r/ethz

I’m considering applying for a PhD in Computer Science at ETH Zürich, but I don’t have any publications and I’m wondering how significant a disadvantage that would be.

For context, I’m 22 and have an MSE (Master’s) in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan with a 4.00/4.00 GPA, as well as a bachelor’s in Computer Science. I currently work as a software engineer at a FAANG company and have around 15 months of full-time experience. I’ve also had experience in a computational neuroscience lab, though it did not lead to any publications.

I’m not sure whether this is relevant for admissions, but I also have roughly B1 German proficiency.

I know that PhD admissions at ETH can vary significantly by professor and lab, but I’d be interested in hearing whether the lack of publications would really weigh down an application?

Yooo hope you all doing good

I have this question for a long time now

I have done couple of research internship at good lab / university in India

And have quite good papers (archive but will be published)

And started with my internship at eth after my bachelors

What are the possibilities I might get a phd at eth in AI4SCI

Also I kinda do have terrible gpa (ofc never failed any course lol)

I finished my master’s degree and haven’t requested the diploma yet. I was thinking, would it be possible to enroll for the next semester as a leave of absence, renew my student card, and then immediately request the diploma? That way I’ll have my student card valid for an extra semester (to use in the mensa for example)

Cheers

I don’t have a car or anyone to practice driving with. I only take one driving lesson per week with an instructor.
Is there anyone in Zurich who would be willing to let me practice driving with their car once or twice a week, while sitting next to me as a supervising passenger?
Please comment or message me if you can help. Thank you 🙏

Hi,

So I am living outside of EU, and I am studying in arguably the best school in my country. From what I understand by stalking other people, students around 3.80/4.00 GPA gets accepted to ETH from where I study.

I've applied to ETH EEIT program with a 3.50 GPA with no publication record and I got rejected. However, within 2 semesters, I had the opportunity to publish at an IEEE conference as a first author and my GPA ramped up to 3.59/4.00.

I know that it is impossible to know, but I wonder, if rather my current state is actually have a very higher chance to be accepted to the EEIT program in ETH? I got accepted into TUM, should I just go there?

What are your thoughts?

Hi everyone. I'm a Telecommunications Engineering student in Spain. When I started my degree, my only goal was to graduate and enter the job market, so I didn't take my academics as seriously as I should have. Now, my goals have completely changed, and I am aiming to pursue a PhD at ETH in the future.

I know that a strong Master's degree can help redeem a mediocre undergraduate record. However, I'm worried about my current grades. Does a low Bachelor's GPA have a lingering negative impact on PhD admissions at ETH, even if I perform exceptionally well during my Master's?

Hello everyone, this fall I am starting my Informatics MSc (AI major, DS minor) at UZH. After my master's, I am planning to pursue a PhD. I will try to keep my GPA between 5.7 and 6.0 and publish two papers. Do you think I might get accepted into the ETH Zurich PhD program with such academic performance?

I know that ETHZ has a lot of different education paths, and most of them end up very specialized. I was wondering what percentage of ETHZ graduates ends up leaving Switzerland, simply because there aren't many jobs openings in Switzerland about what they studied for?

What led me to ask this: on r/switzerland, expats like to rant that they don't find a job, but the issue is that many of them are highly educated, and there simply aren't enough jobs in Switzerland for so many highly educated and specialized individuals. There are job openings for waitress, construction workers, and other low education jobs, but that's not the jobs they want obviously. This led me to think about this: ETHZ and EPFL produce a lot of highly educated graduates in so many different fields, but do most of them end up leaving Switzerland simply because there aren't enough jobs for those people here? I find it kind of sad to study here for two or even five years, and then you have to leave since there is just not the kind of jobs that you spent years preparing for

Hi everyone,

I know I’m probably a bit late for this, but still giving it a shot.

I’m 24F from India, and I’ll be moving to Zürich this fall to start my Master’s at ETH in D-BAUG. I’m looking for flatmates or a room in a shared flat from around the beginning of September. I’d also be open to paying rent from August if the place feels like a good fit.

A bit about me: I’ve spent the last couple of years building an environmental consulting venture, so going back into student life feels exciting and a little overwhelming at the same time. I’ve lived in shared flats during my undergrad and also during a semester abroad at UC Davis, so I’m very comfortable with shared living and the usual flatmate rhythm.

