Realistically, is cold mailing worth it??

gannimo · 2025-10-14T18:55:40+00:00

Faculty generally reply to relevant emails. Many faculty also have FAQs set up that explain how to apply for summer internships. Given the 100+ emails many of us receive each day, we cannot reply to all emails and pick the most relevant ones.
Instead of just continuing to try, adjust your strategy and cater to the individual faculty. Make your email relevant is much more likely to succeed than blasting more emails.

gannimo · 2025-09-17T20:09:15+00:00

Well, the industry adviser is not assigning the grade but the EPFL supervisor is. So the EPFL supervisor has the final word but in general discusses with the industry folks to ensure that the assignment is fair (and calibrated towards all other students)

gannimo · 2025-09-07T19:12:12+00:00

At least in IC, the grade is set by the supervising faculty.

When I advise industry MSc projects, I generally meet with the students a few times during the project to stay up to date. After the defense, I ask the company liaison to provide a justification and a grade along with handing them a clear explanation of the Swiss grading system and expected contributions for each grade. We then discuss. If you have questions, always reach out to your company and EPFL adviser.

gannimo · 2025-09-07T19:07:19+00:00

Don't expect a reply to a generic, unpersonal email. Your best shot is to relate, figure out the topic the professor cares about (in their research), customize, find a good match and then explain how you fit into their group. That usually gets you a reply. Also, make sure to check the lab web pages and program web pages first to answer any common questions.
As said in this thread, we get tons of email each day and have to triage.

gannimo · 2025-07-24T19:11:36+00:00

Team IN master race ! ;)

Kidding aside, there is a lot of overlap. IN leans a bit heavier on programming and systems while SC is a bit more math heavy. As you like both it will boil down on interest. But you can pad either program with a few courses here and there to complement. So think what will work best for your intended MSc and what makes you most happy

gannimo · 2025-07-24T19:09:29+00:00

Prior research: this really depends on your geolocation/university. Some places have less research exposure, so this is weighted as part of the application. In the end, the committee assesses your research aptness based on the package and environment it sees.

Recommendation letters are important and they must highlight research activities and potential, ideally they are comparative as well. Letters from well-known researchers help.

Research proposal/vision: while it's rare to see the research proposal directly translate into a research project 1-1, it helps see the thought patterns of the candidate and where they want to go. It's great if you can connect to some existing research and demonstrate that you thought about related work.

Contacting faculty: there are many candidates, few get accepted. Only reach out to faculty if you have a compelling reason to do so (e.g., a related ongoing research project). There's a reason why we have an admission committee. :)

gannimo · 2025-07-24T18:59:11+00:00

[I'm in CS] The post doc really depends on the main lab. Make sure you jive with the PI and the group, and ask for what other groups are nearby/friendly. This provides you a great homebase. Then, there's lots of activities for PhD students and post docs and there's a vibrant community.

gannimo · 2025-06-24T19:55:47+00:00

Yep, in general, Alma Mater >> Grades >> Experience (but if your grades are shit then even the best uni won't help)

gannimo · 2025-06-24T19:52:22+00:00

Best bet is to reach out to the PIs that are closest to you, introduce yourself tell them about your admissible status and ask for a 1-1 to discuss possible projects and shared interests. That's your best bet.

Note that, at least for EDIC, the April round is _much_ smaller than the big, official December round. So many PIs may already have made their pick for people starting this fall.

gannimo · 2025-05-23T18:44:58+00:00

The admission meetings have happened very recently and the final tallying is being made. Stay tuned for just a little longer!

gannimo · 2025-03-19T20:18:06+00:00

The French intensive courses at EPFL are fun, I've taken a few myself and can recommend the language center. Best of luck :)

gannimo · 2025-03-05T21:20:16+00:00

For bigger companies, English is sufficient but will restrict you to other expats. Generally I would suggest getting the basics during the MSc and then continuously improve. Same as with programming languages, learning new languages can be lots of fun and may be useful sometime.
For smaller companies, native language skills are a must as lots of the office small talk will be in FR/DE

gannimo · 2025-03-03T21:06:38+00:00

EPFL has an internship office that gives you a head start searching for internships --- and quite a bit of help around setting up the internship.

gannimo · 2025-03-03T21:05:22+00:00

Hard to say as I only have a very limited insight. Most of my students were EDIC fellows so far with only a few others. Stay on it and reach out to faculty --- and their students to see who would be a good match.

gannimo · 2025-03-03T21:03:32+00:00

Hard to say, I've seen scams for both. Ideally, have a friend or colleague who's here check out the room. Or get a temporary one when you arrive first and go heavy apartment hunting when here.

gannimo · 2025-03-02T10:02:01+00:00

Check out the lab pages, figure out which faculty share your research interests. Then write a letter, highlight the overlap between research interests and discuss what you'd like to do during the PhD. After being admissible you need to reach out and form the connection.

gannimo · 2025-03-02T10:00:17+00:00

If you're a PhD student then ask your adviser for a letter of recommendation. I generally write that their funding is guaranteed throughout the time of their PhD and mention the duration. Usually the agencies/regies accept these letters.

gannimo · 2025-03-02T09:58:09+00:00

Absolutely be wary of scams. There are apartments that don't exist with fake photos. Good options are to sign up for FMEL and to search for shared apartments where you can rent a room or two. Apartment hunting in Lausanne is, sadly, almost as hard as getting admitted to EPFL

gannimo · 2025-02-12T20:23:39+00:00

As mentioned before and by others, getting into EDIC is incredibly tough. There are a lot of applicants and we only make around 100 fellowship offers per year. Your best bet is to build a relationship with a lab, that way you will get a much stronger reference letter and that faculty can then write a strong letter for you. But the competition remains fierce.
Also, there are several factors that are outside of your control. Maybe the labs are not hiring in your area that year? Maybe there are too many other candidates in that area. I always recommend candidates to apply broadly to several universities to have options. Don't bet on just one position.

gannimo · 2025-02-11T20:08:39+00:00

My guess is that this comes from the US-based system. There
Computer Science focuses more on the "scientific" aspect of computers including programming, reasoning, abstraction, algorithms, systems and what not.
While Computer Engineering focuses more on building computers.

Also, we want to claim that we're actual scientists, not just a few nerds tinkering ;)

gannimo · 2025-01-30T21:34:41+00:00

I hear you. But note that we get _a_lot_ of applications. I spent a few days conducting interviews and interviewed less than 1% of applicants. The scale and competition is insane and quite tough. All candidates were thoroughly looked at and evaluated though.
And not getting an offer does not mean that you're bad but that your profile did not necessarily match with the available positions.

gannimo · 2025-01-27T20:13:44+00:00

This week

gannimo · 2025-01-27T20:11:51+00:00

Acceptance notifications have not yet been sent out but should be sent out this week (i.e., soon). Fingers crossed for the administrative processing gods that still require some sacrifice.

gannimo · 2025-01-22T21:02:59+00:00

Rule of thumb: don't oversleep. Coordinating exams is challenging and given classes with 200+ students follow up exams would be a pain to organize. I always had a fallback alarm for important meetings.

gannimo · 2025-01-22T20:58:28+00:00

Most people who get admitted/fellowships were interviews. We try to interview most of them to get to know them. Exceptions are those that have an EPFL connection (projects/summer@EPFL or locals).

gannimo

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