"ETH is very good, but I choose Stanford." GPA 3.9+, only a period of scientific research, after being rejected by UCLA, he was admitted to Stanford and ETH!

Vitalik 2025-10-13 13:02 6999人围观 ETH

Palm 2023Fall Student D Undergraduate: Chinese University of Hong Kong Major: Electronic Engineering GPA: 3.9+/ 4.0IELTS:7.5GRE/GMAT:325+offerETH Zurich-Electrical Engineering and Information Technology MScStanford University-MS in Electrical Engin ...

Palm 2023Fall Student D

Undergraduate: Chinese University of Hong Kong

Major: Electronic Engineering

GPA：3.9+/ 4.0

IELTS: 7.5

GRE/GMAT：325+

offer

ETH Zurich-Electrical Engineering and Information Technology MSc

Stanford University-MS in Electrical Engineering

University of California, San Diego-MS in Computer Science and Engineering

one

ETH is a dream, but I choose to go to Stanford

Looking back at that time, one of the reasons why I went to Hong Kong to study as an undergraduate was because my deskmate wanted to apply for Hong Kong Chinese. I saw that my scores were about the same, so I also applied for one, and in this way, I entered the threshold of studying abroad quite ridiculously.

While studying in Hong Kong, I learned that it is very difficult for students from Hong Kong to get admitted to domestic graduate schools, and the domestic postgraduate entrance exams are like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge. For me, the competition for postgraduate entrance examinations is too fierce, and I am not suitable for such a highly competitive environment.

I have always wanted to study for a master's degree in Europe. On the one hand, there are more people who can speak English, so there will be relatively more Chinese people going to the UK and the United States. I don’t want to study in a place with too many Chinese people. ； On the other hand, the issue of cost has also been taken into consideration. Compared with the cost of studying abroad in the United Kingdom and the United States, Europe will be cheaper. ； In addition, the climate in Europe is more pleasant than other regions such as Singapore, so I would rather study in continental Europe.

Then why don't I continue to study in Hong Kong? There is no doubt that Hong Kong is a unique and charming international metropolis, but I don’t really want to live in Hong Kong for a long time. After staying for a long time, I still want to experience it in other places.

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Also because I started learning German in high school, I originally wanted to re-enroll in ETH's undergraduate program in my freshman year, and I also obtained the Goethe C1 certificate in German (equivalent to IELTS 7.5, the second highest level in the European language certificate system). However, the epidemic is approaching, and I can only continue to complete my undergraduate degree in Hong Kong. But I have wanted to go to ETH throughout my undergraduate career. Since I can't go to ETH to study for an undergraduate degree, I can only study for a master's degree.

Junior high school is a full-level child

The choice of major can be traced back to junior high school. In junior high school, I did some simple embedded projects, such as automatic cars and LED dot matrix, which I found very interesting at the time. However, at that time, it was difficult to find detailed Chinese information on domestic forums and post bars. Many module documentation was in English, and there were very few Chinese documentation. Therefore, I felt that there was still a lot of room for development in EE in China. From then on, I wanted to do this in the EE direction.
After I started studying EE as an undergraduate, I found that the threshold is relatively high. You need to learn at least the most basic mathematics and physics before you can study something that is truly EE. So I think the competitive pressure of EE will be less intense, and it will be less involved than CS and business. Because of this, I still chose the EE major when applying for graduate school.

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Lottery Project VS Dream School Project

After applying, I received offers from Stanford and ETH. Although ETH was my best choice throughout college, considering that Stanford would greatly benefit my future development and provide me with more choices and opportunities when I applied for the PhD, I finally chose Stanford. In addition, Stanford's course schedule is also more flexible, which makes it easier for me to find groups in related fields in advance to participate in research. In comparison, ETH's courses are heavier and it may be difficult to find time to participate in research.
Moreover, ETH requires applicants to have a master's degree before applying for the PhD program. Therefore, if I want to study for a Ph.D. at ETH, I have to take a master's degree first no matter what. Since I have to go to master's degree, ETH is also going to it, and Stanford is also going to it, so I don't have to worry about my dream school. My master's degree is decided to go to Stanford EE.

The main instructor has full confidence in me, he is also a teacher and a friend. Picture provided by Haha Palm student. Please do not reprint without permission.

two

My application planning: GPA is the most important!

During my undergraduate period, I mainly prepared for applying for ETH. I asked many senior students and checked some forums, and they all said that ETH's master's application attaches great importance to three-dimensional scores. Therefore, my course selection and other arrangements basically focus on brushing up on GPA, GRE and language scores.

Raise your GPA and strive to ensure an A

When applying, we only look at the GPA of the previous three years, so my focus from freshman to junior year was on improving my GPA. If the grade point is maintained at a high level, the admissions officer will think that the applicant's ability is not too bad.

In the first three years, I tried my best to take classes where I could get good scores. For courses that I was not very interested in or that were difficult to get high scores, I had to rely on transfer credits from summer classes or save them until my senior year. This way I tried my best to avoid affecting my GPA when applying. For example, the compulsory general courses are "Dialogue with Humanities" and "Dialogue with Nature". If you do not take these two courses, you cannot take elective general courses. So I took the "Dialogue with Nature" that I was interested in seriously first in my sophomore year, and then "Dialogue with Humanities" in my senior year.

