found the answer from other forums! Here is what worked for me. In your folder where the game is installed, go to swtor/retailclient/ and open the client_defaults.ini folder. Change to windowed mode, once you can access the graphics settings in game, change the Refresh rate to 70 or the right setting for your monitor.

I am getting a message from my monitor saying "Cannot Display This Video Mode". My refresh rate is 60 and my resolution is 1280x1024. I am using a dell monitor. I do not know what to do from this point. Please help.