PhD at ETH Zurich? - Why I Left and How To Choose Your PhD

I'm not doing student coaching anymore, I moved to another business idea, YT Channel Neural Productivity.
Hey guys,
In today's video I am answering a common question people ask me "Why I did not stay at ETH Zurich for my PhD".
I did my master studies at ETH Zurich and I did consider it for doing my PhD. ETH is one of the top universities in the world, some of the great scientists work there and Swiss PhDs earn a LOT of money.
But I had my reasons to why I chose Paris instead, and I explain them in this video.
Whether you are considering ETH for your studies or you are not sure how to set priorities when searching for PhDs, this video is for you.
More videos:
ETH Zurich playlist: • ETH Zurich
PhD France: • PHD FRANCE - FROM APPL...
PhD playlist: • PHD LIFE
Chapters:
00:00 - 01:07 - Intro
01:08 - 03:10 - PhD topic
03:11 - 05:08 - Big City
05:09 - 07:34 - New Experiences
07:35 - 08:17 - The Language
08:18 - 09:27 - Great Offer in Paris
09:28 - Smaller Teams

[@arjunneupane9146]

Great decision, amazing video, and your advice were highly valuable. but I am considering for my Ph.D. at ETH Zurich. Thank You.

[@ghinwamasri5537]

I don't usually comment, but your advice was highly valuable. Thanks for sharing your insights!

[@beststudenttips]

Thank you! Glad it’s useful! Comments like this help me keep going with YT :)

[@soveivishernandez7647]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I appresciate a lot! Best

[@rafaelfreitas2990]

COOL! Such an excellent video. I strongly agree with your reasons, choosing a Ph.D. is an exhaustive task. Fun fact: I am considering applying for my Ph.D. in EPFL Lausanne, I want to experience a different style of life. Currently, I am doing my Master's here in the US.

[@beststudenttips]

Thank you! I’m sure you’re also going to find what works for you :)

[@irodionzaytsev]

Thank you for the video! You are the perfect (if not the only) person who has the exact background to answer my question: What are the main differences in PhD applications between ETHz/EPFL and France? My understanding is that in France your advisor/research group funds your PhD, so you are basically applying directly to them, while a university application is a formality. What about ETHz/EPFL? Is the funding offered by the university? You said that you couldn't contact potential supervisors prior to application, just mention them on the form, so does university make the decision on who they want to admit rather than the advisor? Does it mean that contacting potential supervisors prior to applying is not really common in Switzerland (unlike France where it is almost a necessity)?

[@malik_fa]

Great 👍 Can you please tell or make a video on: how to know the worth/growth of a professor like you said your supervisor has started getting more acknowledgements in his field now. Thanks

[@jedidiahanarfi]

Quite wonderful and informational. Ma'am, I wanna do a joint PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and Theoretical Physics. What are your suggestions and guidance, and I will be glad to hear from you. Thank you in advance.

[@WALID0306]

thanks !

[@realdragon]

Thanks so much, I started master's degree and I'm considering doing PhD in Switzerland. For now the biggest issue is that I can't afford to move out and I need better grades. But now I have even more things to consider. And is it an issue if I take 1 year gap between finishing master's degree and beginning PhD?

[@beststudenttips]

1 year gap is not an issue, I know people who took it

[@ipekpaksoy]

Thanks for great video. What was your PhD salary in ETH Zurih 😊

[@luis21598]

Mine will start at 54k (physics for me though I know computer science is sometimes like 80k)

[@shashankreddy4296]

​@@luis21598hey, I am looking for some potential advisors in physics, how do I contact you ( hoping that it's okay:) ?

[@ElectisDeng]

I also wanna come to ETH Zurich to study neuroscience, I wanna do brain- computer interface in the future

[@beststudenttips]

Good luck!

[@FutureLOKJHI]

Great video.

[@beststudenttips]

Thank you

[@modibbo]

I can see the titles Deep Work and Atomic Habits. What are the other books in the background?😅

[@beststudenttips]

The third one is "The Unfair Advantage". Maybe I make a video about it. AT the moment I am reading "Get Things Done", but it's a more difficult read for me, it is more difficult to focus. Atomic Habits were a much smoother read.

[@muqaddasnaeem6739]

what is your home country?

[@Expeditionist_01]

Who was your supervisor? I'm more interested in neuromorphic engineering

[@beststudenttips]

It was Giacomo Indiveri. The postdoc I was working with now has a position as well, her name is Melika Payvand.

[@Expeditionist_01]

@@beststudenttips Thank you very much, I just started to do a research asistantship for a computational neuroscience project in this summer. After that, I'm looking to start my master thesis related to neuromorphic engineering. I'll try to contact one of them.

[@beststudenttips]

@@Expeditionist_01 great, good luck !

[@PratimMukherjee]

I want to join Phd in statistics

[@JohnVKaravitis]

Sounds like someone who couldn't focus on the important matter at hand: research. All I hear is "Paris is great" and "I wanted more experiences." The whole idea of being a PhD candidate is to focus on becoming a ompetent researcher. That leaves ZERO time for prancing around Paris, enjoying the sights. Pursuing a PhD is so brutal that 57% of PhD students drop out and never finish get their PhD degree. And so on.

[@beststudenttips]

Well I still got my PhD diploma and I enjoyed Paris ;)

[@OscarHernandez-ul5go]

Keep crying