Education

Application and Admission

Entry Requirements

Candidates must hold a Bachelor’s degree either with an engineering profile or a management/economics profile and with a minimum average grade of 4.5 or equivalent over the entire Bachelor’s program.

The admission is based on the quality of the application: excellent academic record, relevance of the Bachelor’s degree and motivation of the candidate (i.e. proven interest in topics related to sustainable management and technology).

Holders of a degree from a Swiss University of Applied Sciences, i.e. HES/FHS, are not eligible.

  • Candidates with a Bachelor degree in Engineering should have a strong achievement record in courses related to economic and management reasoning and modelling.
  • Candidates with a Bachelor degree in Management/Economics should have a strong achievement record in data science and quantitative methods (e.g., probability and statistics, econometrics, machine learning, etc.).

Prerequisites

The goal of these prerequisites is to achieve a class composition where interactions between students with different profiles will be as fruitful as possible.

In addition, since graduates of the program should be able to master data analysis methods, candidates with a management/economics profile should have a demonstrated appetite for and a solid preparation in quantitative disciplines.

It is recommended to have previously taken courses in the following quantitative areas as they are relevant preparation for the content of the Master SMT:

  • Probability and statistics
  • Data analysis
  • Programming, in particular with the programming languages Python and STATA
  • Econometrics
  • Operations Research
  • Operations management
  • Decision sciences
  • Macro- and micro-economics

In addition, as the program is demanding in quantitative disciplines, we ask average grades of 5.0/6.0 in the quantitative disciplines mentioned above.

Application Process

Applications can be filled online:

  • from the beginning of November to the 15th of December, or
  • from the 16th of December to the 15th of April.

Applicants who, if accepted, would need a visa to study in Switzerland are strongly advised to apply for the December deadline in order to allow for the completion of the visa procedure, which can take up to 3 months.

Admission Decisions

Admission decisions are made jointly by the SMT Admission Commission and EPFL’s admissions committee on the basis of quantitative standards, including grade-point average, letters of recommendation, and the candidate’s background and motivation letter.

  • Decisions are sent end of March for applications registered by the 15th of December and end of June for the applications registered by the 15th of April.

Regardless of which deadline you choose to meet, SMT studies begin in mid-September following acceptance. Only one application per student and per year will be processed. An intensive language course is offered to all accepted candidates. It starts 4 weeks before the beginning of the semester.