major decisions to make and seeking advice?

[HisQueen]

okay so I'm going to try to make this story short and simple. I have always been a straight "A" student, and maintained a 3.5 gpa in college. I was in my 2nd semester of the nursing program, all I had left to take was the final exam when I was dismissed for plagiarism. I started looking into this other school along with some other students that were failing. the thing is this school has a bad reputation, their last passing rates on boards was 30%, they just adopted the kaplan program which is suppose to better prepare the students for boards. The school that I was dismissed form has a record of 100% passing rates on boards. I have talked to the vice president and I will appear before the committee for an appeal a week before school starts. The student handbook specifically states "The discipline of students is, in all but the case of expulsion, a part of the educational process. Disciplining students is intended to be instructional and to help them ultimately to discipline themselves" the handbook also mentions the possibility of probation, and there are steps to handling disciplinary procedures and expulsion is the last resort, counseling and probation come first. But for me that was the 1st and only option and I feel that it is wrong, I believe in 2nd chances. I always give my all but I was going through a stressful time, I made a huge mistake. I have not stop beating myself up over it. I feel that I should be put on probation and given a second chance to prove myself. I have been in the health care field for 6 years and I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. the tough part is that the schools start within days of each other. so I could put all my trust in this appeal and not start attending the second school, or I could start attending the 2nd school and if the appeal goes well then I would have to withdraw. I'm a really good student and I just made 1 mistake. I have been attending this school for 3 years and have NEVER been in any trouble. what should I do? I sort of feel like I should hold off on the 2nd school since it has such a bad reputation and if the appeal doesn't go well I should just take a semester off to make sure I make the best decision.