Hi,

I have received offers for both the MSc Management at UCL and the MSc Innovation, Creativity & Leadership at Bayes.

Im having trouble deciding which one to pick.

The program at Bayes caters to my interests (design thinking, innovation management) more than the general MSc management course at UCL. But I'm afraid when I'm looking for a job that the brand reputation of UCL would help me more than Bayes.

Can anyone advise me on how to go about this decision? As much as I would love to do a program that interests me more, my main goal is to get a job in the UK post graduation. I am an international student.

Obviously this depends on your goals. If you want to work in the sort of companies that hire from business schools, then Bayes is a stronger choice. It's ranked in the top third of the FT 100 (https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/5/masters-in-management-2021) while management education at UCL is much less well established and is pivoting to healthcare.  

Thank you for your response Duncan. 
With this being said, won't the brand reputation at UCL help me more in terms of career opportunities? I know Bayes is batter business school and honestly I am a little surprised the UCL management programme isn't well established by now. In my mind UCL would still be considered a Tier 1 school whereas Bayes would be Tier 2. 

If you are exploring career opportunities at organisations unfamiliar with business schools in the UK, then perhaps. However if you at looking at commercial organizations in the UK, and especially in London, then Bayes is a star-quality brand and undergrad-focussed colleges like UCL, King's and QMUL are nowhere close. UCL has only one of three triple crown accreditations (the easiest, AMBA) so it's nowhere near the second tier. It has a tiny careers team (Mara and Kate, plus Hatty who also supports SOAS students) to support 13 different degrees. The FT 100 ranking has four tiers within in, and there is a fifth 'secret' tier as discussed in my post. UCL is in none of those. UCL is not in the top 20 UK business schools. 

PS I do think it might be different if you were looking at undergraduate options. Although the NSS and TEF show that "education" (e.g. student satisfaction and teaching quality) at the biggest UoL colleges is generally poor in most departments, their "inputs" (selectivity and in-demand London locations) do mean that the LSE, UCL, City and King's all attract great undergraduate students, and that talent creates excellent career prospects, better than arguably better business schools like Manchester and Lancaster. In terms of undergrad selectivity, King's is 3rd in the UK, UCL is 5th, Bayes is 7th and LSE is 11th. However, at the postgraduate level it's really the quality of the business school that matters. In terms of research quality, for example, the LSE is 1st among the major universities, Bayes is 4th, Kings is 11th and UCL is 20th, just above Aberdeen. 

[Edited by Duncan on Mar 31, 2022]

Thank you Duncan, this was extremely helpful! I know which college I'm going to enroll in now! I have found it very difficult to find proper information on the MSc management course at UCL whereas there is so much more information on Bayes. 

I have also received an Offer from University of Bristol for MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship, I really like the course but not sure how well there college business school ranks compared to Bayes. 

On a side note, have you heard of the MSc Innovation, Creativity & Leadership program at Bayes? If you have, what are your thoughts on the program? 

[Edited by Akhi197 on Mar 31, 2022]

Bristol would be a worse choice than UCL. I know of the MSc, but I don't have an informed option about it. Obviously an MSc aligned to a formal business function will give more opportunities.  

All of this was really helpful. Thank you Duncan!