Does the LAC not have these? Most do. Well perhaps not a guarantee, but significant support and resources.
@OHMomof2 I am just trying to see how a future career may see me if I go with the non-selective college. I am sure the LAC has them too, but I was just mentioning it.
Thomas College is not an accredited business school by AACSB. You should check with the state of Maine as to whether you can sit for the CPA from that school. The University of Maine is AACSB accredited.
You said on another thread you applied to Bates ED2.
Is this the “regular” LAC?
Does the cost of Thomas College include room and board or will you be living at home?
Thomas College’s freshman retention rate is 67%; its graduation rate is 43% – not the best indicators, particularly since it looks like a good number of students are there for associate degrees. Go look at the employers listed for their career fair – only a handful are major companies and almost none of them appear to be ideal for an aspiring CPA. You’d be much better off at an instate directional school – cheaper and probably a better reputation. There’s non-selective (often just fine) and REALLY non-selective.
Law schools do not care about MBAs (unless you’re a second-career law student with an MBA from a ranked school), but many will care about the relative lack of rigor between Thomas and the LAC. Your grades would have to be very, very high to balance out the weakness of the college, even at a state law school.
@ScaredNJDad No, not Bates, I was just saying if I DID get accepted to any LAC. I’ll be living at home if I go to Thomas. But now, you bring it to my attention that Thomas is not accredited for Business I have begun to freak out a little. I did not even think of anything like that. If I don’t get into any LAC’s (high reach as you know), the scholarship deadline for UMaine is long gone and my parents couldn’t afford it without merit aid. How should I contact the state and what exactly should I ask them about the CPA thing? What should I do? I have also been accepted to Saint Joesph’s College of Maine and Gordon College. Also, Thomas has a NESAC accreditation, what does that mean?
Just Google State of Maine Accounting board.
What kind of need based aid can you get from U of Maine. I see the average cost of attendance with need based aid not including any loans or work study of $13,000.00
@scaredNJDad That could work. And it says: What are the education requirements to sit for the exam?
Must successfully complete basic courses in accounting and auditing to include a minimum 4-year baccalaureate or higher degree within 120 days following the examination to be eligible to take the examination. Basic courses in accounting and auditing consist of at least 15 hours of accounting, auditing, and ethics combined, of which at least hours were earned in auditing and at least three hours were earned in accounting.
@ScaredNJDad All the professors in the accounting field at Thomas have CPA’s and quite a few of them went to Thomas.
The State of Maine does not require a degree from an AACSB school. However, you need 150 semester hours to be licensed, all states require that. Maine is very light on requirements. You only need 15 hours of accounting, auditing and ethics. That is amazing.
@usualhopeful: In this case I am suggesting causation. Intensive preparation in critical reading, writing and analysis in general may be particularly strong at LACs, and especially useful for LSAT performance, law school success and success as a lawyer in general. As probative, though not conclusive, support, USNWR-top-20 LACs seem to be remarkably overrepresented in Yale Law’s 200-student freshman class (graduates of Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Claremont McKenna, Haverford, Vassar, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Middlebury and Davidson all appear), perhaps in significant disproportion to what would be expected based on the entering SAT scores at these highly selective colleges alone.
@ScaredNJDad Well, at least that looks up.
You seem like a bright, motivated young lady who wants to make the most of a college education. Unfortunately you applied to schools that were extremely competitive, (where even top scorers routinely get denied) or schools that are not very selective at all that may not provide the education you are looking for. You had no options in between. It may be worth considering applying as a transfer student for sophomore year and researching some LACs that would be a match for your stats.
This really sounds like a penny-wise/pound foolish situation. At $8,000 a year you’re barely paying for the price of the diploma AND you’d be living at home the entire time, whereas, for $13,000 you could go away to a perfectly respectable state college with laboratories and libraries and lots of majors to choose from. It also sounds like for a few thousand more you could attend a prestigious LAC. If you’re really serious about getting into Yale Law School, start thinking about maximizing your chances of getting in without getting loaded down with too much debt. If your family makes less than 60k a year you can graduate with -0-debt from lots of pretty prestigious places - provided you get in. Why spend good money for a one-track degree that might send one person to Yale once every twenty years if by digging little deeper you can have a life changing experience?
@wisteria100 I think Gordon is between inbetween. I mean, this is just weighing one of my options.
To be quite honest with all of you, the school is regarded rather well within my community and I always thought of it as better than UMaine. That’s a bit hard for me to take all of this in.
It would help to know specifically which schools you are considering - I know from another thread that you applied to St. Joseph’s and Gordon. Are there more? Have you heard from everywhere you applied? Which is the prestigious LAC that you can attend for 15K per year?
I don’t know much about Gordon or St. Joseph’s but it looks as though Gordon has mandatory requirements for ongoing religious observance that sound time-consuming. Something to think about in your decision, assuming that is one of your choices. A non-denominational Christian environment will probably be somewhat different from a Catholic one at St. Joe’s. I don’t know what tradition you were raised in, but I’d think long and hard about where you’d be more comfortable for four years, if you choose one of these over Thomas.
FWIW, I don’t think an accelerated business school is going to offer the best preparation for law school later on, if that’s your main ambition.
@lynkel - which school do you think is better regarded than UMaine? Gordon or Thomas?
@wisteria100 Gordon
I’m not certain that Gordon would be better regarded than UMaine (Orono).
Is a gap year possible? That would allow you to regroup and make a new list of LACs, there are MANY that are not quite as selective as Colby, Bates and Bowdoin but would provide a top notch education, and excellent preparation for law school. I agree with merc, the small LACs are a better bet for preparation in critical reading, writing and analysis. These skills will be crucial to success in law school.