I’m running out of ADHD medication that I bought from my home country so I need to get them locally now. I’m currently on the cheapest swisscare insurance and I’m worried that finding a psychiatrist to prescribe medication and the constant supply is going to cost a fortune, so is there someone who has gone through this process that would be willing to chat to me and give me some advice on how to proceed? Thanks

Edit: I can’t seem to change the title of the post but I guess it would be the same for Masters or Bachelors students too

Hi,

I'm a first year ITET bachelors student. I have retaken the Basisprüfung Block A after failing it last semester, and while I think I will barely pass, I'm also quite afraid and nervous about barely failing (like missing 0.25 in any exam).

I have heard about the Notenkonferenz. What cases do they look into? How likely are they to give you a +0.25? Does being the second try influence anything?

Thanks in advance

I just finished my first bachelor year in D-MAVT. I passed the first exam session but I'm afraid I'm going to fail the summer session. I weirdly feel like everybody knows exactly how everything goes even though no one ever told me explicitly, that's why I'm sorry in advance if what I ask is common knowledge.

If you don't pass the exams, do you always repeat the year or do you take the following semester and just do two exam sessions in one? And if you repeat, I would suppose you write the exams during the winter session. But do you then really have one half of the year where you revise and the second half free?

What's the most common choice? Thank you for your time.

Hello everyone, I read here that Computational Statistics is one of the easiest courses to take in ETH, but the posts were relatively old (4-6 years old). Is this still the case?

Hi, I am starting my Physics BSc this Fall. I kind of don’t get how to create your own timetable?

Is it meant to have one Übungsstunden per Subject (I.e. 1 Übungsstunde for 3 Vorlesungen?)

Thanks a lot.

Tried to visit the ETHZ main website and it seems to be down (see screenshot).

Anybody else experiencing this problem?

Are there any German lesson channels on YouTube I can watch to prepare for the Aufnahmeprüfung? If so what are you guys' advices?

I am coming to ETHZ this fall semester. I am planning to take the German as foreign language course of UZH. I took the placement test, but got just shy of A2.1 recommendation. I am confused whether to take A2.1 or A1.2.

What do they teach in A1.2? Can I just pick it up on the go as I do A2.1?

I have a probably really stupid idea.

I just finished second semester in Maths and passed my Basisprüfung for sure without too much effort. The stupid idea I have is the following:

I like Biochemie so I want to already now take courses from their first semester and so on to accredit it when i am done with Maths Bachelor and then basically do 2 bachelors in 4 or 4.5 years. I know it is probably too much workload, but i woulf just like to try.

But the problem ist that i do not know which courses i can get credit for, e.g. retaking Physics 1/2 and Analysis for the Biochemie Basisprüfung seems illogical if i have passed these courses more in depth in Maths Basisprüfung. Then i would have to gamble on which courses to actually write the exam in. The Praktika are not a problem since i would just do them later.

Has anyone tried something similary stupid or maybe switched from Physics/Math to D-CHAB and can help? Thanks;]

Does anyone that attended the event (yesterday) know if there already is a whatsapp group chat? ( and if so, would possibly share the invite link 😔)

Hallo, ich werde ab dem kommenden Semester hier studieren. Meine Unterkunft ist jedoch erst ab dem 1. Oktober verfügbar. Bis dahin habe ich noch keine Unterkunft und weiß nicht genau, was ich machen soll.

Wäre es möglich, das Studium später zu beginnen?

Hi, I am planning to take NLP and LLM courses, but I would like to know the time commitment for each course and the recommended order in which to take them.

I appreciate your advice on this!

I was wondering, will there be a free autumn vaccination campaign for the flu this year?

This used to be a thing at ETH pre-covid, but now that the pandemic has finished and people have returned to the normal habits ETH could reintroduce such measures. I remember it used to be quite popular with thousands opting in for this every year.

Currently in my second semester of Basisjahr. The first block went pretty well and I was well above average in most subjects. Before I had the grades, I already felt super scared back then.
Same thing now. But this time I feel very bad. My friends are all very smart, and I think they all passed very well. I have the subtle feeling and even nightmares that I didn’t pass.
I put a lot of pressure on myself because of that. I don’t want to lose a full year, but more importantly, the connection to my friends.
Does anyone feel the same? Has anyone made experiences with this? How do you enjoy your hollidays when everytime I think about anything realted to eth I get a minor panic attack.

Hey everyone! From November 12–16, our uni team (ASVZ) is heading to an amazing handball tournament in Barcelona 🏐☀️ – it’s going to be super fun and an awesome experience!

👉 We’re still looking for players for our women’s team. No worries: you don’t need to be good or have much experience. If you already play handball = perfect 🙌, if not, you can easily learn at the ASVZ trainings until November. The main thing is that we get a team together and have a great time! 🎉

📲 If you’re interested, just message me via dm.

We’re excited for everyone who wants to join 🇪🇸🍹🏐

(Feel free to forward)

Hey everyone,

I’ll be starting at ETH in fall 2027 and wanted to get some advice from people who’ve been through the housing process. A friend of mine will also study at ETH, and another one will be at the Lufthansa Flight Academy in Kloten. We’re thinking of getting a place together (3–4 of us total).

