Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Aston or Strathclyde??

Hi everyone.

Danish student about to do my MSc in UK.

Received offers from Aston & Strathclyde

Aston - MSc Investment Analysis

Strathclyde - MSc Finance & Investment

Which one to choose?

Cheers,
Joaquin

Reply 1

Joaquin7

Looking for job as an Equity analyst / trader.

Reply 2

Aston University

Official Rep

Original post by Joaquin7

Hi Joaquin,

Congratulations on your offer, have you looked at the module descriptions on our course page yet? you can see a complete summary of everything you learn, including a module solely focused around trading techniques. Comparing this to the course at Strathclyde, there seems to be nothing specifically about trading in their module listing, just portfolio management. However, knowing very little about the world of Trading / Equity Analysis i would look at both and see which is the most applicable.

Additionally, if you have any questions about Aston or Birmingham as a city i would be happy to help, i'm 2014 graduate and a local to the Birmingham area, so i think i can handle most things you can throw at me.

Josh :smile:

Reply 3

Joaquin7

Hi Josh,

Thank you :-)

Some questions about Aston:

- Why choose to go to Birmingham? How are the living-costs compared to Glasgow and London ? Any good nature areas close to / inside the city?

- What is the best accomodation seen from the perspective of money for value?

- How good is the quality of the food if the catered is chosen?

- In addition to the MSc, is it then possible to study for the CISI & CFA level 1 diploma papers?

- Usually I play football and I'd like to continue this at the university. Is it possible to do that at Aston at the age of 25?

Cheers,
Nick :smile:

Reply 4

Joaquin7

Another one Josh.

- Is the MSc Inv. Analysis more focused on the practical part of Finance rather than a heavily focus on the mathematical part?

Reply 5

Aston University

Official Rep

Original post by Joaquin7

Hi Josh,

Thank you :-)

Cheers,
Nick :smile:

Hi Nick,

Nice to hear from you. :smile:

- Why choose to go to Birmingham? How are the living-costs compared to Glasgow and London ? Any good nature areas close to / inside the city?

Birmingham is the middle option of the three. London the most expensive, then Birmingham then Glasgow. However the biggest disparity is between London and Birmingham. Doing a quick bit of googling, it's 44% more expensive to live in London than Birmingham. however Glasgow is around 10% cheaper than Birmingham.

Having visited all three myself, my personal opinion is that Birmingham is the best of both worlds, far more affordable than London, but with a large amount of amenities that Glasgow is missing, along with the temperature being considerably warmer on average.

I've put this video together during my time at Aston, take a look around.

- What is the best accomodation seen from the perspective of money for value?

This one is a bit tricky for me to answer on the Aston account as obviously we have a vested interest in filling Aston Student Villages, currently we charge from £121 to £135 for 42 weeks depending on which room type you choose.

However there is plenty of student housing in Birmingham if you wish to look around, it's not a requirement to live on campus, but you will lose the massive conveniences of location and our 24 hour estates team, who may be more willing to fix a radiator at 2am than the usual landlord.

- How good is the quality of the food if the catered is chosen?

I've not tried any of the catered food myself, however you can see an example of the food on offer here.

- In addition to the MSc, is it then possible to study for the CISI & CFA level 1 diploma papers?

We are an ICM advantage partner. Five scholarships are offered every year, to take the CFA examination.

- Usually I play football and I'd like to continue this at the university. Is it possible to do that at Aston at the age of 25?

Yep, we have several football societies on campus and postgraduate students are just as welcome to join as undergraduates. We also have a full AstroTurf pitch on campus and own a number of playfields a few miles away for real grass.

- Is the MSc Inv. Analysis more focused on the practical part of Finance rather than a heavily focus on the mathematical part?

Once again i would look at the module content. and decide. From a layman's understanding of finance i would be inclined to say yes. Best course of action is to have a chat to our admissions team though, they will know far more about course content than myself: [email protected]

Hope that helps.

Josh :smile:

Reply 6

returnmigrant

Both are good Unis and, overall, a degree from either would be worth having.

If you are not going to have a chance to visit either of them then look at the Open Day films on You Tube - this will at least give you an idea of what each looks like. Also, as a non-UK student you also need to look at the cities (Birmingham and Glasgow) - again You Tube tourist films can be useful for this.