I want to go to graduate school!

[eLearner]

Excelsior is part of the New York State motto which means "ever upward" and it's included on the state seal.

Yes, I know. I'm from New York. I actually enrolled at Excelsior briefly many years ago for a credit transcript arrangement which didn't work the way I had planned (no one's fault, well, maybe mine). But even most people in New York probably wouldn't be able to tell you the state motto without looking it up. It's just not part of our every day speech to go around saying "Excelsior!", lol. But my post was really lighthearted, it's not a knock at all on the quality of the school.

Agree with this. The name should not be the most deciding factor.

Of course not, but names do matter. For every person like the people who visit and chat on boards like these, there are thousands more people in hiring positions who don't, have never heard of most of the schools we talk about, and one with a name that doesn't roll off the tongue and doesn't sound conventional can raise a red flag.