School of Life Sciences

The summer research fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis taking into consideration several criteria including the student's academic record, letter of motivation and letters of recommendation. The application must be complete INCLUDING reference letters by midnight CET 31st of January 2015.

SRP Eligibility:

To be considered for the program, applicants...

Must be enrolled in a degree program in biology, bio-physics, chemistry, bio-engineering, bio-informatics, quantiative biology, genetics courses or a similar life sciences program and plan on pursuing a career in the life sciences. Basic Life Sciences backgound is essential. Previous lab experience is a plus.

Must be in good standing with a GPA equivalent to a 3.75/4.0 grade or higher (5.25/6) and should have completed at least 2 years of undergraduate coursework by the summer of 2015. (If your university does not use a 4 point scale, then include an explanation of the your grading scale with your motivation letter. Differences in grading scales will be taken into consideration, but you must be in the top 5% of your class.)

  Participants come from the top 5% of their class and have some research experience. Their essays show passion and motivation!

  1st year master's students are also eligible, but we mostly aim at undergraduates. (Undergraduate means the first 4 years of university training usually towards a bachelor's degree.)

 Please keep in mind that last year, we received over 500 applications!  This unfortunately makes the acceptance rate very low.  We will announce the selected participants 2 to 3 weeks after the deadline on the SRP site and by email.

Applicants must submit a complete on-line application, including pdf uploads of the following:

A  CV (1 - 2 pages)

A motivation letter (maximum 1000 words) describing your academic background, scientific interests, any previous research experience, what you will bring to the program and what you hope to accomplish from attending the summer research program.

 A short explanation of why you would like to work in the labs that you chose.  One or two sentences will be sufficient for each lab.

Copy of your university academic transcript or school official list of classes and grades.  (in English or one of the major European languates) up to the moment of the SRP application. (You may translate your transcript youself and have a faculty member sign it to verify its authenticity.)

Two e-mail addresses of faculty or instructors who are familiar with you and are in a position to assess the your capabilities and potential for a career in science. If you have had the opportunity to work in a lab, please include a recommendation from the lab head as one of your recommendations.  A link will be sent to the referee shortly after you carefully fill in their names and contact information, upload the information and click the "invite" button. Please fill in your name on the application before you invite your professors to write a reference letter. Otherwise, the link to the referee will not have your name on it!

More information about the School: http://sv.epfl.ch/summer-research-program