By: Sanika Wagh Semester: 7th Sem, Autumn 2024

application process:

I applied in the March 2024 to multiple universities along with EPFL through IR office. Application process was standard, submitting course mapping approvals for the universities with respective Professors’, Facad’s and HOD’s signature. There is no specific SoP/CV that is asked during application by IR office (except ETH Zurich). Then nomination was announced by IR office and then I received mail from the university for application. For EPFL, 3of us were selected, on average 2 people are selected per university. One might require to submit CV or SoP that time. SoP and CV are required specifically for the scholarship application.

Why this particular university/program?

EPFL is one of the best universities rank wise as well as in engineering and technology in Europe. I wanted to choose Europe specifically so that I would get to travel a lot too along with the academics, and Switzerland was obviously my first choice as its one of the most beautiful countries and also because there was chance of scholarship there. I also considered other great universities from Europe: ETH Zurich, KTH Sweden, DTU, Aalto, Geneva University. Nomination, application of university and then acceptance letter takes around 3-4weeks after application at IR Office,IITB.

Was there a stipend or scholarship involved?

Yes

What expenses were covered?

Scholarship was awarded from an external foundation, not university. It helped to suffice for accomodation, food and basic travel.

Did you live on-campus or off-campus?:

Off-campus

How were courses different from IITB?

Courses were different from IIT B structure wise and in their grading scheme. Grades are alloted out 6. Difficulty depended on the courses chosen. Courses usually had continuous assignments throughout semester but attendence wasnt compulsory. Overall its was a great learning opportunity.

What was the language of instruction – was it an issue? How was the academic pressure compared to home?

EPFL has French for many courses but there are masters courses and few others that run in english so I had taken courses accordingly, and it was possible to find enough such courses so language wasnt a problem in learning as such. Academic pressure was less compared to home ofc because there was no pressure of grades. But passing criteria in epfl is still high so I was regular, and I must say epfl is an academic university but still the academic pressure didnt seem more compare to IITB. Learning was focused on hands on exposure and collaboration.

List of course mapping from host university to IITB:

I did courses from Machine learning mainly and from mechanical

Academics & Learning Style:

Lectures were interactive and discussion based and usually recorded (for the courses I took). There were few guest lectures in one or two courses. I also had opportunity to present in class in the courses which involved projects and group presentations. The professors were pretty cool and friendly. Lectures used to have breaks in between giving chance to discuss with professors if any doubts,etc. EPFL had fantastic research opportunities and lab facilities. I even got access to the facilities by mechanical department for our course project, it had 3D printing, laser cutting and all advance machines we could use.

Workload & Travel Balance:

I had to spend time during week on lectures and assignments roughly 25-30 hours on an average weekly, but I did have time to travel and explore : Weekends plus I did 2 trips also during the weeks, as usually work was online. But I usually had to show up weekly once for the project work.

Campus Life & Cultural Experience:

The students were very welcoming, I made some really good friends during the exchange and ofcourse attended so many events, fun outings held at EPFL. Even experienced the Christmas festival in the best way possible, visited endless christmas markets. Even got to experience sauna. Saw traditional dance styles, fests while travelling. It was one of the best cultural experiences.

Personal & Career Growth:

Semester Exchange definitely helped greatly in personal growth like independence, finance management, confidence boosting, interacting with so many people, improving communication, living in a different culture, managing all the chores, cooking, solo travel, adapting to the new environment, exploring and figuring out all new things all by yourself. It really gave a new dimension to my personality. The academic exposure to global education and networking with international cohort of students really helped in developing my academic perspective. It was pretty different than my home university. I also wanted to do exchange to explore whether I wanted to consider higher studies and it really gave me a great exposure for the same. I also learned about future possibilities in career either professional or research. It helped get a lot of clarity and also ofcourse added a great point of international exposure to my profile. This experience helped in all ways: personal, professional and academic and I wouldnt trade it for anything. I would definitely suggest anyone who is confused, that exchange is one of the best experiences you can take out from the life at IITB, go for it.