Entrance examination

In conjunction with the limitation of the number of places in the first year, the EPFL entrance exam is currently open only to holders of a Swiss maturité professionnelle or maturité spécialisée as well as holders of an upper secondary school certificate from a country that is not a member of EU, EFTA, nor UK. For more information, please check the relevant section of our Bachelor admission criteria.

  • Exam dates (scientific subjects): from January 20th to 24th, 2025
  • Exam dates (general-knowledge subjects): August–September, 2025
  • Registration period: from October 1st to December 1st, 2024
  • Withdrawal deadline: January 13, 2025

Access the registration form (in French)

The registration tax for the entrance exam is CHF 150.- for holders of a foreign school-leaving certificate,and CHF 50.- for other applicants. The exam tax is CHF 550.- for the reduced exam and CHF 800.- for the full exam (Ordonnance du Conseil des EPF sur les taxes perçues dans le domaine des EPF).

Payment is possible by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, UnionPay, Diners/Discover), PayPal, or Twint only.

Notes

1. Passing the CMS (Cours de mathématiques spéciales) is equivalent to passing the entrance examination.

2. We strongly discourage applicants from taking the examination with the baccalaureate or any other secondary education as sole preparation.

3. Applicants for the exam can cancel their participation until the Monday one week before the beginning of the exam (included). After this deadline, we won’t refund the exam fee nor report the application to the following year. The cancellation will therefore count as a failure.

4. The registration tax will not be refunded in any case.

5. EPFL decides whether applicants are subject to the full or reduced entrance examination (see program of the entrance examination below, in French), on the basis of their school curriculums, upon analysis of their registration dossiers.

6. Candidates who need to obtain a visa to come to Switzerland to take the tests are responsible for taking the necessary steps as soon as possible. The withdrawal deadline indicated above applies in all cases, and it is therefore recommended that they withdraw if the visa has not been issued by this deadline and arrival in Switzerland is not guaranteed.

Useful resources