What do you need to apply?

When you register on the application website, you will need to fill some information about yourself, choose up to three domains of scientific interest, and upload some documents. To view the available scientific domains, check the research pages of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences. You will need to upload a CV, all your university transcripts, and a letter of motivation in PDF (ideally on one page and anyway not longer than two pages). You should use the letter of motivation to describe your scientific interests and the reasons that made you apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

In case of doubt, please review carefully the following questions as we will not answer enquiries if your question is covered here.

I will complete my Master before this year summer break. Am I eligible for Summer@EPFL?

Unfortunately not. To be eligible, you must be still enrolled in a Bachelor or a Master programme at the time of the fellowship.

I am a PhD student. Is there any way to come to EPFL for a summer project?

Yes, certainly, but not through the Summer@EPFL programme. You need to organize your project yourself, and for that you may want to contact researchers or faculty directly. If you decide to do that, be sure to include enough detail on yourself and on your specific interests on the research activities of the lab. Vague and generic letters have very small chances of success.

Will you help with accommodation? Will I receive accommodation from EPFL?

In principle you will be in charge of the accommodation. Yet, when offered a fellowship, the administrative personnel will almost invariably suggest a list of places where to look for it (billboards, student residences, etc.) or they may even find and offer you a specific place to stay. Finding an accommodation is not very easy in Lausanne, but do not worry: it is never a critical problem for a fellowship. (You may also want to note that it is particularly difficult to find rooms in gender-segregated compounds, as very few or none are in Lausanne. Please understand that if you are offered some accommodation by our administrative personnel and you decide not to take it, you are most free to do so but then you will generally have to find one yourself, as the offer is very slim and we do not have the possibility of matching any specific preferences.)

Can I see the list of projects? Can I choose my project before applying?

There is no list of predefined projects and therefore there is no way to choose a project in advance. Projects are suggested by the faculty directly to admitted candidates and can be discussed directly to find the best match between your research interests and the faculty goals. You should choose carefully your interests on the application website, because this will be important information for the faculty in the selection process.

On the form, I cannot find exactly the name of my programme. What shall I do?

Use your own judgement to select the programme in the list which is closest to yours (e.g., use "communications" for a programme in "telecommunication and network engineering") or to identify the dominant aspect in combinations which do not appear in the list (e.g., either "communications" or "computer engineering", as you personally see more fit, for a programme in "electronic communications and computer engineering"). If none is close enough (e.g., a programme in "applied mathematics"), use "other".

On the form, shall I quote my Bachelor or my Master institution? And which GPA?

When you apply on the web, complete the form with the details of your current institution and programme (Master or Bachelor) when completing the fields "Current programme", " Current Institution", "Current Cumulative GPA", etc. If you have no Master GPA yet, write NA under "Current Cumulative GPA". Additionally, if you are currently enrolled in a Master programme, use the fields "Previous programme", "Previous institution", "Previous GPA", etc. to include your Bachelor data. In any case, upload all available transcripts, including Bachelor's if you are currently in a Master programme.

On the form, shall I mention the GPA in a specific format?

When you apply on the web, specify the cumulative GPA at the time of application exactly in the format provided by your school on your transcripts, without attempting to rescale it to 0-100 or 0-4 or adapt it to any specific system. Do not give the GPA of the last semesters only, nor the GPA of your major only, but use the cumulative GPA. If your school does not compute an official GPA, please simply compute an average of all your grades, ideally with grades weighted by the number of credits of the courses. If you come from the German system, do not worry: we do know that 1.0 is the best possible grade.

On the form, I am not sure which preferred professors to select. What shall I do?

When you apply on the web, you are asked to select up to three domains you would like to contribute to and up to three preferred professors you would like to collaborate with. Please, definitely do express your preference of domains but do not specify any professor if you are not sure or have no particular choice in mind. Not specifying a professor is not going to have any negative impact on your application but specifying one who is not active in the domain you are interested in might be damaging.

What documents shall I send with my application?

When you apply on the web, you receive a mail with a link to upload three documents: a CV, your transcripts, and a letter of motivation. Transcripts can be in any form your university provides them and should cover the whole of your academic career (Bachelor and, if applicable, Master so far). If you only have them in paper copy, please scan them. If you cannot obtain official transcripts on time or some key recent grades are missing, please send a PDF printout from the university website (but please be aware that unofficial transcripts may jeopardize your applications, if the faculty has doubts on their originality). If they are not in English, please send both the originals and a translation (no need for the translation to be official, you can do it yourself). The only format we support is PDF.

I have recommendation letters. Can I send them?

No, we do not need nor consider recommendation letters for this programme. Please refrain from uploading them and do not ask us addresses where your referents could send them. Note that uploading letters of reference could jeopardize your application.

Are students from other disciplines eligible for this programme?

No, this programme is only for the School of Computer and Communication Sciences. EPFL has other summer programmes, such as this one in the School of Life Sciences or this one in the School of Engineering. There is also this programme which is not restricted to any discipline but is open only to students of some partner institutions. If you are from a different discipline but with a strong interest and a provable record in the fields covered by this programme (e.g., courses, projects), feel free to apply but please discuss this clearly in the letter of motivation.

Are EPFL students eligible for this programme?

No, this programme is only for students from other institutions. EPFL has a special summer programme for EPFL students, called Summer in the Lab. Besides, EPFL students can usually inquire directly with faculty members for summer opportunities in their labs.

I am late, my school is on holidays, official transcripts take time to process, my latest grades will be known only a few days after the deadline. Can I have an additional delay to apply?

No, whatever the reason. After the exact deadline mentioned in the tables above, we usually leave the application website open to upload documents for some 24/48h more (no guarantee, though!). If you manage to apply because the website is still open, your application will be taken into account. If the application website is closed, we are sorry but it is too late and we cannot do anything for you. Please understand that we receive way too many applications to handle special exceptions and the selection schedule is too tight to accommodate delays.

How will I know if I am accepted for the programme?

Usually, if admitted to the programme after a first round of selection, you may receive an offer by a faculty member within approximately 4–6 weeks from the deadline. At the end of the selection process, unless you have been selected by a faculty member, you will receive a mail to inform you that the selection process is closed. Please do not mail and ask for the status of the application: again, please understand that we handle too many applications to enter any individual correspondence.

Shall I expect issues with the immigration visa?

If you are accepted in the programme, EPFL will inform you of the procedure to follow. Please read carefully the information you will receive and act promptly.

More questions?

Write us if you cannot find above the information you need!