Example of GWC Humility

[The Real George Wythe]

From the December 2005 Statesman newsletter:

"I want to erase [the accreditation] stigma as best I can by first
telling the story of how I got into law school without an accredited
degree, and then by explaining how I was much better prepared than
almost any of my classmates.

"...After just a couple of minutes reading about the LSAT (Law School
Admission Test), I realized that law school was what I was meant to
do. ...I kept thinking that I needed to go to law school immediately.

"...I only had five weeks to study for a test that some people spend
months preparing for, but I had something most people don’t—GWC study
skills. ...I studied and prepared for that test more than I studied
for almost any of the simulations at GWC—and that’s saying a
lot! ...My LSAT score was in the 85th percentile (with a couple more
months of study I believe I could have increased this at least six
points), good enough to garner attention in all but the most
prestigious schools in the country.

"I did believe with more study than just five weeks I could retake the
test for a much higher score (to enter the following year in a top-ten
school); but again, my gut feeling was to go for it immediately. ...I
naturally, without even realizing it, used my GWC “go to the original
source” and other research habits during the entire process.

"I have to say that a GWC education helped me in my preparation for
law school. I knew this from the very first day of OU Law orientation.
The professors sounded just like you hear at GWC. They spoke of
learning how to think, learning how to manage your time, spending
hours and hours each day reading and taking notes, not just relying on
readings and note-taking but being ready to discuss in class the cases
you read out of class. I felt right at home.

"As I looked around the room, I could feel the stress level rising.
But I wasn’t stressed at all. I remember thinking: 'I may be the best
prepared out of all the 170+ 1L’s because of my non-accredited
degree!'"

"Play their game, play it in true GWC style, and they’ll reward you
for it. To illustrate this point, I’m going to quote from a letter
that was included in my packet at orientation. I don’t think anybody
else got a letter like it.

"'Dear Mr. Nuttall: The University of Oklahoma – College of Law has
determined by a file review that even though your undergraduate
institution is not accredited by our normal accrediting facilities, we
will admit based upon the strength of course work and other factors
submitted in your application packet.'"

- http://newsletter.gwc.edu/pre/statesman_08_12.pdf

[Cynical Pen]

Interesting. This is the first semi-concrete evidence I've seen to the loudly braodcasted claim that "you don't need an accredited undergraduate degree to get into grad school." Well, I have never ooked into most grad programs, or law school. But I did spend an extensive ammount of time talking to BYU MBA admission, in person, so we're talking a relatively average business school (on a global grad scale), and many would argue the MBA is at least slightly easier to get into than JD and Med school, though that may be disputed, but they told me explicitly that, when I aske dthem whether a person without an accredited degree could get in, they said absolutely not. They receive so many applicants and have so few spots that it is their job to look for any chink in the surface armor of an applicant to justify a rejection. And we're talking people with 3-5 years business experience, a good degree, a GMAT through the roof, and excellent grades for their last 60 credit hours. So sending in an application from a nonsense school without any kind of accreditation isn't just a chink in the armor, it's a fat bullseye and the application will be considered DOA, and shredded within minutes.

 

So as far as I'm concerned, despite whatever few anomolies may exist, you odds at competative grad-school are horrible coming from GWC. Not better. Not equal. Not even close.