Greetings everyone,
A fresher from India with approx 70% in my graduation, I've received an offer from UCD for the Intl Business program. I'm required to respond tomorrow. (within 24 hours of this post) I had approximately 10 days to respond. Taking the decision has been very difficult because of lack of honest opinion, the consultancy I'd applied through has been very pushy, and seems to me to be sugarcoating the program, placements etc. Although I've wanted to study abroad, I'm not sure if this is the best school/country for me. Also the lack of any scholarship makes it that much more hard to manage finances. I've been looking at the reviews, and not all are positive, especially with regards to finding part time jobs. If I go there, I would be studying on a loan the size of the tuition fees. What is the way I get assured payback?

The consultancy seems to think that this is a very 'ambitious' college considering my profile, (I have volunteering experience in international NGOs and art festivals, but no work exp) and that places like LBS and HEC are much harder (if not impossible) for me to get into. They are trying to persuade me to get into here considering its a 'golden opportunity.' This is all very putting off, and interferes with my own assessment of the university.

Any feedback is valuable. Thankyou.

It's a good school and its core MSc in Business is fairly ranked in the FT.

The larger questions are - what do you want to do with the degree? and have you applied to any other schools?

This degree is certainly better than many others, but if you could get into a school like Cass or IE those would obviously be better.

Have you talked with the school about your career goals and whether they think the program fits for you? They should give you honest feedback.

If you have only one option then you should certainly not make a decision. You should start from your goals (which you don't mention) and move forward. UCD is a good school. Only worse schools would, probably, offer you scholarships. Part-time jobs aren't a serious option in a demanding business programme.

See:
-The sad facts about scholarships http://www.find-mba.com/board/37055
- Best schools for international students' placement http://www.find-mba.com/board/41143
- Which MSc's are better than pre-experience 'Freshers' MBAs? www.find-mba.com/board/22783