Masters in statistics ETH

[thanos1]

Dear all,

I have just applied to masters in statistics ETH Zurich. My background is in economics and econometrics.

I have met in person with the study coordinator of the department before applying and he was impressed by my GRE quantitative score which is 169/170 and he said they do not care at all about verbal scores. However AWA was considered something nice to have.I also have an IELTS of 7.5 but they also do not care how high it is along as it is above 7.

Further more i cover all the  prerequisites of this program which is not much to be honest (17 ects in math modules and 4 in computer science). I have also a GPA of 8.35/10 which  places me top of my class among 42 students.Here in Greece a gpa above 8 is considered very high but I do not know what ETH thinks about that. I have included 3 letters of recommendations  from professors . One of them was the professor of econometrics who highlighted my strong quantitative background, the other two i have helped them with quantiative and programming projects.

The study coordinator strongly encouraged me to apply and said that the acceptance rate is around 23% but it could be higher because people get accepted and then decide to go to other universities particularly in US or Oxbridge.

I have also been working as a data analyst/ data scientist for the past 3.5 years in order to cover the expensive living costs of Zurich but he also said that relevant work experience does not count much.

It’s the only university I have applied to. I hope that the study coordinator was not lying to me and told me that I have solid chances of getting accepted.

I was just browsing ETH results here in gradcaffe and there were people with very high GRE scores, IELTS etc etc. and still they got rejected but people with no GRE or not good lors still got in so it looks like a lottery to me. What does ETH really looks for in your application?