ETH Zurich vs EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

ETH Zurich vs EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) — at a glance

	ETH Zurich	EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
Country / City	Switzerland, Zurich	Switzerland, Lausanne
QS World rank	#7	#14
Tuition (intl)	≈ CHF 1,460/yr (very low)	≈ CHF 1,460/yr (very low)
IELTS	7	7
TOEFL	100	100
GRE	Not required (most programs)	Recommended
Acceptance rate	27%	30%
Intl students	40%	55%
Intakes	Fall (Sep), Spring (Feb)	Fall (Sep), Spring (Feb)
Top programs	MSc Computer Science, MSc Data Science, MSc Electrical Eng	MSc Computer Science, MSc Data Science, MSc Communication Systems

Which should you choose?

Choose ETH Zurich if you want a more selective brand name and value Computer Science & Engineering. Choose EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) for Computer Science & Robotics. The best choice depends on your target program, budget and post-study plans — run both through the free predictor.

ETH Zurich or EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) — reading the differences

• Rank. ETH Zurich sits 7 places above EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (#7 against #14). Treat that as a coarse signal: QS rank is built largely from institution-wide research output and reputation surveys, so a gap of this size says very little about the department you would actually join, and nothing at all about teaching on your specific programme.
• Selectivity. About 27% at ETH Zurich against 30% at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) — ETH Zurich is the harder admission of the two. These are institution-level figures, so a competitive department inside the more accessible university can still be tighter than the headline gap suggests.
• English requirement. Both ask for IELTS 7, so one preparation target covers both applications and the English test is not a factor in choosing between them.
• Fees. ≈ CHF 1,460/yr (very low) at ETH Zurich; ≈ CHF 1,460/yr (very low) at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Compare these over the full length of the programme rather than per year, and check what each excludes — bench fees, materials, compulsory insurance and placement costs vary enormously by subject and are rarely in the headline number.

Both are in Switzerland, so visa route, post-study work rights and living costs are broadly common to the two and drop out of the decision. That is useful: it means the choice really is about programme, department and cost, rather than about country — and those are things you can investigate directly by reading the module lists and emailing the departments.

The comparison that actually decides it. Rank, acceptance rate and fees are the numbers that are easy to publish, which is why every comparison page leads with them. The things that determine whether you finish the degree well are the specific module list, who teaches it, whether there is a placement or industry link where you want to work, and the total cost to a work permit. None of those are in a ranking table, and all of them are answerable in an afternoon by reading two programme pages and sending two emails.