently live.