MSc Finance at Tilburg University or MSc Business Economics (Financial Economics Major) at KU Leuven

Hi Everyone

This is my first post here ever so I'm not to sure how this goes. But I've been accepted onto Masters programs at both Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and KU Leuven in Belgium and I'm really stuck between the two. I did my undergraduate in International Business with Spanish at the University of Birmingham.

KU Leuven has a much higher overall ranking (According to QS, 84 overall compared to Tilburg's 368). However according to QS, Tilburg is ranked top 50 (48) in Finance, whereas KU Leuven is ranked 51-100. Tilburg consistently performs better in all subject rankings actually, including Shanghai ARWU and THE, but Leuven consistently performs better in overall rankings,

With 50,000 students in Leuven compared to roughly 10,000 in Tilburg, I feel like the student and therefore alumni community in KU Leuven may be much higher than Tilburg, but I'm not sure how much that should factor into my decision. I'm wondering if this will translate into a bigger international reputation - Whilst I wouldn't mind it, I don't particularly have a strong desire to work in either Belgium or the Netherlands.

My long term career goals would, in an ideal world, be Private Equity (like so many finance people I guess), Equity Research, Asset Management or Real Estate. Tilburg University has CFA affiliation which is a potential advantage. I'm also worried that the Financial Economics course at KU Leuven will be more theoretical (it being Financial "Economics".

All replies are welcome and I'm happy to answer any further questions or provide more details.

Thanks Everyone!