The elective general education courses in our school are allowed to be transferred back from Peking University summer courses, so 3 of the 4 elective general courses are transferred from Peking University summer courses, and one is taken in the senior year. Minimize the impact of non-major courses on GPA.

*The grades of some classes in our school are sometimes given based on scores and sometimes based on rankings. The teacher of each class will explain how to grade. The scoring system for different courses is different. Basically, getting first place in professional courses will guarantee full grades.

I am the only college entrance examination candidate in our school's EE class this time, and I am also quite interested in it, so I can get first place in most professional courses if I take them seriously, ensuring I can get an A.

Image source network intrusion and deletion

In addition to the need to keep improving your GPA, the GRE is also a very difficult exam that requires a lot of time to prepare. Just like the college entrance examination, it is an exam where no pain is as much as no gain.

The vocabulary tested by the GRE is larger and more unfamiliar, so I spent a lot of time studying the words during my preparation. I memorized words whenever I had nothing to do. I memorized words even when I was eating and exercising. I brushed through 600 words every day to make myself familiar with them. I brushed through the 2,500-word vocabulary list once every four days, and brushed it back and forth for more than ten rounds. By the end, 90% of the 2,500 words could basically recall their English meanings.

I practiced like this for three months. After memorizing words in a wheel-and-wheel battle, the GRE test was not that difficult. Not only did the accuracy of the questions increase, but my mentality also improved a lot. One weekend in June, I suddenly wanted to take the GRE, so I made an appointment to take the test at home two days later. After the test, I got the results that met the requirements.

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How can I get an offer with just a period of on-campus research?

My scientific research is a project for a government department, so this period of scientific research is not a scientific research like publishing a paper, but an experience with a research and development nature. And the scientific research I do has little to do with the direction of my application. The scientific research is about radar, and the direction I want to pursue is computer architecture.

In this case, the application document needs to explore the embedded development part involved in scientific research and what experience has been accumulated, so that there is a connection between the experience and the application direction.

According to my experience, when looking for scientific research, you should do scientific research that interests you and is consistent with the application direction. This will not only allow the admissions officer to see your scientific research ability, but also feel your enthusiasm and motivation for the application direction.

How to obtain persuasive letters of recommendation?

The biggest gain I got from this scientific research experience was the recommendation letter from my teacher. Although the direction he was working in was different from the direction I was applying for, as a teacher who was familiar with me, the recommendation letter written by him would be very detailed and persuasive. I think a large part of my application to Stanford was based on my boss's recommendation letter.

Later, I went to find two other teachers to help me write letters of recommendation. One was a teacher who taught analog circuits, and the other was a teacher who taught EDA and computer architecture. These two teachers are relatively related to the direction I am applying for, and they are both well-known teachers in the industry.
Recommendation letters actually need to be conceived in advance "who to find and how to find them", it is not a temporary matter. If you temporarily ask a teacher to help you write a letter of recommendation, if you think about it from your perspective, the teacher will definitely be reluctant. Choose your classes in advance so that you are familiar with them, speak actively in class, and write your homework carefully to leave a good impression. Teachers are generally willing to write.
And this is also closely related to GPA. A good score will not only look better when applying, but also provide a lot of convenience when looking for recommenders.

Cooking with friends

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three

It’s a desperate battle to apply. How can I do it without comrades?

As mentioned above, I started preparing to apply for graduate school in my freshman year. I spent a lot of time and experience in continuing to study EE, so I didn’t want to make mistakes because of some transactional issues. For example, problems such as forgetting the time and missing key nodes. I don't want to experience the failure caused by such low-level mistakes.

So my need to find an agency is mainly to prevent me from making mistakes during critical periods. In my opinion, the institution has tutored many students, has rich application experience, and has the professionalism to support my application.

Become acquainted with palm and fight side by side

When I participated in the Hong Kong United College Mainland Students Association, I was impressed by one of the sponsors, Palm Avenue, so I asked Palm directly. I learned that Palm had tutoring suitable for me, so I signed a contract with Palm directly before the application season without comparing it with other institutions.

During the application season, Palm saved me a lot of time in researching information. Compared with Palm, I lack experience and energy in this area. If I need to start from scratch to understand the schools and materials to apply for, and spend a lot of time to see whether each school program is suitable for me, it will be very troublesome.

In addition, it is very difficult for me to write an application essay independently, and I don’t know how to write it. After the mentor team learned that my target direction was computer architecture, they helped me sort out and explore relevant experiences in previous scientific research + course experiences. The document reflected the solid foundation for me to switch to the direction of architecture and the motivation to successfully complete it.

Communication between me and my main instructor

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Regarding the diversity statement, the main instructor inspired me to talk about the huge peer pressure I faced, but I still achieved very good results, which once again highlighted my strong academic ability + potential. So Palm helped me a lot in terms of paperwork, and I wrote a very effective document.

Finally, I want to say

My application season went very smoothly. I prepared smoothly, went through the application season smoothly, and got my dream school and lottery offers. This gave me no regrets.

What I want to say to everyone is that it is recommended that you start taking action as soon as possible. The earlier you prepare, the more beneficial it will be for your application. This is reflected in accumulating relevant experience, finding teachers with recommendation letters, and maintaining grade point standards. If you do many things too late, you may have missed them and it will be difficult to make up for them.

You can always believe in the power of accumulation.

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