At home, I like a calm atmosphere and a tidy space. I’m respectful of everyone's routines and personal space, but I’d also like to live somewhere that feels friendly and not completely anonymous. I would love the occasional shared dinners, movie nights, board games, or doing things together when schedules allow it. Disclaimer: I can get a bit competitive with board games, but totally definitely within the limits of social norms 😬

Outside of studies, I like getting outdoors for treks and nature walks. I’m mostly up for anything fun, especially if there’s good food involved, and I’m always happy to try something new. I’m vegetarian, but easygoing about shared kitchens and other people’s food habits.

Ideally, I’m looking for something with decent public transport access to ETH Hönggerberg. My budget is around CHF 1,000, but I can be a little flexible if the flat and flatmates feel like a good fit. Existing furniture would also be a plus, since I’ll be moving from India.

If anyone has a room opening up, is looking for a flatmate, or knows someone who is, please DM me.

Thanks :)

TL;DR: 24F moving to Zürich for Master’s at ETH, looking for a room/shared flat from September. Friendly, easygoing, tidy, and hopefully a fun flatmate to have. Totally not a menace when it comes to board games. Budget around CHF 1,000, ideally with decent access to ETH Hönggerberg.

Hello, do you feel threatened by artificial intelligence? Do you think there will be job cuts affecting your sector? What are you doing to adapt ?

I am about to start my MSc in Physics at IIT Madras, India. How should I utilize my next two years so I can get into this prestigious PhD program?

hey, so I’m starting at ETH this September and had a few doubts:

1. for linear algebra, the textbook by D. Stoffer seems straightforward, however a senior sent me some lecture notes and those are on a whole other level with rigrorous proofs etc. for exams can we expect the level of the textbook or lecture slides?

2. How possible would it be to get lecture notes/textbooks/ exams in English? Although I’ve spent a substantial time in Germany English is still my preferred first language.

Thank You!

Hi everyone,

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I'm a Computer Science student from India and I'm trying to understand how competitive ETH Zurich admissions really are for international students.

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When I read online, I see people describing ETH Zurich as one of the best STEM universities in the world, but it's difficult to judge how realistic admission actually is.

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For those who were admitted, rejected, or know people who applied:

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- How competitive is ETH Zurich for a Master's in Computer Science?

- What kind of GPA/CGPA do successful applicants usually have?

- Does the reputation of your undergraduate university matter a lot?

- How important are research experience, projects, internships, and recommendation letters?

- Is ETH Zurich closer to the level of Oxford, Imperial, MIT, and Stanford, or is it more attainable than those universities?

- What are the biggest factors that separate admitted applicants from rejected ones?

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For context, I'm currently working on improving my academic profile and would like to understand what a realistic ETH Zurich applicant looks like.

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I'm looking for honest opinions and real experiences rather than official admission requirements.

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Thank you!

Basically Title,

Atm I'm running an M5 Macbook Air with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD(+ a mountain of external hard drives I also own). I also have an Alienware M15 R5 I bought a long time ago that I use primarily for gaming. It has a RTX 3050 Ti and 4GB VRAM.

I'm mostly concerned with courses where I'll have to train my own models locally, if a better computer would speed things up significantly enough to the point it'd save me a lot of stress, or if there are models they expect me to run locally that I can't handle atm.

I guess for anything where I have to train a model with a couple million params, I would have to do it on a cloud computer anyway.

Can anyone who did programming heavy courses in this masters program comment on this? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

A friend and I are testing an idea.

The concept: prospective students can book a 30-minute call with a current ETH student from a specific degree (CS, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Math, HEST, Architecture, etc.) and ask anything about the program and student life.

Would you have used something like this before applying to ETH? Why or why not?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Hi! My name is Mattia, im 22 and im looking for a room or an apartment in Zurich (from the lake above) or Winterthur.
Im gonna start my master in finance in september at zhaw and i want to move there in september (if needed i can pay the rent starting from july)
My budget is 900chf monthly if in Winterthur and a bit under if in Zurich due to the increase in public transport costs.
Looking forward for any tip or proposal! (ive already looked at wgzimmer, flatfox, woko, juwo)
Feel free to contact me in private for personal informations!! Thank you very much!!

Do you know some people who did the Quantum Engineering master? A few years ago ( I think in 2019), they introduced this master. But I always wondered what they do as job after graduation? I don’t think there are many jobs in Switzerland about it, maybe a handfull of start ups but that’s about it, but from what I understand there are abour 35 students per year majoring in Quantum Engineering at ETHZ. Do most of them end up doing a PhD afterwards? But what do they then do after the PhD ?

Hallo! Ich habe letztens mein Maturitätszeugnis an die Kanzlei der ETH geschickt und wollte wissen, wie lange es, nachdem die Kanzlei es erhalten hat, braucht, bis es bearbeitet wird.