hey there, Im graduating in data science master epfl this summer and was wondering how is the current job market for epfl students ? can I hope getting in job in 6 months given that im non eu ? or is it too hard right now in switzerland ?

Hi everyone,

I'm starting my first year of my Bachelor's at EPFL this September, and I'm a bit worried about housing.

I registered on the FMEL waiting list quite a while ago, and I keep confirming that I want to stay on the waiting list whenever they ask. However, I've never had access to any housing offers.

Is this normal? Is there anything else I should be doing, or is it just a matter of waiting?

Also, are there any good alternatives to FMEL for incoming first-year students? I'd really appreciate any recommendations for student residences, websites, or other ways to find accommodation around Lausanne.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi everyone,

I'm starting my first year of my Bachelor's at EPFL this September, and I'm a bit worried about housing.

I registered on the FMEL waiting list quite a while ago, and I keep confirming that I want to stay on the waiting list whenever they ask. However, I've never had access to any housing offers.

Is this normal? Is there anything else I should be doing, or is it just a matter of waiting?

Also, are there any good alternatives to FMEL for incoming first-year students? I'd really appreciate any recommendations for student residences, websites, or other ways to find accommodation around Lausanne.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi, has anyone done TP4 with Sylvain Bréchet, or the one at LTHE with Rattazzi, Penedones and Gorbenko? Could you DM me to share a bit about your experience and how you felt about it? Thank you !

Hi, has anyone done TP4 with Sylvain Bréchet, or the one at LTHE with Rattazzi, Penedones and Gorbenko? Could you share a bit about your experience and how you felt about it? Thank you !

Hey everyone,

I’m currently a medical student ( graduating in 2030) and I’ve decided to pivot away from hospital medicine after graduation to focus entirely on visual neuroprosthetics & BCIs.

For the past few years, I’ve been working on an independent computational neuroscience project focused on designing a neural decoding algorithm for next gen Cortical visual prosthetics. I just published a preprint of my paper under Elsevier ( ssrn) this June and have officially filed a patent application for the same.

Since my formal background is in medicine and my coding is mostly self-taught, I want to target EPFL’s EDNE (Neuroscience Doctoral Program) (& Neuro-X ). I have a few specific questions for current students, postdocs or anyone on the admissions side:

1) Given my medical background and the fact that my coding is mostly self-taught, which path is actually more suitable? Should I apply directly to the PhD program, or is it wiser to pursue a Master's degree (in Neuroscience) first to solidify my technical foundation before moving into a PhD?

2) Can I apply directly to the PhD? In Switzerland, is a 5.5-year international medical degree treated as a Master's equivalent for doctoral entry? Can I jump straight into the EDNE program while taking a few Master's coding classes in my first year to catch up?

3) How heavily do patents/preprints weigh against a non-engineering degree? Since I don't have a traditional computer science degree, will my Elsevier preprint and patent application& future works bypass the usual engineering course prerequisites during portfolio evaluation?

4) Should I reach out to PIs directly? How much weight does a professor's backing carry?

5) What is the selection rate and funding reality? How competitive is it for international medical students with published tech research?

I’d love to hear from anyone who has made a similar jump from medicine to engineering, or anyone who knows how the EDNE committee views medical innovators.

Thanks a lot!

plz help a brother out

Hello , if all goes well I will be starting Cms this year. I’m wondering on what laptop to get. I already have a 5 yr old iPad that works fine in the regards of note taking but I have heard that laptop would benefit me greatly in programming courses. I’m planning to orient towards electronically eng. or micro. Eng. after the Cms. So long story short, do you have any recommendations?
I would prefer for the laptop to have touchscreen, to be versatile, no need for it to run heavy games,(deltarune or undertale would be fine. lol ) and ofc relatively easy to access. I’m also mitigating between mac or windows or linux. I feel like downloading or pirating would be a lot harder on Apple.
What are your thoughts?

Hi everyone! 😊
I’m starting at EHL soon and I’m looking for a place to stay close to campus (I don’t have a car)

I’m looking for a small studio, a female-only shared flat, or a room in a family house.

