I'm a student from Turkey who studied the ib and I have the required grades for all the universities in switzerland as far as it is stated on https://www.swissuniversities.ch/en/...baccalaureate/ . I have C1 french and I want to attend EPFL or UNIGE for a bachelors degree on chemical engineering or biochemistry. However I'm indecisive about my choice between the two unis? EPFL seems to have a better place in rankings but I kinda want to live in Geneva :/ Can you inform me on the standings of the universities inside Switzerland? Which one is regarded more prestigious and would help me more in future job prospects? (I want to stay in Europe if I can)
Epfl.
EPFL is head and shoulders better than Geneva in terms of reputation, research output, industry engagement.
And why live in Geneva? I'm no expert, but there are plenty of comments here saying how boring it is!
EPFL, no doubt
EPFL every time, especially for technical subjects. Apart from the academic quality, it is a beautiful, diverse campus. Geneva does not feel like a student city at all.
Be sure to keep working hard at that French, though. Undergraduate studies are almost all in French. And I'm pretty sure the entrance exams are too. Even for French students, the barrier to getting in is extremely high.
As far as Geneva goes as a place to live, it's lovely! Beautiful setting, huge amount of culture - theatre, music of all types, cinemas etc. Geneva canton spends a large amount of its budget on culture, so there are a lot of free or heavily subsidised things to go to. Lots of clubs and groups. Right now a revolution is happening in the food industry with many cafes opening of a type other countries are used to.
To this one can add it is a hub for cheap plane travel. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the airport from the train station at a cost of 3.50CHF with the return journey free. It may be the only airport in the world where getting there isn't more expensive than the cheap fare itself.
When people say Geneva is 'boring' I have no idea what they are talking about other than the notion that apparently for younger people if licensed venues close at 4am that is described as 'having nothing to do'.
Another vote for EPFL but check carefully for the particular course you are doing, EPFL is highly rated which means this "brand" can open many doors for you in the future but being in a well-regarded department on a course where many people quickly find work is important.
Lausanne is a nice place to live too, very similar to Geneva in many ways.