ETH Zurich ESOP Results 2014

[dhivyabharathi]

Does anybody know when the Excellence Scholarship and Opportunity Programme results will come out for autumn 2014 programmes? Have anybody got it? It would be great if somebody could tell how many days it usually takes to get scholarship decisions from the date of admit mail.

[wcwmd1614]

Hello there,

 

which programme did you apply to ? I'm waiting anxious for my MSc in Stat offer still ...

[dhivyabharathi]

I applied to MSc Computer Science, got the offer mail, but no info on ESOP yet

[Pisanu]

Me neither. I applied to the Bioinformatics programme and got admitted - no info about ESOP yet. I also have a few questions:

1. Would every candidates who submitted the pre-proposal get an interview?
2. I know that the ESOP will be offered for only 2-3% of the successful candidates in each programme, but what is the percentage for those who are not selected to the ESOP to get the Master Scholarship? And how much more do I need per month to cover the cost of living? (The Master scholarship awards 800 CHF/month)

 

The cost of living in Switzerland is very high.  Although I got admitted to the programme, that does not make me feel relieved at all. Thanks for your answers and good luck to you all!

[Kleene]

To those with admits/responses: has your status on the website changed?

[wcwmd1614]

Me neither. I applied to the Bioinformatics programme and got admitted - no info about ESOP yet. I also have a few questions:

1. Would every candidates who submitted the pre-proposal get an interview?

2. I know that the ESOP will be offered for only 2-3% of the successful candidates in each programme, but what is the percentage for those who are not selected to the ESOP to get the Master Scholarship? And how much more do I need per month to cover the cost of living? (The Master scholarship awards 800 CHF/month)

 

The cost of living in Switzerland is very high.  Although I got admitted to the programme, that does not make me feel relieved at all. Thanks for your answers and good luck to you all!

 

I've lived in Zurich for 5 month in student housing, 800CHF was enough for me, but I go to Waldshut for shopping once a week. 

[wcwmd1614]

I just got admitted, does the email imply we shouldn't ask anything before we got official letter ? Has anyone contacted them about ESOP results?

[Kleene]

I just got admitted, does the email imply we shouldn't ask anything before we got official letter ? Has anyone contacted them about ESOP results?

Yes, that is indeed what it implies.

 

Congrats on your admit!

[Kleene]

I received the admissions letter today. No word on ESOP. It took two days (I am in continental Europe) to arrive. I am only getting more excited. It will be a very though decision if I am admitted to Oxford.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Kleene

[wcwmd1614]

I received the admissions letter today. No word on ESOP. It took two days (I am in continental Europe) to arrive. I am only getting more excited. It will be a very though decision if I am admitted to Oxford.

 Can you share when did you receive the email and when they posted the letter please ?

[Kleene]

 Can you share when did you receive the email and when they posted the letter please ?

Sure. I received the email Feb 18, the letter was posted Feb 19 and it arrived Feb 21.

[MikeTC]

I swear i will go insane waiting for the admit and ESOP decision. I can't work or concentrate on anything.

 

What i don't get is that people with a gpa of 3.97/4.00 seem to get rejected. I didn't even do a GRE since i have a gpa of 3.98 and thought that should be more than enough for admittance and it said it wasn't even needed for Bologna schools.

 

Is there anyone who got the ESOP in the past or knows someone who did who can shed some light on the profiles?

[Kleene]

What i don't get is that people with a gpa of 3.97/4.00 seem to get rejected.

Are you talking about admittance or ESOP? I suppose there are many applicants with a 4.0 GPA.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Kleene

[MikeTC]

No I actually meant admittance. I can certainly understand that people with a great gpa won't get the ESOP, since there is a lot more involved, especially the preproposal for example.

But rejects for the Masters with such a gpa makes me wonder and a lot less confident about my chances...

[Kleene]

No I actually meant admittance. I can certainly understand that people with a great gpa won't get the ESOP, since there is a lot more involved, especially the preproposal for example.

But rejects for the Masters with such a gpa makes me wonder and a lot less confident about my chances...

I think it matters a lot what background you have. Your background has to be at least as strong as the ETH Bachelor in your field. You are not admitted if you lack more than a small number of prerequisite courses. Perhaps that is what is going on?

[MikeTC]

Yeah i guess so. It still freaks me out a little.

[dhivyabharathi]

off the topic:

does anybody know any group/community for international students at eth or swiss in general?

[MikeTC]

There is a google group ZurichCalling and a lot of Alumni clubs for different fields...

[kcmw_2014]

I received an email from a professor in the department that I applied to on January 28 informing me that I have been accepted to ETH and that she would like to interview me for the ESOP scholarship. I had the Skype interview on February 3 and after which, she told me that she was going to write an endorsement letter to the respective body in ETH.

 

I still haven't heard from ETH regarding the scholarship since then though and I am getting really anxious.

[wcwmd1614]

I received an email from a professor in the department that I applied to on January 28 informing me that I have been accepted to ETH and that she would like to interview me for the ESOP scholarship. I had the Skype interview on February 3 and after which, she told me that she was going to write an endorsement letter to the respective body in ETH.

 

I still haven't heard from ETH regarding the scholarship since then though and I am getting really anxious.

Hi kcmw_2014, 

 

which program are you applying to?

[kcmw_2014]

Hello wcwmd1614,

 

Master of Arts in Comparative and International Studies

Edited February 25, 2014 by kcmw_2014

[MikeTC]

Wow, congrats ;-)

 

At least that really means you're on the shortlist for getting it. Did you already receive the admission email for the master?

 

I'm starting to lose hope for the ESOP after your story though, since i haven't heard anything from them regarding an Interview. *sigh* And i really thought i had such a strong profile to at least get shortlisted. Well it seems there were a lot of even better physicists applying then :-(

 

On the off-chance i'll still be interviewed i'd love to hear what kind of questions you were asked though!

 

Congrats again, greetings,

Mike

[kcmw_2014]

Hello Mike,

 

Thanks. Yes, I received the official offer per email on February 17. I have yet to receive the official letter though (probably because the postal system in the Philippines is not reliable at all). 

 

Don't worry too much about your ESOP application though; I assume that different departments handle the scholarship applications differently.

 

The professor who interviewed me just asked about my thesis proposal, my undergraduate thesis and why I wanted to attend the program that I applied to. The interview was only about 15 minutes and she told me that she would endorse my scholarship application at the end of it.

 

Best,

K

[MikeTC]

Well I'll hold on to hope for as long as i can ;-)

 

I don't think you should be worrying, by the way. As far as i understand it the rectorate will only decide on the scholarships after all recommendations of all departements are in. So all decicions will probably go out roughly at the same time.

 

If you don't mind me asking, were the questions more technical or of a motivational nature, like were you asked why you wrote what you did or more about your general knowledge of the field(s)?

[kcmw_2014]

Both. She started of with questions about my motivation and then went on to more technical questions when we discussed my proposal and undergraduate thesis. Regarding my undergraduate thesis, she asked about my results and asked how I used the data (what tests I used and their limitations) to come to that conclusion. She also asked me about the technical aspects of my proposal and about previous academic research on the topic. 

 

Your questions should be similar since she told me that the questions are somewhat set since they are limited to 15 minutes per interview.

 

Regarding the decisions, would you happen to know when it will roughly come out? My interviewer did tell me that she had to forward the endorsement ASAP since the rectorate wanted it already or something to that effect.