First in your family to attend university? You belong here!
Being the first in your family to study at a university can be exciting, empowering - and sometimes difficult to navigate. You may have questions about studying, pursuing various career pathways, networking, or understanding the unwritten rules of university life. You are not alone.
Being a first‑generation student can bring moments of doubt, but those feelings are common, and you are definitely not facing them on your own. To move beyond this hurdle, connect with people who may be facing similar challenges or who have already overcome them. Build your own professional network with these contacts:
First-generation students are pioneers. On this information platform, first-generation students are encouraged and given ideas, information, and tools to support their studies and future careers. external page
Graduating from ETH as a first-generation student is already a great challenge and facing the work world after that seems to be the second. You may feel held back because you are not sure how the job market works – or what types of job roles exist – since members of your family or community may not have pursued university studies.
The ETH Career Center helps you understand the career options you may have. Use our services like this homepage, our Application Guide, our events, etc.
Once a year we, organise a special event together with firstGen and our colleagues from ETH Diversity: Navigating the Transition from ETH to Career - firstGen at Work. Have a look at our external page event calendar for more information about this event as well as other programmes.
Did you know that about 30% of all bachelor and master students at ETH are so-called first-generation students (where neither parents/guardians have a tertiary degree; wiegETHs – VSETH). For all of Switzerland, the percentage is even higher - at 50% (external page Studierende an den Hochschulen). If you are interested in this topic in general, check out EPFL’s survey with further interesting facts (external page link).
Contact
ETH Zürich
Career Center
Universitätstrasse 19
8092
Zurich
Switzerland
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