I'm a student taking the IB, looking to study bachelors in Switzerland. It seems that I will not be able to provide the required grades for ETH or EPFL so I'll be applying to UNIGE or UZH. Not sure which one to choose tho. I have B2 in both French and German with german being slightly ahead but I can work on either to make them applicable C1 so no problems with the language barrier. I would appreciate if someone could me inform me about the general reputation of the universities, life in Geneva/Zürich. I want to study pharmaceutical sciences or biochemistry. Future job prospects are also important as I want to stay in Europe with a working visa if I can. Thanks!
Based on what you write, I'm leaning slightly towards UZH, though the difference compared to UniGE are really minimal.
In general, both universities are perfectly fine and there's next to no difference in quality to speak of between the two (same applies to all other 'real' universities in Switzerland, with the Fachhochschulen being a different story). Both will cost about the same in tuition give or take, they are located in the two most expensive cities in Switzerland, so there'll be probably quite little difference in cost of living between the two. In terms of "student life", others might be able to expand better on that. Job prospects are similar, though pharma/biotech etc. are located mainly in the German-speaking part, though not exclusively. I don't think this matters much at this point, you can always move later, it's still a few years to go.
I would likely make this decision mainly dependent on which language you feel more comfortable in - French or German. If you feel you are slightly ahead in German, go to Zurich. C1 I think is the minimum requirement.
Wasn’t it said in another thread that grades don’t really come into it for Swiss unis? That most get weeded out during the first year anyway regardless of their grades. So if you can’t get into ETHZ or EPFL I doubt you could get into UZH OR UniGE either.
https://www.swissuniversities.ch/en/…-certificates/
https://www.swissuniversities.ch/en/…ies/countries/
I dont know :/ I was relying on https://www.swissuniversities.ch/en/...baccalaureate/
as i said I was taking the IB.
Um, I see. A few points difference.
Knowing German might be more useful later on, the german world probably offers more than France + French Switzerland if you strictly look at the number of companies/jobs/population. But if you stay in research afterwards it doesn't really matter since it's all in English, same goes for many jobs in pharma/startups. If you want to be a technician or work in clinical trials etc. knowing the local language might become more important though.
I would also consider Basel if you want to study in German. The university is just as reputable but the city is smaller and cheaper. It's also the location of major pharma companies. But I guess for life sciences geneva, basel, zurich and lausanne are all top universities and for the bachelor it doesn't matter that much as long as it's a good university.
For pharmacy/drug science Geneva and Basel are often the destination of swiss students and they are the best too I think.
True if it's the Swiss Matura, but he doesn't have that. So some slight restrictions and differences if it's the IB or really any other "foreign" qualification.
Granted, the "weeding out" still holds true, for all universities though, some subjects and some unis a bit more than others.
If you're at UZH, you might also have the opportunity to take some classes at ETH if any overlap, or at least also to get to know or network with profs from both ETH and UZH. At least that was a possibility for a colleague in the physics department, not sure if it's different with your areas of interest.
How about Uni Basel? I have now heard that it has a very good reputation in pharmacology. The city also seems to be a cheaper option with rents and people crossing over to germany for cheaper shopping? Also
https://www.unibas.ch/dam/jcr:9e0c1a...ar_2017_18.pdf . this link makes it sound like admission is 100% certain if I achieve over 32 points in the ib( "grants acces to all degree programs"). Is that truly the case? Thanks for your help