I went to one of those schools mentioned above.

My suggestion is to take SMU. You have maybe a 30% chance if you go to UCL, not because you're not good, but because you're Asian and it takes a certain type to work there. Your traineeship takes 2 years as opposed to 6 months if you take SMU.

Post taxes and expenses pay is meh. I believe it's 40% tax for 100k GBP and above. This consensus was held amongst many of my peers, some of whom have gone on to work in MC/US and live there. What are you going to tell your family on being abroad for 5 - 7 years?

Is it really worth the struggle? Is it worth 200K (enough to buy a pretty decent house) on a single person? I mean, if you do medicine, sure. But not law.

If I could rewind time, part of me wishes I didn't choose 'prestige' over money. Remember, they're selling a brand.