How to decide between Perimeter Institute’s PSI and Cambridge’s MAST/Part 3?

[clvsbr]

Hey guys,
I’m gathering information in order to decide which master program to apply to (or, better, which one to go for in case I get admitted to both).

I have read quite a lot online but it seems people who talked about PSI took it many years ago, while it was bright new and yet adjusting. Now that it’s a renown program it might have improved...

On the one hand Cambridge’s Part 3 is an old program famous to be a great bridge from undergrad to graduate level physics. The downside seems to be a relative big and competitive class, and no security whatsoever in terms of a PhD position afterwards (apart from hard-to-get scholarships).

Perimeter Institute’s PSI, on the other hand, has a small class, similar high level courses, smoothly “guarantees” a PhD position afterwards, and provides funding to all students, but is less known than Cambridge, apart from the fact that the degrees themselves are awarded by University of Waterloo (which is great, don’t get me wrong, specially in Quantum Information, but it’s not Cambridge).

Is anyone familiar with both programs and/or schools and could give some extra info to help me decide?

 

[jedishrfu]

What profs are you likely to meet at these institutes?

Sometimes the proximity to greatness is better than the hallowed halls although Cambridge sounds just fantastic.