Needing some help for major decision

How's it goin? Hopefully you can give me some help regarding some issues that are troubling me at this time.

I'm 23 y.o. currently in the process of jumping ship to experience the culinary world at a professional level. But lemme give you a little backstory.

I got my associate's degree in the medical field and have been working for the past few years in a medical facility. At the same time, I've been taking culinary classes at our local community college, part-time every semester. A couple more semesters and I'll be able get my associate's degree in culinary arts. It was supposed to be only a few classes just to see what it was like but the cooking bug bit me and I've been dreaming to be a professional chef ever since then.

Now on to the concerns...
-I don't know have any relatives/friends that are in the business so zero to no connections anywhere.
-I literally only started cooking a few years ago, roughly the same time as I started taking the classes at the communiy college. I never even once touched a spatula or frying pan before that. So I was really looking for a solid education, seeing as I have a lot of ground to cover.
-Now, imagine my surprise to read that a culinary student is doing so-and-so or working at this so-and-so restaurant. Basically, what I got from my culinary classes at the CC was new recipes. They gave out a recipe and they taught us how to do the recipe. They never really taught us "why" we do it. Granted that I know my way around the kitchen more than before, I really feel that my culinary base knowledge is way waay limited than other culinary students. Now, that I'm more than halfway to finishing the degree, I'm having second thoughts. Also, most of the lectures are the "teachers" reading off of the powerpoint slides/books. I could do that at the library! I'm really feeling ripped off at this point in time.

Should I finish my associate's degree in culinary arts in our local CC or save my time and money for culinary school (eg. Art Institutes/Cordon Bleu)/working in a professional kitchen? Will obtaining this degree affect any job placement in a restaurant?

-Next up is that there are no reputable restaurants here in our area. No, I don't live in a big city and yes, I live somewhere very very far from any big city. I even ate in some of these so-called fine dining and I was more impressed by the chain restaurants. And this chain restaurant is where I'm currently working as a prep cook (for my on-the-job training). In my opinion, this is one of the better upscale dining chains. But as I've read from the posts, it's almost like a cursed place, everyone says to stay away from them. Relocation is not an option at this time, maybe in a year or so but not right now.

Are chain restaurants that bad? How long should I stay before I go for greener pastures? Moving to a location where you have no friends/family (single), worth it for a good job? Anyone experience this yet?

My current plan of action is to get some restaurant experience at this chain restaurant and in the next year/s get into an apprenticeship program, learn-as-you-earn type of deal. Anyone know of a good apprenticeship program? How hard is it to get into one? If you know a better course of action at this place and time, please let me know. As for my associate's degree, I'm really reconsidering if I should cough up some more dough for a subpar education.

I am known for rambling on and on and looks like I've done it again. Thank you if you read through my lengthy post. Any advice/tips/answers will truly be appreciated. Thanks a bunch and have a nice day.

thanks for the replies! here's a little update

i've already done 100 hours in this chain restaurant... and I'm not liking it! I was given maybe around 40 hours of training then I was left by myself. 2 days of working alone and looks like I did a poor job and I was told to "work faster if I want to keep my job". but i know i can work fast, it's just that I had a really poor/insufficient training. and when I was by myself and I needed to ask something from my mentor he said something like "you should figure it out for yourself, especially now that you're alone."

the other 60 hours of work I put in was for free so I can "observe" how the people work (my own decision). the chef is an ok guy, he told me to tell him if I'm comfortable to be on my own again and "we'll give it a shot." although, I feel that everyone expects me to be as good AND as fast as the people working there for months and years. add to that that we have no breaks and on my feet all day.

lol i know i know i'm like a bottle, full of "whine" :smoking: but yeah now I'm disillusioned, with my confidence and morale at an all-time-low. I know, I have a passion for cooking but things like this make their mark, you know.

so yeah, I'm working for free at the moment, "observing". this is my first kitchen job and I don't who else to ask about it. is this the usual experience or am i setting myself up to be abused? is this the cursed chain restaurant experience?

should I stick with this chain restaurant? or look for others? is it gonna be any different anywhere else? hotel? country club? night club? other chain restaurants?

so for now I guess I will
-finish 250 hours with the chain restaurant
-finish associate's degree at CC
-apprenticeship at ACF certified Houston Country Club? (if accepted)

btw I live in deep south Texas and the nearest apprenticeship is in the Houston Country Club. Anyone heard of this place yet? this is the best plan I can come up with for now. any other recommendations will be appreciated very much.