Help for gettin admission in masters progrm of mecahanical engineering at ETH Zurich

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Hi

I needed some expert advice and help regarding getting admission into the above cited program of ETH Zurich. Im currently studying in 5th semester in a four year B.S. mechanical engineering program at GIKI ( www.giki.edu.pk ), one of the best technological universities in Pakistan and unarguably the best mechanical Engg department in the country. I am currently at 2nd position in my class with a cgpa of 3.85/4.00. I will be graduating in may 2012. I will soon be doing research on most probably a thermo related topic and by the time i graduate i would be able to publish a paper in an international journal. I have always been interested and fascinated by ETH Zurich and its MAVT department.

So what i want is the advice and guidance of related eth and non-eth students who had been part of this admission process in the past or maybe now and all those who have info regarding this topic. Please kindly answer the questions that I have given below and share as much guidance as possible.Your help will be highly appreciated.

1- What is my chance of getting into the program that I have cited above.

2- What additional ventures and endeavors should I take to improve my chances.

3- Can you share some links or files that contain information about the students getting admission into this masters program so that I can judge the competition level.

4- According to the brochure that i got from the ETH site, I need to know C1 german. So do I need german or would English suffice.

5- I found it hard to compare the ECTs listed on the site with my credit hours. So Im providing a link to my bachelors degree courses catalog.

Please check it out and comment if you have any suggestions.

( http://www.giki.edu.pk/Academics/Und...escription.php )

6- What are the scholarship or fin.aid options. Can I apply for tecahing assitantship or any other relevant funding options present.

7. Is there a significant amount of south asians in ETH and how are they treated??

8- Add any other suggestions that u deem important.

Please reply to my queries. I have my fingers crossed. thx

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Please search their webpage

Honestly question 4 proves that you did no research at all

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Well the website said that all courses were in English for this degree. But According to the Appendix pdf file downloaded from thr site, Section 1.3 staes that

"Applicants to the degree programme who hold a Bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences must, according to the pertaining additional requirements (see Section 2.2.4, Subsection 2), also supply proof of sufficient knowledge of German (level C1)."

So this discrepancy confuses me or maybe im getting it wrong. U can correct me hopefully

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Umair,

Its not very easy to answer all your questions, but as a summary ETH is one of the best schools in europe so competition is high. If you would like to do masters in a European univ. then You should apply to several different universities in Germany/Sweden/Norway/Finland/Austria/switzerland.

I know some for UET who is doing masters in Microelectronis at EPFL will try to get his contct for you.

Scholarships are few and far between and unless you are extra ordinary it difficult to get your hands on these.

Good Luck with your furture endeavors

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Thx Phacel for the encouragement. I still have b4 I apply so I ll try to prepare myself IA.

Well my question was that are thr any pages or links where I can compare myself with the incoming students just like the American universities share thr acceptance rates and gpa and gre scores 4 thr admitted students.

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You can search the forums for example i did with the "ETH" and got the following threads

http://www.englishforum.ch/permits-v...th-zurich.html

Master studies in English in Switzerland

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I think your chances are low, you cannot compare your GPA outside your country. If you want to improve your chances you have to get publications on TOP conferences which is very hard for a bachelor student.

I thought the Master was in English but if it asks for German then you need indeed German.

There is no information about students getting accepted into masters here but good luck with your application and make sure you apply to multiple universities. From my experience Dutch universities for example have less prejudice against international students.

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@Newbie

Just out of curiosity, who r those who get into masters for mechanical engineering, i mean what special credentials do they hav??

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Hello Umair, Me being an ex ETH student in MSc Robotics & AI, can giude you with my experience.

Well, as the education is almost free in ETH & Uni Zürich, there is fairly good amount of competition in admission procedures from candidates overseas... You need to provide good academics, professional/ institutional recommendation letter, motivation letter, TOEFL scores & a good CV..

German language certificate will be an added advantage, cos even though the program is in English, there might be some 20-30 % subjects which might be taught in German..

Unfortunately I cannot help you in this area

Knowledge of German is both required for Academic and social interaction. Switzerland is not an English speaking country

You do no need scholarship for education as its merely free of cost .. The annual fee (2 sememster) at ETH for master program was around 1400 Swiss Francs back in 2006. But as living expense is VERY high in Switzerland, you will have to have pretty ample amount of funds for lodging, transport and food. You can apply for teaching assistantship

Well I myself is a south Asian of Indian origin.. All students are treated with respect.. no worries.. When I joined the course back in 2006, I was the only one Asian in my group.

