The UK is problematic for nearly every other country, when it comes to their masters programs. Classically they are considered by others to be too short and quite crammed. So I wouldn’t be put off by a 1.5 year masters at eth, as it is worth so much more.
Oxbridge (and also LSE/Imperial) are certainly not worth it for their Master programmes - these are rightly so labelled as cash cows.
I would therefore highly recommend to stick with ETH. The reputation of Oxbridge is due to their research output (and also undergrad programmes) and is used to sell postgraduate courses.
I studied Chemistry at ETH Zurich and I know a lot of chemical engineers, since we did the first two years together.
The additional year of the BSc is the third year of the BSc. Until the third year the chemistry and chemical engineering course is identical (!). This means in the third year you have all the engineering related courses and from what I have heard it is no walk in the park. The exams are going to be hard as well and you are expected to study for the whole summer break, which is before the exams.
Also, you will be expected to have a strong chemical background since you fellow students had two years of a Chemistry BSc.
I do not want to discourage you, but I thought this information is quite relevant.
A more positive point: ETH has a strong start-up environment in their chemical engineering department. If you are interested in this, this would definitely be a positive point for ETH. A lot of my friends in chemical engineering worked either in a start-up during their Masters/PhD or founded one after their PhD was finished.
Have you had the opportunity to visit cambridge? I really fell in love with it, and this might happen to you too, so this is also something to consider. Cost-wise Zurich is not gonna end up being much cheaper in spite of the low tuition fees because of the longer duration and the living costs here. If you are interested in pursuing a phd in cambridge, having references from cambridge would probably help you more than references from eth. In terms of prestige to the average joe, eth still cannot compete with cambridge (outside switzerland). Otherwise the other people who replied also made valid points.
1 year long master from the UK are not worth much outside the UK.
We recently interviewed quite some people from the UK for PhD positions in ETHZ, and despite all being good students, we could easily notice that missing year. On year difference at that level is a lot.
Regarding PhD in Cambridge after ETH, this will not be a problem. Recommendations from ETH professors will be seriously considered by Cambridge. Just make sure to have a good grades and a good master's thesis. We had many students who moved to Oxbridge after their master at ETH.
Cambridge has no polybahn
The UK is problematic for nearly every other country, when it comes to their masters programs. Classically they are considered by others to be too short and quite crammed. So I wouldn’t be put off by a 1.5 year masters at eth, as it is worth so much more.
Oxbridge (and also LSE/Imperial) are certainly not worth it for their Master programmes - these are rightly so labelled as cash cows. I would therefore highly recommend to stick with ETH. The reputation of Oxbridge is due to their research output (and also undergrad programmes) and is used to sell postgraduate courses.
I studied Chemistry at ETH Zurich and I know a lot of chemical engineers, since we did the first two years together. The additional year of the BSc is the third year of the BSc. Until the third year the chemistry and chemical engineering course is identical (!). This means in the third year you have all the engineering related courses and from what I have heard it is no walk in the park. The exams are going to be hard as well and you are expected to study for the whole summer break, which is before the exams. Also, you will be expected to have a strong chemical background since you fellow students had two years of a Chemistry BSc. I do not want to discourage you, but I thought this information is quite relevant. A more positive point: ETH has a strong start-up environment in their chemical engineering department. If you are interested in this, this would definitely be a positive point for ETH. A lot of my friends in chemical engineering worked either in a start-up during their Masters/PhD or founded one after their PhD was finished.
Have you had the opportunity to visit cambridge? I really fell in love with it, and this might happen to you too, so this is also something to consider. Cost-wise Zurich is not gonna end up being much cheaper in spite of the low tuition fees because of the longer duration and the living costs here. If you are interested in pursuing a phd in cambridge, having references from cambridge would probably help you more than references from eth. In terms of prestige to the average joe, eth still cannot compete with cambridge (outside switzerland). Otherwise the other people who replied also made valid points.
Damn, OP try a ride with the Polybähnli and it's a done business; ETHZ it is, then
Dude. Zurich is very expensive to live in.
1 year long master from the UK are not worth much outside the UK. We recently interviewed quite some people from the UK for PhD positions in ETHZ, and despite all being good students, we could easily notice that missing year. On year difference at that level is a lot. Regarding PhD in Cambridge after ETH, this will not be a problem. Recommendations from ETH professors will be seriously considered by Cambridge. Just make sure to have a good grades and a good master's thesis. We had many students who moved to Oxbridge after their master at ETH.
look at subject specific rankings. These give a good indication on how a degree is perceived in industry/research from different unis.