If I were u I would have selected Nottingham over Sheff.
Sheff is not a bad choice either as it is well reputed but MBA offered is sort of avg. And yeah cost of living in Nottingham is slightly higher is what i heard but it is still worth it.

Please help me decide:
I am 25, have a BE degree with a little over 3 years of experience. IELTS 8.0, GMAT 700
i was hoping to get an mba from US but was refused the visa, now the only offer i am left with is the university of sheffield MBA.
i need to make a call asap. your advice??

Yes, you need to get accepted to academic programs before you can get a US visa.

What happened to the Nottingham offer? I would pick that one over Sheffield.

Good luck either way.

Dear Evans,
i did get admission and I-20 from the US university but was refused the visa because of the situation in my country. i applied for visa from Pakistan where the US visa rejection rate is almost 98%
Now the problem is that since i was interested in mba from US, i didnt apply to any top tier UK universities. infact sheffield is the only option i am left with. Inlight of the situation its time i decide whether to go for sheffield or wait another year to apply to better schools.
My profile:
I am 25, have a BE degree with a little over 3 years of experience. IELTS 8.0, GMAT 700
PS. i want to change my career track, it could be operations, finance or management. one where i dont think my experience will make any difference.

Wow, that's rather surprising that they're turning down visas, even for students with unconditional acceptance into reputable US business schools. I didn't know that happened (so much), and that it had anything to do with "the situation" in the applicants' country. Maybe I'm naive that way.

its just that they are a lot more cautious now. since we are hit by extremism in the wake of afghan war.
we were literally questioned for more than half an hour before being told by the interviewer that we dont qualify and believe me they turned down 17/17 male applicants and 3/7 female applicants that day, one of which was bound for harvard. but i heard in news a week back that they are putting a new policy in place now with a different administration. hope things turn out well in the days to come.

needless to mention i qualified for an scholarship for the first semester as well :(
but for now sheffield is where i would ask you to help me out.
my email address is [email protected]
Thanks

That's very interesting about the visa situation.

Well, about Sheffield, I can't really say one way or another. I think with your profile and a 700 GMAT, you could aim higher. Another year might give you some time to save up some more money, as well. Living in the UK is rather expensive, as I'm sure you know.

You also might want to delete your email address from this thread...otherwise you'll get loads of spam.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot Evan, your advice will surely help me a long way!!