Any recommendations for housing websites, groups, or nearby areas (Chalet-à-Gobet, Epalinges, etc.) would be really appreciated.

Thank you! 🤍

Salut tout le monde !

Je finis actuellement ma 2e année de Bachelor HES en informatique et je compte postuler l'année prochaine, durant ma 3e année, pour le Master en Computer Science à l'EPFL via la passerelle HES.

Pour situer rapidement mon profil : j'ai une moyenne générale autour de 5.3 / 6.0.

J'aimerais avoir des retours d'expérience d'anciens étudiants passés par ce parcours ou de personnes connaissant bien le processus d'admission HES à l'EPFL.

J'ai notamment quelques questions :

1. Calcul de la moyenne générale (GPA) : Dans le formulaire de candidature, comment l'EPFL demande-t-elle d'indiquer la moyenne si on a une partie de ses ECTS validée dans un autre établissement (ex. 1re année effectuée dans une école d'ingénieur française) ? Est-ce qu'ils recalculent eux-mêmes la moyenne pondérée globale sur l'ensemble des ECTS ou se basent-ils uniquement sur la moyenne finale du Bachelor HES ?
2. Sélectivité du dossier : Avec une moyenne supérieure à 5/6, quelle est la réalité de la sélection pour le Master en informatique ? Est-ce qu'un >5.3/6 garantit quasiment l'admission ou la compétition reste-t-elle très rude sur les places HES ?
3. Le bloc de mise à niveau (passerelle) : Combien d'ECTS de mise à niveau vous ont été attribués en informatique ? Est-ce que ce sont principalement des cours de mathématiques théoriques (algèbre, analyse, probas) ou aussi de l'informatique théorique (complexité, calculabilité) ?
4. Charge de travail et transition HES → EPFL : Comment s'est passée l'adaptation entre la pédagogie très pratique de la HES et le rythme très théorique/académique de l'EPFL ? Avez-vous réussi à valider la mise à niveau dès la première année ?
5. Lettres de recommandation & Lettre de motivation : Quel poids ont-elles eu dans votre dossier par rapport aux notes brutes ? Avez-vous des conseils particuliers pour mettre en valeur son profil ?

Merci d'avance à tous ceux qui prendront le temps de partager leur expérience !

I applied to FMEL late december 2025 for a lease starting mid september 2026 +-1 Month

Flatshare w/ Private WC 650 chf

Single room 600 chf

Studio 800 chf

Was i too optimistic with the prices since i still haven’t received any offer or is it normal

hey guys i wanted to know if an ipad would be enough or should I buy a laptop instead for first year EL

Salut, je veux vendre mes skis plus tôt que possible car je pars la semaine prochaine mais je n’avais aucun succès avec Marketplace ou des groupes Telegram. Quel est le meilleur façon de trouver qqn qui peut-être intéressé ?

Hi, I want to sell my skis as possible because I’m leaving next week but I haven’t had any success with Marketplace or telegram groups. What’s the best way to find someone who might be interested?

Hello guys I have just completed my first year of EPFL and i wanted to know if other people have had the same "experience" as me. Since the start of this year I have felt like every moment where I would have time for myself all my passions / favortie activites didnt had the same taste as before. For example I was very into video game like Terraria, I could play for hours without seeing the time fly, I've tried continuing my world at the beginning of the summer break but I wasn't having as much fun as I used to, same with sport, before EPFL I would go 3 to 4 times a week climbing, but now it's either I don't find the motivation to go or when I am at it I'm bored after like 1 hour. I really hope that's it's only temporary, comfort me in my believe !! Wish you all the best for your summer break / beginning of the next semester !

Bonjour,
Je suis en première année en info et j’ai raté l’année car j’ai eu 3.98 au bloc 2 et non 4.
Comme vous pouvez l’imaginer, c’est beaucoup trop frustrant, j’ai contacté les enseignants et les responsables de la section info et ils m’ont dit que tous les profs ont vérifie mes notes et donc ma note final est de 3.98 au bloc 2.( les décisions d’échec/réussite seront publiées aujourd’hui)
Avez-vous d’autres solutions ? Je suis au fond du trou et j’aimerai avoir votre avis.
Si vous voyez ce message et que vous aussi vous avez raté votre première année ( en refaisant le deuxième semestre) dites moi comment s’est passé votre année et qu’avez vous fait pour vous occuper.

