Application Process Fast Track

(1) Application for Assessment

Candidates fulfilling the Requirements for Application » may register for the Fast Track Assessment with the delegate for studies »  Studiendelegierter / Studiendirektor) of the department. There are no forms. Please hand in a written request Letter (letter of recommendation / 'Antrag') written by your future supervisor, together with your preliminary research proposal and with an overview of your achievements 'Leistungsüberblick' according to the 'Requirements for Admission'. »

(2) Assessment

The conditions for admission to the assessment are:

• Matriculation in the Computer Science Master program of ETH Zurich;

additional requirements, if any, for acceptance to the Master program must be completely fulfilled;

• acquisition of at least 30 credit points in the Master program;
  
• excellent grades in individual courses (at least 5.5);
• written commitment to supervise the doctorate by a person who is allowed to do this according to the regulations of ETH Zurich;
• a project proposal, outlining the area and topic of the proposed research.

Candidates satisfying these conditions will be invited for an oral assessment of at least one hour duration; the outcome of which will be graded "pass" or "fail". Repetition of the assessment is not possible.

• A talk by the candidate on the topic of his or her research project
  
• A question period concerning the contents of the presentation
  
• A question period on the topic of the specialization area that the candidate chose for his/her Master

(3) Fast Track Admission Request

After the Assessment the Head of the Doctorate Commission of D-INFK will send a request for admission to the Doctoral Studies to the Prorector responsible for doctorates. If the response is positive, the candidates who successfully passed the assessment go through the normal application/admission procedure to the doctoral study program, using the normal doctorate forms » This admission is preliminary. 

(4) Definitive Admission to the Doctorate Program

The candidate must have sucessfully completed the Master program and have an approved research plan at the latest one year after the provisional admission.

The commission administering the assessment decides in which way the candidate must obtain the credit points still missing for the Master degree. In particular whether or not a Master thesis must be completed or if the corresponding credit points can be obtained with other, scientifically equivalent achievements. During the Master study, a candidate must draft a research plan that is commensurate with the regulations for doctoral studies at ETH Zurich.