So guys it has been a while since my last post. I have some great news. I forgot if i have already put in my previous posts that i was accepted at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It was not easy -- i mean the whole procedure of applying and in asking for recommendation letters and non-stop emailing and commiunicating with different professors and making yourself look very professional in front of other people and really trying to give the impression that you are a good catch, so they should "buy" you. At the end of the hunting season for a new university for my phd, i was down to 3 choices. 1. Eth zurich 2. University of queensland and 3. Australian national university. These are all very good universities. The reason why i got in two australian universities is because i really thought that i will continue my phd in australia. I had my reasons. 1. The proximity of australia to my country of origin. 2. Well, i have friends there. 3. the two australian univs mentioned above have pretty good rankings worldwide. Particularly for ANU, which is located in Canberra, the aussie capital, has a high ranking, at least higher than Osaka university. ( well actually that depends, because some rankings put osaka university higher than ANU, i think.) anyway, i have asked my european friends about their impression on australian universities versus japanese universities and they told me that japanese universities have a better impression on europeans in general. So that is a minus point. When i was deciding which place to go, i already have opted for ANU, even after learning about the reduced impressions on australian universities from the europeans. I thought, "at the end of the day, they will be looking at a person based on the number of publications, aaaand australia is a good country." Never in my life did i expect tobe contacted again by prof. Bode from Eth. I have applied to his group about two months back, and he replied to me, saying that he was impressed by my application and my credentials but his lab was full and they had "budget constraints." At that time, i thought that he was lying because how the hell can ETH, one of the best institutions of science in the whole world, run out of money? Anyway, i decided to send him a thank you reply because at least he did not ignored my mail and he was kind enough to take time to respond to me.
Prof bode wrote me and said that i could try applying for another group and he referred me to a group. This new group gave me a chance and interviewed me, made me do a presentation via skype and asked me some questions about my research. It was not easy and i was nervous as hell. But at the end of the interview they told me that they were impressed and at that time i was not sure if that was true or not. At long last, i got the offer from ETH, and by god, how can i say no? ETH -- i have been dreaming to go there and i never in my life expected that i would indeed be offered a phd position there. The hard work paid off i guess. I talked with my family that night and told them that i wanted to go there for my phd, despite the distance from my country. its going to be different, but i know i will regret it if i dont go now. So that, my friends, is the story why i am ending up at ETH. And i am more than thankful.
Reactions of people to this great news:
my friends who are studying science: they said "wow" and they were happy and envied me (but in a good manner)
my friend in lab: was very happy for me
Europeans: "great! Now we can meet more often"
Non-science friends: "ohhh switzerland! Thats the one with the cows.... Wait, thats new zealand?"
Friends from my country: congratulations!
Friends from osaka university (secretaries, other profs): "i wanna visit you there in switzerland!"
Friends from osaka university (students): "congratulations, you are free from suffering now!" and "oooohhh ETH university... That is the school of Einstein!"
Well very few people actually know that ETH Zurich was einstein's alma mater. Not many people are familiar with ETH and its fame lol. It is actually near Ivy league. I am so happy.
But of course, there is/are antagonist/s for a protagonist.
Robot's comment: "it's easy to enter a western university." "Don't go to ETH, that is my suggestion. Go to australia." (And by the way, i NEVER EVER asked for his opinion. He just randomly gave his opinion upon knowing that got three offers from big universities and one of them is ETH.)
Anyway, everything is fine now. I graduated. And it was a happy day. I wore Filipiniana during my graduation. Sept 25, 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment