Scholar: Two starting Classes?Follow

Is starting as an Arcanist a requirement for becoming a Scholar or can we start the game as a Conjurer instead?

To become a SCH you need con at least 15, so you could start as a con, get the main quest done, airship to Limsa, then level Arcanist.

You can start on any class and later level any other class after you've reached level 10 on the class you started with.

True - but given they're in separate cities, if they are the first class you level in each respective city, you have all those first-time quests in & around the city/nearby hamlets. They can get you to 15 pretty easily, along with a little work in the hunting log. Also, if you haven't run them, save the early guildhests for 2nd class. Even the first one - it gives 650 exp by default, but first time bonus + no KO pushes it to around 6k exp!

Raise is lvl 12.

I started CNJ planning to hit 12, but I took it to 15 anyway. I don't plan to do WHM anytime soon (will prob bring SCH up 2nd/3rd job), but enough jobs have a 15 CNJ sub-requirement that having to get it back out for 3 levels made it far easier to just push through, and leave it in the sheds for a while.

I want to do SCH so i leveled my CNJ first to 20, then worked on ARN. I could have done ARN first but honestly, I feel a ARN without CNJ, or THA spells for that fact, is pretty much half-assin' their ARN potential. A ARN is good but a ARN with raise and protect is better.

Yeah - I believe it has been datamined, but I don't have proof, no - but, a good guide is, through the abilities lists at http://xivdb.com, check the "equippable classes" list at the bottom of each ability. The Jobs that can use the ability are listed at the end. The cross-classable CNJ & THM abilities can be used by both SCH & SMN. There may be something we don't expect with having 2 "sub" classes for a dual-job class like ACN, but it's a start.

As Death said - Arcanist is the base class. Summoner & Scholar are specialised Jobs for this class. Think of Jobs as "stances" for a base class - it restricts your cross-classable abilities, but grants new Job-specific abilities that help specialise your role. SMN enhances the DPS capabilites of the class - a new damage-based summon (Ifrit) in addition to replacing Carby with better versions (Garuda - magic dmg, Titan - tank) and a couple of new spells. SCH turns you full healer/support - 2 fairies that focus on healing & support, plus some more healing spells for the PC.