Why Strathclyde?Brittany Ritell

An American in Glasgow

Brittany Ritell is currently studying an MSc in Digital Marketing Management at Strathclyde. Originally from the USA, Brittany has relocated to the city to complete her course and is getting to grips with the Glaswegian way of life.

Here, Brittany discusses her experience so far and what advice she would give to new and prospective students.

Why Brittany chose Strathclyde:

Brittany's advice for international students arriving at Strathclyde: 

Top tips for applying

Talk to current or previous students

"I talked to some friends who had gone here to get a better feel for the school because actual students can tell you a lot more than the website does!"

Apply for scholarships early

"Start early if you’re looking to get scholarships. A lot of them close sooner than you think, so the sooner you have an application decision, the sooner you can start looking at and applying for funding options."

Get to know the department

"Get to know the department you’re applying for and see if there’s staff you really want to learn from or modules that you’re excited about taking, and base your decision off of that mostly."

Ask questions

"Contact the department you’re applying for if you have any questions. They were really helpful in answering questions when I was first deciding to apply."

Food and drink recommendations

  • Cafe Saramango in the CCA
  • Wheesht Secret Bar
  • Platform at The Arches
  • Tantrum Doughnuts
  • Waterstones (Sauchiehall Street) Top Floor Bar
  • Tchai Ovna Tea Room

Top sightseeing destinations

  • Free Tour of Glasgow City Chambers
  • Tour of BBC Scotland
  • The Stand Comedy Club
  • Pollok Park Highland Cow Way
  • Central Station Tours
  • Tennent's Brewery or Drygate Brewery Tour
  • Clydeside Distillery Tour
  • SWG3 Graffiti Gallery or City Centre Mural Trail

Brittany on life in Glasgow:

Brittany discusses her life outside of university...

  • Dance Glasgow: Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, MTV, Hip Hop, Commercial, Pointe, Stretch & Tone, Core Conditioning and basically any other class I can do in a given week
  • Glasgow Softball League: Weekly Games in the Spring and Weekend-long Tournaments all around the UK
  • Showdowns: Volunteering with a theatre troupe for people with Downs Syndrome
  • Student Ambassador: For the Recruitment department and the Business School

Digital Marketing Management (MSc)

How do you feel the course is preparing you for life after you graduate?

I like that there are some modules which aren’t marketing based at all but which help to round out the digital education. The modules on Business Information Systems and Digital Supply Chains are completely different from anything else I’ve taken before. They challenge us a lot since they’re not marketing-focused and on subjects most of us don’t have much experience in, but they’ll be really valuable skills when we graduate that might help differentiate us in a competitive job market.

What do you hope to do once you graduate?

Before I started my Masters I spent four years in youth work, so in a dream world, I think I would love working with BBC Children’s in some sort of digital content capacity. It would be a great mix of my passion for working with young people and my interest in digital marketing, but they’re an extremely competitive company to get hired with and work visas tend to be complicated!

Read Brittany's blog on studying at Strathclyde's award-winning business school.

What advice would you give to an international student thinking of studying this course?

Try out some of the free certifications in digital marketing offered by Hubspot Academy and Google because they’ll give you a feel for the content on this course and help you decide if digital marketing is for you. We actually do some of these certifications in the degree, so it might even get you ahead a little bit!

This course is also more geared toward the research and analytical side of marketing, rather than the design and creation side, though you do get to do a bit of that too through class projects. You’ll look a lot at improving customer journeys through digital and how digital helps inform and improve marketing campaigns.