[distinctspy]

I can either go to Glasgow University to study Economics and Psychology or Glasgow Caledonian to study Finance, Investment and Risk.

As much as it appears on the surface that it would be no-brainer, the course at Calley does appear more interesting on the surface, and knowing that at Glasgow the work will pile up in a dramatic way, and having had a brother who dropped out of Law at Glasgow in 3rd year due to the workload getting too much for him, I am very conscious to make sure I end up getting a degree by the end of my 4 years.

Is the difference between the jobs you can get courtesy of the two different degrees that wide that it would be bordering on ridiculous to turn down Glasgow in order to choose Calley?

Cheers.

[0404343m]

No- it's not ridiculous. However, just because your brother dropped out doesn't mean you're destined to. According to Glasgow's stats, over 91% of their students complete their studies, and under 6% drop out (there is a slight definition difference in those two terms). At Caledonian, non-completion is much higher- almost 25%. In other words, just because you think the work will be more intense at Glasgow than Caledonian doesn't mean that translates into people who can't hack it. Glasgow ranks 11th in the UK for the qualifications its students have on average prior to starting, so to get an offer they're fairly sure at least nine tenths of the students have what it takes to pass the course.

That's the easy part. Deciding what you want to do with yourself for four years is another matter. This should be mostly down to the course, but also some other factors about student experience: Glasgow has 40% of its students coming from outside of Scotland and over 20% from outside the UK and Ireland (about 11,000 and 5,500), at Caledonian that's 10 and 5% respectively (about 2,000 and 1,000). A high proportion of Glasgow student live in the West End/Student Halls whereas the vast majority of Caledonian students commute from home to university. As a result the clubs, societies and student union events are much larger and more prominent at Glasgow. On average, Glasgow spends more than 2.5 times as much (8th in the UK according to the Complete University Guide) as Caledonian on facilities (Caledonian is 101st in the UK in this measure), but that might not mean anything for your degree.

Ultimately, this has to be a personal decision. If you like the course, feel more suited to Caledonian and think you'll do better there, then go. A good degree with some other things on your CV from Caledonian will help you in the job market more than a lower degree from Glasgow with no time to get involved in other things. It'll certainly help you more than no degree at all. Whatever you do, don't regret what you picked. You won't be the first in later life to rue picking somewhere over another.