Loughborough vs Strathclyde

Applying to College
1

I’ve been offered a place to do Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management at Loughborough and Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology at Strathclyde. I’m unsure as to which university to firm so please help me out. My aim at the end of the course is to set up my own business in the UK via the Graduate Entrepreneur Visa

Loughborough

Pros
Ranked 7th in the CUG rankings (How is it higher than Warwick & UCL??)
High student satisfaction
London location (course is offered at the London campus which is exclusively for postgrads)
Business school ranked higher than Strathclyde

Cons
More expensive - akin to doing a postgrad at Imperial or Warwick
Not quite well known outside of the UK/No brand name
A lot of internationals from China on the course - about 80%!
Huge class size 90-100 (not my ideal at postgrad level)
Don’t seem to have on campus incubator

Strathcylde

Pros
Internationally well known business school
Actually like the modules at Strathclyde
Affordable 16k compared to 22k at Loughborough
Extensive support for entrepreneurs
Well known entrepreneurship department
Smaller class sizes - less than 40

Cons
Location: I really prefer London over Glasgow any day. (To be fair, I’ve never been to Glasgow, but I’ve lived in London and I loved the city and I doubt Glasgow can match it)
If I do get the visa, I’ll have to run my business from Glasgow for a minimum of 2 years (major con)

This is a very expensive situation which affects my future and I’m terrified of making a choice I might regret.

If you’ve studied at either university, it would be great to hear your views/reviews overall.

Thanks!

2

Haven’t studied at either, and don’t know either program at all. But, based solely on what you have written here, Glasgow seems a no-brainer.:

  1. the program itself seems like a better fit: you like the modules; the scale is better, and probably there is more of a community for you,

  2. you want to set up a business and one place has ‘extensive support’ and a respected entrepreneur department. You see a ‘major con’ is having to set up the business in the place where- wait- there is extensive support. Geography is not destiny, and LOTS of start-ups are ‘Born Global’.

  3. MONEY, This is a real thing,. It isn’t just that the London course is more expensive- life in London is wildly more expensive (take a [url=<a href=“http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=Glasgow&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London%5Dlook%5B/url”>http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=Glasgow&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London]look[/url]. Rent in particular is nearly 200% more expensive. That is true not just for your student digs, but when you are trying to set up your company.

Glasgow isn’t London, but it actually has a lot to be said for it.