ETH Zurich
Environmental Science
RejectedMastersInternational (my highest degree is from USA)
Application Details
- Institution
- ETH Zurich
- Program
- Environmental Science
- Degree Type
- Masters
- Degree's Country of Origin
- International (my highest degree is from USA)
- Decision
- Rejected
- Notification
- on 20/03/2019 via E-mail
- Undergrad GPA
- 3.70
- GRE General
- 169
- GRE Verbal
- 160
- Analytical Writing
- 3.50
- Notes
- This is probably the most upsetting thing that happened to me recently (among a lot of other upsetting stuff...). My background: UC Berkeley undergrad majoring in environmental science. GPA 3.7/4.0. GRE V160/Q169. I did some research for two years. OK SOP. One good (I suppose) recommendation letter from a Berkeley faculty member whom I have been working with. From what I read from past posts, I know ETH probably is just looking for a great GPA. Although a 3.7 is not particularly excellent, it is unlikely a dealbreaker. I wouldn't say my SOP is great, but it should be ok since it was good enough to get me into a Ph.D. program in the States. The research experience may not seem outstanding (no publications). However, I doubt this is an important part when it comes to the admission process at ETH. The only possible reason I can think of is that our courses required for environmental science major at Berkeley do not match well with those at ETH (again there is a lot of flexibility in interpreting the substances of the courses). Apparently, the fact that Berkeley is ranked No.1 (arguably) in the field did not make up for it. And also that thing about the withdraw button... According to the if the button first disappears and then shows up again it is likely an admission. Nonetheless, this was not the case for me. My withdraw button disappeared on Feb. 12th and came back to the application portal on March 4th. It made me think I was about to get in. Then on the morning of March 11th, I received a rejection email. Perhaps I will never find out why. Anyway given that this is a school I have been dreaming about going for almost two years, I am thinking about appealing the decision but have not found any info on that process. I read there is such a process for a couple of other schools in Switzerland. If anyone knows anything about the appeal process at ETH, please share it with me. Thank you! And I hope this post would be useful for future applicants.
Institution Statistics
Acceptance Rate
56.5%
Avg. Notification Date
March 14
This data is estimated based on applicant submissions at The GradCafe.
Timeline
Received notification of Rejection