Student Stories: 'I felt like I was in the wrong place.'

Studying at ETH Zurich is challenging, and all students have their own personal hurdles to overcome. This short video series gives a somewhat different insight into everyday life as a student. In the first episode, computer science student Selin Baris talks about how she moved from Turkey to Zurich, how she got over her homesickness and how she learned to strike a balance between her studies and free time.

ETH Social Media Links:

[okpolihenry]

I was in her shoes when I first arrived Belgium to further my education especially in a field I had little or no experience in, my first year was hell for me. I was depressed, home sick, lost my sociality touch, I could not study, I was always lost in class, I thought leaving the shores of my country was not the best decision for me . My class mates thought I was this dump African student 😂😂. I can relate very well. Buh, right now, I have very much adapted to being an international student. I am in my second year now and fighting to make distinctions in all my courses I failed and the ones to come.i am glad I came and was able to survive.

[wamxflp]

I don't know if I could have passed my first year under the same circumstances students coming from abroad have. The first year is demanding and pushes you to the limits. Lots of respect to her and all the students at ETH.

[briannaalejo]

My skills are in art and music, and I spent most of my life perfecting and honing those skills. There wasn’t much of a career in those, and I didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars in a study which I could just pursue on the side (I’m from the US, US colleges are more expensive). Then I majored in CS. It was tough in the beginning, not only the math, but understanding the logic of completing puzzles, then figuring how to create those puzzle pieces and have them fall into place all in code. I felt behind from peers who coded since they were young or during HS. I felt discouraged and questioned many times if CS was for me. But I stuck to it, and I feel I have come a long way since I written my first code. It has opened me to a new outlook on things and showed that I can combine CS with my art skills in careers like game development or stack development. If anything I think it enhanced my skills as I gained a new perspective. I still have a lot to learn and it’s a long journey ahead, but remember, go at your own pace. Slow and steady wins the race. Don’t mind your peers and just on YOU! Take your time with these concepts and have fun with it! Even make small coding projects that help you understand the concepts better. Most importantly, remember you are capable!

[phoenix]

Thank you so much für sharing your experience. It really helps when being in the same situation!

[xvgzbdd]

I like listen to you talking, clear, really confident and thoughful. So much respect for you and hope to see you passing by someday at the ETH. Wish you much success and contentment in 2022.

[onefulltimeequivalent]

We started CS in the same year, yet I was at the opposite spectrum of the student body and I struggled a lot, even with a perfect support system and lots of prior knowlegde. I have an insane level of respect for students like you and how you somehow manage to not break under all this additional pressure. I am sorry you had to endure this weird, ego-fuelled atmosphere where everyone else seems to be doing better than you and no one admits how hard it is.

[roynane]

Basarilar Selin hanim. Ayni sektordeyiz ve ayni soyadina sahibiz. Umarim her sey gonlunce olur. =)

[ruthwikbg]

"What are you playing?"
"I wrote this!"
That's enough to make me quit college 😢

[lunaeclipse]

I finally found her again. Im so glad! Thankyou ETH Zurich. And dear brain, dont ever forget about ther okay? Shes the reason why im studying Math and Physics

[mehmetedex]

What ETH Zurich and RTX 3080 have in common?
- You can watch about it on youtube.
- You can dream to reach.
And thats how far you gonna get if you are not %1.





edit: But hey you can still have intel integrated right :D

[utkarshverma]

I'm a 1st semester student too who just completed 1 month of college in Electronics Engineering a couple of days ago. My college is in my own country, just about 100km from my hometown and I'm currently studying online from the comforts of home due to COVID restrictions. But I can still totally relate to Selin! The studies do feel overburdening. I do feel overwhelmed and out of place sometimes, even though Electronics has been my childhood passion and I have chosen this field out of my own choice. It feels like I have grown up from a kid into an adult within a snap. However, all these feelings have so far had a positive impact on me. They are somehow making me more motivated and confident rather than depressed. And watching this video made me even more relived, that I'm not the only one going through all this.

So, if you are a 1st year student too who is feeling overwhelmed with college, I want you to know that you'll get through it. Just hold on!

[sitrakaforler]

idk why youtube recommended me this vidéo, but it's fcking great ! Good luck to her and really nice montage from the time ! (and nice song :)

[walterbrnrd]

In my case, the difficulty was entering the strongly practical side of the courses. In Italy I was top class, but it was just matter of studying for your exams, getting full grades. Here I faced my first challenging projects, in which maybe my supervisors did not know the answers for the problem and I could give my contribute. After a project which I gave up, I made it and graduated. Now I am doing an internship, always under the ETH wing and looking for new interesting challenges!

[vnaveenkumar]

Being a passout, from CS bachelor's, pretty much every one in their first year goes through, this stuff ... Because it's just a part of our life.

[archardor]

It took me 3 years to get past that point. Im six years in my chemistry bachelors, finishing it this semester, became a fitness instructor and finished a coding bootcamp, currently working as a junior developer :) Keep going, you will all make it.

[saadrahman]

I felt like you're describing my life right now. Hopefully I pass all the exams 🤞.

[gabiedubin]

even though people told me a cs degree is hard i couldn't comprehend how hard it actually was

[paxtoncargill]

It may not be the healthiest thing, but when I feel like I'm out of place, I let that fuel my ego and everything seems to work out.

[Woef]

Well this is great now show someone that was not able to keep up what kind of road will these people take if they have the same dreams?

[RoxioCZE]

yeah im in my first semester now and I feel like I accidentally signed up for a PhD in fucking math or some shit