Best wishes and give your best try.

Kind Regards,

Sam

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Hi Umair,

I'm currently a post-doc in D-MAVT at ETH. Unfortunately I got my degrees elsewhere and I'm fairly new here, so I don't really know much about MS student admissions. (I know a little more about admission to the Ph.D., but that's a very different process.)

But regarding your question 4, there are definitely Masters students here with no knowledge of German. I believe the requirement you found for German at the C1 level applies only to students with a B.S. from a "Swiss university of applied sciences". I'm not sure what the significance of that is -- but it doesn't apply to you.

That said, the more German you know, the better. I think being able to claim some ability must help your chances of getting admitted, even if it's not required. Knowing German will also help you interact with your fellow students and the school administration (and everyone in general).

Regarding question 7, I don't know how your background will affect admissions, but I don't think you'd have any problems at ETH if you get in. There are lots of international students here.

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Resurection of the day.

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Chances are very difficult... You have to be the best (plus financial backup- for living in Switzerland)

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Can you share with me profiles of a few students accepted at ETH zurich ?

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Hi,

I am from India. I am planning to pursue my higher studies from Europe.

1. I have done my undergraduate in Instrumentation Technology.

2. I have scored 50.4/100 in my under graduation. [ which is really poor ]

3. I have worked for Texas Instruments as a external employee ( contractor ).

4. I am working for Intel Mobile Communication as a external employee ( contractor ).

5. My relevant experience is in Assertion Based Formal Verification (Almost 2 years).

6. I am trying to get one of my paper in Design Automation Conference (DAC). But don't know it will be possible or not as Texas Instruments are closing there OMAP Platform Business unit, for which I had worked.

7. I can get good recommendations.

8. I want to pursue my higher studies in Microelectronics related studies.

What are my chances in European Tech Universities? What else I need to do to secure a admission in lower fees in moderate University?

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hi,

impressive that you found the forum and asked questions, shows great motivation. If you went that far, let me tell you a bit about how the eth works, may be then you'll be able to estimate your chances.

- ETH does not accept all students. One must graduate from an adequate swiss school (matura), or an equivalent foreign school. "Equivalent" is a key word : for example, the german schools are recognized, but east european and oversees schools are not.

- there are exchange programs for students (typically for one year). It is country/university specific and your university must participates in one of them (bilateral agreements between the eth and your school) if you are coming as an exchange student. Ask directly at your department.

- historically, there were no separation between bachelor and master programs. now it is possible to get just a bachelor degree, but unless it is a specialized "only master" program, i think it's next to impossible to start half-way.

- ETH is located in the swiss german part. all docs, teaching, classes, exams, everything is in german/swiss german. You must speak the language rather well.

- Normally, there are no scholarships available. There are some single cases, mostly for students with exceptionally good grades (6/6 or at least 5.5 /6), but better do not count on it. Probably, you will not be able to work in parallel (no work permit). Your family must support you fully (count at least 1500 chf /month for shared housing,medical insurance and basic food at the local canteen. A cup of coffee extra will be as much as you will be able to afford within this range).

- asian students??never saw a single asian undergraduate. There are, of course, swiss-born swiss-german speaking kids with some asian background (mother/father), but we are not talking about them. there are asian PhD /Post docs, finding somebody from your country will not be a problem. If you are a cool guy, and can buffer jokes about your nationality/culinary preferences/german language / whatever else, it should not be a problem, there are no racial discriminations.

As you can see, in order to get a master from the ETH your school must be recognized (nobody will look at your grades, it is the bilateral agreements between the schools that matter) + you can support yourself financially + speak the language.

However, if you absolutely dream about studying at the eth, you may consider doing a PhD. If this is the case, learn about the groups, write to all professors introducing yourself, find out if the topic of your thesis (master) correlates with the group activity. Try to get a publication with the group or some project going on. If the prof will like you, he will get you through the phd acceptance procedure (which is, again, conditional and not trivial). If he will not like you - no chance.

think, why do you want to study at eth and not somewhere else? where are you planning to live and work after? Focus on what you want to do after you graduate, diploma can only facilitate you to get a job (swiss diploma in the swiss market, your university diploma in the pakistan market, US university degree in the US market). Can you achieve your goals studying somewhere else? to get a master in US is realistic, for example.

hope it helps. cheers.

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As per to what I gather from your last part of the statement that in ETH prejudice is still at play against the South Asian students ? are they discriminated to affect their academic performance?