Thomas Ed vs. Excelsior

[sirjake]

Well, the way I understand it, the Law School Admissions Council takes all of your credits from previous institutions and standardizes them on a 4.0 scale. If the degree granting institution grants a letter grade or GPA for proficiency exams, it is included just like any other course in college. However, if the degree granting institution only gives pass/fail for them, they are only listed as CREDIT by the LSAC. Given that information, I would have a grand total of 8 credits with a GPA (those from community college). Most law schools look at this standardized list to see how rigorous your course of study was. Now, it's possible that the law schools I want may just look at the CC credits (which were all 4.0) and say "Woohoo! A 4.0 student! We can boost our GPA average!" But they also might look at it and say, "8 total GPA credits. All from a CC. Loser." I personally think the latter circumstance is more likely. Many law school admission folks are snobs (from what I've read). But, what I'm planning to do is this: I'll get the rest of the credits that I need for graduation at TESC, but not apply for graduation. Then I will study my butt off and try for a near perfect score on the LSAT. I've got tons of test taking experience now, and already have a decent score on prep tests, so hopefully I'll do very well on it. If I do extremely well, I will go ahead and apply for graduation at TESC and hope that the strength of my LSAT will get me in. If I do marginally well, I'll probably go ahead and enroll at Excelsior, take whatever other courses I need to get my GPA'd degree there, then graduate from Excelsior FIRST before applying for graduation at TESC. If I absolutely bomb the LSAT, I'll probably be looking into other careers (really). The reason I would need to graduate at Excelsior first is that the LSAC only counts credits you have earned for your first degree.

Anyway, that's where I currently stand. Hopefully, I won't need Excelsior. I honestly like the sound of "Thomas Edison State College" better than "Excelsior College." It just sounds hokey to me. Then there's the whole 2k thing. I'd rather spend that on something else. But, if I need Excelsior, I suppose I'll go for it.

[Sammy]

Yes, I understand. The reason I'm going for the BSAST degree in aviation was because of the credits towards my A&P license and the quickest BS degree in hopes of promotion at my previous aviation job. I have changed jobs in the past month with a new career path but the BSAST still looks good so I will go ahead and get it since I am this far already. I would love to have an engineering degree but that would take a long time and a bit of money. I may have an opportunity for a degree in AutoCad design in the future since I am taking Autocad courses for certificates at a local technical college, which is generally free here in GA (online BTW). I just wonder if some day I will get bit because of the Tesc BSAST. Maybe if I shoot for a masters. For now I will just not worry about that and take the degree sitting in front of me. Getting this degree did seem to help me get this new job, which to me is a God-send.