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Firm & insurance choices for Computer Science with Business

I've just got my 5th offer from Edinburgh and wanted you to advise me in choosing my firm and insurance choice. Basically, I want to study Computer Science with Management/Business. I don't want to do pure CS simply because I don't want to spend my whole life coding in front of the LCD screen. I believe that Business will let me to do something more interesting than that. Here are my offers ( I am doing IB) :

1) UCL - Information Management for Business 34pts
2) Edinburgh - CS with Business 35pts / 5 in maths HL
3) Warwick - CS with Business 36pts/ 5 in maths HL
4) Birmingham - CS with Business 34pts / 6 in maths HL
5) Manchester - CS with Business 35pts / 6 in maths HL

I am taking mostly UCL and Edin into account.

UCL

+Great uni, very recognized and respected
+Nice degree, combines both IT and Business
+London offers loads of possibilities

-London is very expensive
-There is not as much IT as I would expect
-I am afraid "information management for business" might be considered as a mickey mouse course

EDINBURGH

+There are no tuition fees
+Edinburgh is cheaper than London
+Edinburgh is not that congested

-Weather
-Higher offer
-Edin is less prestigious than UCL

Well, if I make UCL my firm choice then there's actually no point in making any other uni my insurance as all the other offers are higher. Maybe I should also once again consider my other offers? I heard that Warwick is a pretty good uni as well, but as far as I know it is in the middle of nowhere.

Last but not least, I applied to the University Of Hong Kong (HKU) and was given a conditional offer - 36pts /6 in maths HL/ 6 in physics SL. Additionally if I meet their offer, they will provide me with an entrance scholarship of about 7,000pounds. As always there are strings attached listed below:

HKU

+HKU is very prestigious
+Hong Kong would be a great, new experience
+I would be given an opportunity to learn Chinese with the natives
+Life would be much cheaper than in the UK
+I believe studying at HKU would be a great advantage in getting a well-paid and interesting job later on

-Offer that is really hard to meet
-Tuition fees are still very high
-Numerous formalities
-Even though English is an official language, some people don't know it (taxi, shops etc) or speak it very poorly
-I need to pay about 1.500pounds deposit within 10days from now on which is not refundable if I resign from the course
-I applied for a pure CS degree as there was no combined course. If I manage to meet my offer then I can apply for the Business course but don't have any kind guarantee that I will be admitted. Again, I don't want to end up coding for the rest of my life.
-CS in HK will be undoubtedly a very rigorous and tough course with all those chinese kids. I am afraid I won't be able to handle that or will have to study day and night and will have no life (just like IB..).

Any comments and advices would be appreciated.

Reply 1

xxxchrisxxx

What kind of jobs do you imagine yourself doing after graduation? If you plan to be a business-typey person, then got to UCL. I know someone who did business at Kingston who got into a very respected grad programme, so mickey mouse or not, business degrees are not necessarily a dead end.

If you want to be in IT, then Edinburgh, as a CS degree from there is highly respected.

Reply 2

silt

Thanks for the reply. I am actually still not sure where I see myself in the future. IT is my hobby and I like it a lot but I really can't imagine myself spending my whole in front of a computer. I guess I want to work in a IT related company but not as a programmer but someone deciding about strategy, future investments or simply an executive :biggrin: