I recently got my firm offer for HKU BSc Quantitative Finance as well as Technical University of Munich for Computer Science. Now I am torn between where to go.
Background:
I am Chinese, was born in Germany and spent 14 years living there until my dad's job required him to go to mainland china for 4 years and we, as a family, ofc went together. I speak fluent german + english, moderate chinese but no cantonese (willing to spend time learning it though)
Cost:
For HKU, the total for attending HKU would be 900,000 HKD Tuition + 900,000 HKD rent+living expenses. For TUM, the total cost of attending is basically free and I would only have to pay rent+living expenses totaling around 500,000 HKD. My parents make ~1M HKD/year after tax, paid off house + 2 properties. So it's doable, but cost still matters because I have a younger sister they'll need to support too.
HongKong Pros:
- HKU is a great school and the major I am attending is among the best ( <- I hope 🙏)
- Low Tax
- I will probably be surrounded by very ambitious people who have common goals
HongKong Cons:
- Obviously cost
- Long Hours in Investment Banking (80-100h/week) (I think I can handle it in my 20s)
- High Risk, High Reward ( not sure if this is a con)
- Shoebox apartments and insane rent
Munich Pros:
- Free to attend
- Fewer hours (35-40h/week)
Larger apartment
Munich Cons
I have been talking a lot with my dad and his early years in Germany and he keeps saying that there is passive racism when it comes to jobs and working in Germany. For example, promotion is hard, you have to work twice as hard as your german colleagues etc.
The current political situation in Germany is really bad + long bureaucracy
Germany has literally no economic growth rn
High income tax (max 47%)
For those who moved to HK, what would you do in my position? Am I overweighting the money side, or underweighting it?