Help me decide between these two UK unis

Hi guys,

So I got two offers, UCL Economics, or Cass Business School's Investment and Financial Risk Management.

I am planning to go into S&T.

I am EU national.

I am in quite a bit of hesitation, and don't know which uni to firm, because of the following:

UCL Econ (target)
advantages
- top university brand; very active university life; lots of smart guys to work and discuss with; great networking opportunities

on the other hand
disdvantages
- i love econ, but the subject might be hard for me (maths is the biggest problem), and also I can say that a quite good amount of work would be required every week.
- the offer is quite higher than Cass's, would take also quite a good amount of work to get in
- no full scholarships (yes I know there might be one, but because of the competitiveness of the university, I stand very little-no chance)

Cass IFRM (nontarget)
advantages
- a subject which is suited to me the most because of my background (won't go into it, but I can say for sure I could cut this degree very good) (and yeah it's mathsy, but still), financial markets and investment management.; therefore, my workload should be also I think significantly lower then UCL's so would have much more freetime
- the full coca-cola scholarship (they give out FOUR! each year). let me just tell that I got great credentials (quite impressive ECs) so I would stand a considerable chance to get it (even so that Cass is not that competitive like UCL). although, of course there is no guarantee that I could land this scholarship, but still, got a reasonable chance.

disadvantages
- the exact opposite of UCL. Not so many determined (and skilled maybe?) students from what I heard, not a top university brand, quite not so an active uni life, and not so great networking opportunities

So basically: UCL is a prestigious top university and it comes with all the advantages (great building, uni life, networking and so on); BUT would have to work quite hard throughout the university and also work quite hard to meet my offer, and there is no chance at getting a full scholarship.
Cass is the opposite of UCL; BUT a greatly suited degree for me, much less workload (could use this freetime for lots of other things!!), and a very real chance of landing a full scholarship.

7 Comments
 

Go for the better university. You will regret having a "lesser" degree if you can't get your dream job afterwards. You will not regret having paid more for the "better" degree once you are working and making a decent salary in S&T.

This of course only applies if you manage to push through the harder classes. Having a 2:2 from UCL won't help you much in finding a good job.

 

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