A few questions/concerns: • Rent vs Buy: Since we’re Swiss and will probably stay for both Bachelor and Master, is it worth considering buying a place with a mortgage instead of renting? Our parents would help with the down payment, but our “income” would just be financial support from them. Would banks even count that? Or would they need our parents to co-sign? • Areas to live: What are good locations between ETH Zentrum and Kloten? Ideally something with fast public transport. We’ve looked a bit at Opfikon, Oerlikon, Uster, etc. but don’t know what’s realistic for students. • Other tips: Anything we should keep in mind when starting the apartment search this far ahead? I know Zürich housing is competitive.

If anyone here has experience with mortgages as a student, or just general tips for finding student housing near ETH/Kloten, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks in advance 🙌

What have been the past grade averages of the Mechanical Engineering Bachelor (Gesamtdurchschnitt Abschlussnoten)?

Hi everyone! I'm studying Applied Maths at a bachelor in Europe, and I was thinking of changing to CSE next year as I really like to learn how to use maths in natural scientific contexts like bio, chem, physics and engineering, as I'm not interested in the theory of maths. How applied and how involved is CSE in that aspect? Do you learn a lot about the natural sciences during the course? I also saw that you had the choice to have Astrophysics as a Wahlfach, which I am absoluetly interested in. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I am deciding whether or not to take the Introduction to Estimation and Machine Learning course. If somebody has taken this course before, could you please share what the course has to offer in terms of content?

I know that the following topics will be covered, but I am curious to what depth and detail, since some of the topics seem quite vague and introductory.

• Review of probability theory
• basics of statistical estimation
• least squares and linear learning
• Hilbert spaces
• singular-value decomposition
• kernel methods,
• neural networks, and more

I am asking because I want to check for overlaps with some other similar courses. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

ETH Zurich is one of my dream schools, and I’m planning to apply for a PhD there in 2026. I’ll be finishing my Master of Pharmacy in May 2026, and I’d love some advice and to hear about other people’s experiences.

• Grades: consistently 8+.
• Research: 1.5 years in medicinal chemistry – structural design, molecular docking, synthesis, optimization and biological testing of compounds. This work resulted in a published article.
• Publications: several other papers as well.
• Industry experience: I also worked in industry, so I bring practical experience.
• Leadership: held leadership positions and stayed active in student organizations.
• Awards: received many awards, including the biggest one for my master thesis and the faculty award for outstanding achievements in research, publishing and leadership positions.
• Interests: mainly medicinal chemistry, but I’m open to broader chemistry/biology areas since I learn quickly.

My questions:

1.  What are my chances of being accepted into a PhD program at ETH Zurich with this background?
2.  Should I already start contacting professors and research groups directly, or is it better to just apply through the official postings when they open?
3.  Does anyone know which professors/groups might be recruiting new PhD students in 2026? Any PI's I should avoid?
4.  What is the typical PhD salary at ETH Zurich?
5.  How long does a PhD usually last there?

If anyone here is doing a PhD in these fields at ETH Zurich (or has finished one), I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. Thanks in advance! <3

Hi everyone,

I’m an Indian student exploring PhD opportunities abroad and would love some input on my chances of getting into a fully funded PhD program at top institutions like ETH Zurich, MIT, NTU Singapore, or similar.

My profile:

• Master’s degree from a Tier 1 college in India (IIT/IISc level)
• Granted patent in my field
• First-author publication in a reputed international journal
• Strong academic record and research interests in chemical engineering, sustainability, and advanced materials

Questions:

1. What are my realistic chances of getting into a fully funded PhD program at ETH Zurich, MIT, NTU, etc.?
2. Which other universities (especially in Europe, US, or Singapore) should I definitely consider applying to?
3. Any advice on how to strengthen my application further—especially for securing funding or scholarships?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or anecdotes. Would love to hear from current PhD students, professors, or anyone familiar with the admissions process!

Hi, I’m wondering if anyone could share a course review for Natural Language Processing taught by Prof. Ryan.

Thank you in advance!

Hello, I am a Masters student in Canada interested in cybersecurity and its intersection with embedded systems. I discovered ethz's Embedded Systems course while looking for online courses to self-learn from and was impressed with the quality of the course's lecture material. I noticed there are lecture recordings available but they are blocked for non-ethz students. Thus, I was hoping to ask for help from a fellow ethz student here with sharing the recordings with me. Thanks.

Hey everyone,

I'm planning my schedule for next semester and am stuck between GIS and MR course.

I've scoured the course catalog and old threads, but there's little info on the GIS course specifically. If anyone here has taken it, I'd really appreciate your take.

Main things I'm curious about:

Workload: How many hours per week did you actually spend on it? Was it manageable with a full course load?

Difficulty: How difficult is the project and the expected outcome?

TA Support: Were the TAs responsive and helpful with assignments/labs?

Grading: How was it structured (e.g., exams, projects, participation)? Was it fair?

And of course how do you like the course.

Thanks in advance for any insight! This will really help me decide.