I've already received an offer from both, Oxford and ETHZ.
Reading between the lines, you are saying that it can be actually tough (or much tougher) to get in a ETH's PhD without an internal contact, aren't you?
Thank you sushpa!
Well if you have both offers, pick the one you love
And internal contact, though necessary, does not mean the Sicilian kind but rather a professor who is willing to employ you for the PhD. Could be someone who you do not know from before but who has an open position and convinced enough (by your interviews/correspondence/resume/etc.) to hire you. I guess you know the drill since you're already in...
Forgive me I am not much of a good reader ––just reread your first post. So you have an offer for Msc at ETH (not PhD). Whether or not Msc in Oxford strongly reduces your chances of getting in the PhD in Zurich, the Msc in ETH will definitely strongly increase your chances, because Msc students (who do well) are simply effortlessly absorbed by the labs to continue for PhD.
So to avoid further confusion, go to Oxford if you want a PhD in Oxford, go to ETH if you want a PhD in ETH.
And to further simplify, welcome to ETH.
Thank you
I think you almost convinced me! I'm only a little scared by how ETH masters work. Like the ETH rule that if you are excluded from the masters if you fail twice in the same exam
Does it actually happen frequently?
If you don't mind me asking, what is your field within CS and what are some highlights from your CV? I'm impressed that you would get offers from two universities as prestigious as those
Thank you!
I want to specialize in theoretical computer science, mainly algorithms; but being a bachelor graduate I still haven't got provable research experience in the field (though I did some research but I didn't publish).
I graduated with the highest score and I had a good GPA (3.9/4) in a bachelor's degree of a decent italian university. I had good recommendation letters and I'm sure that counted a lot. I also worked, during my studies, in IT companies.
not sure that is entirely true, mine took two years as i know is the same with many.. even if someone was in a masters program of 48 hours it would still be 1.5 years. maybe what your friend is studying at Harvard is an executive masters? i would be interested to know what she/he is studying there. i will also ask my friend who recently graduated from there too...
either way.. gl with your decision
That does not happen frequently, and do you think Oxford is going to be any easier :-) ETH is difficult. Its very intensive, it drains your energy, etc. Yeah. You'll love it.
AFAIK that rule is for PhDs who need qualifying exams (which are essentially Masters level exams) and if you can't pass one in two attempts you won't pass anything else anyway. For Msc where it is a game of accumulating credit points... I doubt it is enforced. They might have it on the website (in German) so I'll check when I can and repost IF it is true.
Going by your GPA this is not the biggest thing for you to be worrying about. Bigger obstacles lie in your path, such as the quality of pasta in the mensa...
I'm pretty sure the rule it's in the masters as well! The fact it's that in Italy we can take any exam as much times as we want and so there's often a different approach to study.
Anyway pasta in england it's pretty bad, so I doubt swiss pasta can be worse!
Ah. Where did you hear this rule exactly?
The rules are set by departments, and here is the legal mumbo jumbo for yours (D-INFK):
http://www.rechtssammlung.ethz.ch/pd...nt%202009).pdf.pdf)
Quoting article 29:
Para 4 says you need a grade of 4 (of 6) to pass. Para 5 says a repetition can be allowed once (which means only once) and generally you need to re-enroll in the course unit, which means e.g. if you fail a Fall course you must take it again fully in the next Fall. This varies between courses and exceptions are noted in the course catalog.
I don't see anything about dismissing the student for failing a course -- and think about it -- that would be ambiguous. If you fail a German language course or a Music or humanities course -- from a completely different department but nevertheless required as a minor -- twice, who would expel you? The other department has no authority, and your department sees no problem. A course is simply a unit -- one of many you need to collect -- and expulsion seems unfair even when you fail something twice in your own department. Someone manages to get 86 credits and struggles for 4 because of failing one course twice... and gets expelled... hard to believe. I've seen guys who sent someone else to write their exams and were caught, but not expelled.
Standard practice is if you fail a course twice, you cannot take it ever again, and you need to arrange for those credit points from somewhere else. Either way, none of this means that an Msc is easy to pocket.
Unfortunately I don't understand German but I've found the study regulation for the master in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics that's offered by the same department and the study regulation it's in english ( http://www.inf.ethz.ch/education/For...ement_en.pdf);;) here's the article:
Art. 39 Exclusion from the Master Programme
Exclusion from the CBB Master programme generally results from not being able to
acquire the required number of credits, as indicated in Art. 35, due to
a. having failed the performance assessments twice; or
b. having exceeded the allowed maximum duration of study.
Short story:
Don't take that particular programme.
The long story is interesting. This is a very specific and tailored programme where the content of the MSc is essentially prescribed. That article 35 tells you what categories of courses must be passed. Each categorywise requirement must be met, and there are going to be a finite number of courses that fit into each category. If you fail one twice, you're not getting any credits there, and if you exhaust all remaining courses under a given category by failing twice then there is no way for you to fulfill the credits. You may even find e.g. that some category requires 12 credits and there are only three 4-credit courses that fit in that category. That, you cannot get out of
Anyway,
So not directly because of failing twice, but because you simply cannot get the required credit points anymore; and not by failing "an assessment" but "the assessments" twice.
So just curious, did you apply to the Law school as well? Aptitude shines...
Are you being sarcastic? (no really, sometimes I don't get it!)
Anyway, in my Msc there are two compulsory exams, so I assume that failing those 2 would put me out of the course!
No, quite serious, as no one pays so much attention to detail before joining. It's a helpful trait for whenever you get in trouble in college, and that could be often, regardless of Oxford or ETH.
Well, whats compulsory is compulsory
Good luck...
Yes I'm always like that, maybe too much! sometimes I even involuntarily pointed out to offices rules that were against my interest and they didn't know of!
Anyway, what are you doing a PhD in?
Have you thought of phoning the ETH with your questions?
The head office number is +41 44 632 3000
The girl in charge of Masters and Doctorate enrollments is a native english speaker. Her name is Juliet Royston. She is super friendly and helpful.
matt