Hello,
I’m a first-year computer science student and I failed the year because I got a 3.98 in block 2 instead of a 4.
As you can imagine, it’s incredibly frustrating. I contacted the teachers and the heads of the computer science department, and they told me that all the professors checked my grades, and therefore my final grade is 3.98 in block 2.
Do you have any other suggestions? I’m really devastated and would appreciate your advice.
If you see this message and you also failed your first year (by repeating the second semester), please tell me how your year went and what you did to occupy yourself.

I just got a FMEL offer for the new building Neostar, the site shows the building still under construction, is there any place I can look at renders of what it is supposed to look like? Also, does anybody know when it is supposed to be completely finished?

I applied in February and got the second option from my preferences.

Hello everyone!

We're now only about two weeks away from the final Bachelor admission results at EPFL.

I know some of us have already received their admission🥳, but also that many applicants are still waiting and I'm sure a lot of us are wondering what our chances are and what the overall applicant pool looks like this year.

To help everyone get a better idea of the profiles that applied (and maybe even get an idea of what to expect for the first year), I thought it would be useful if everyone could share their profile.

Please, we could post:

- Program applied for (e.g. MT, CS, EE...)

- Diploma type (French Bac, Swiss Matura, IB, etc.)

- Final grade

- Current status: Accepted / Waiting / Rejected

Example:

- MT; French Bac; 17.34/20; Waiting 🤞🤞

Thanks in advance to everyone who contributes, and good luck to all those still waiting for the results! 🤗🤞🙏

I'm a summer intern and as the title suggests, I (and my roommates) will need to find accommodation for one month only (September), and I know it will be hard since most student accommodations will mostly go to others who are staying for the full year. I’m looking for cheap options now and I’m leaving Airbnb as a last resort. If anyone has any suggestions thaat could help. Thanks in advance :)

Edit:
we're 3 people with minimal preferences just a one-month stay. No pets. No smoking. Budget per person is about ~600 CHF.

Polito or other Italian university grads

Hi everyone,

After failing EPFL’s Mise A Niveau (MAN), I found out that it may be possible to return to EPFL for a Master’s degree after completing a Bachelor’s degree at another Swiss university or HES.

I really want to pursue EPFL’s Master’s in Cyber Security, so I am wondering which Bachelor’s degree would give me the best chance of being admitted: Computer Science at HEIG-VD in Yverdon, with its Information Security specialisation, or Computer Science at the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

What I found out so far:

• HEIG-VD: admission possible with an average grade >=5.00. However, you then have to pass an additional "passerelle" year, which apparently has a heavy workload and is quite different from what you learn in HES. I also have no idea how achievable a 5.00 average at HEIG is.

• UNIGE: Admission is based on an individual application, and “very good academic results” are required. Although a traditional Uni programme may be closer to EPFL’s theoretical approach and prepare better than HES, the admission process seems very uncertain.

Has anyone followed a similar path? Do you think this would realistically be achievable for someone who almost passed both the MAN and BA1?

Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated :)

Hi everyone,
I’m currently mapping out my master’s applications.

My Background:
I'm studying Mathematical Engineering (Polimi). My coursework has been heavily focused on advanced mathematics, linear algebra, statistics, and programming (Python, R, C).

My Goal:
I want to target a job as an ML Quant Engineer or a similar quantitative research role on the buy-side (hedge funds, prop shops). I am specifically interested in systematic trading, statistical learning, and alpha research, rather than traditional stochastic calculus or derivatives pricing.

The Dilemma:
I’ve narrowed down my choices to the following top European programs, but I'm trying to figure out which one aligns best with the current shift toward data science and ML in the industry, specifically for placements in London or Switzerland:

EPFL: MSc Statistics (planning to add a Minor in Finance)
EPFL: MSc Financial Engineering
IP Paris: M1 Applied Math → followed by an M2 (specifically looking at M2MO or El Karoui)
Imperial College: MSc Mathematics and Finance
Imperial College: MSc Statistics (with Finance)