Choosing a BJJ school

[lcooper]

I have no experience in BJJ but I am looking at BJJ schools near my school which is UMASS Amherst. There's NESF and Marco Alvan BJJ. I'm not really sure which one to choose.

NESF is way cheaper and I could afford a lot of private lessons but I'm pretty sure it is no-Gi and the main instructors are purple belts in BJJ (Kirik Jenness and David Roy). I can get a 4 month membership for 150 dollars here. And I believe 1 hour private lessons are only 35 dollars.

Marco Alvan is much more expensive but a black belt in BJJ but at their Amherst College location, probably the only one I would be able to travel to, they only offer 1 class a week as far as I can tell. But they also practice in Gi and without it. However, I cannot not determine if Marco actually teaches all the classes or if the other instructors do (many of the other instructors are purple belts and one is a blue). Classes here are 150 per month for unlimited (they also offer muay thai, kickboxing, and boxing classes for that price but probably not at the Amherst location.

So basically I am wondering which place is better to learn at. I want to do BJJ for fun, fitness, basic self-defence and possibly compete in some grappling tournaments as I progress. Given all this info I'm not really sure where the best place to train is. From what I've read its better to train with Gi and with a more experienced instructor but in this case would the opposite be better?

Thanks

[pauli]

a: you have no need of private lessons.

b: you have too many "probablies." contact the schools, find out the actual schedules.