FAQ EIT Digital Masters

Hey there reader! Are you interested in applying to masters in EIT Digital master school? Are you currently following masters in TU Eindhoven or TU Berlin? Or do you have some questions related to doing masters in Europe? Then read on! (If you want to skip directly to the FAQs, click here !)

When I was applying for this program or masters in Europe, I also had a million questions. Some were related to the program: What courses I should choose?, How should I study? Some were about living: What stuff should I bring with? Some were just silly: Where can you buy Maggi Noodles? (Ans: Indian stores!) So I know how you must be feeling right now!

I am a student ambassador for EIT Digital master school since January ‘19 and I was a student mentor in Summer 2018. I get asked a lot of similar questions regarding the program, the courses, job scenario and other topics. I tried to answer each one of these questions personally, but there is a limit to how much I can help you (Mainly because of my thesis, student job and other projects, I don’t have much free time) Still, I know the importance of getting answers to your questions from the seniors. 2 years ago I contacted a few of my seniors and that helped me a lot! Even today, when I have questions about thesis registration or university work, I straight up ask my senior friend.

I will try to post the questions that I got from aspiring students and my answers in a QnA format. I will try to include questions on as many topics as possible. But if you still have any more questions, you have 4 options:

1. Ask the masterschool directly. They are very helpful and fairly quick to answer.
2. Go to the masterschool facebook group. A lot of active students are there to answer.
3. Comment down below using Disqus. Me or someone else will try to comment on it. If your question is quite important, I will add it to the FAQ.
4. Send me a mail using the form below. OR Contact me on LinkedIn. However, keep in mind that I might not have free time to answer the questions.

And since you are here alredy, feel free to check my blog!

So let’s begin! First things first go on to Abheenet’s blog if you haven’t already. It is well written, covers most of the basic info and even I have referred to it when coming to Europe. Also please keep in mind that I do not work for EIT. I wasn’t paid any money either. Hell, this page does not even have any Ads, so there is no monetary benefit to me. I am just a fellow student who wants to help others. So all the answers you see are my opinions and are not influenced by any entity. Now that we have cleared it out, let’s move to the Q&As!

Application

Q. I wanted to know about this program. How was your experience with this program? On what criteria do they shortlist the students? Can you please guide me with the full procedure for applying in the program and getting shortlisted among all?

A. Regarding application procedure, masterschool has made a nice webpage mentioning all the necessary information, along with clear and concise videos. You can check it out here.

Regarding selection, there are no specific criteria. Your motivation, grades, experience, publications and entrepreneurial insights are some of the key areas you should focus on. You can also have a look at this video from EIT. I am in no way an expert in the subject of writing motivational letters. But apart from the usual guidelines, this what I did (and still do!):

• Show, not tell: Instead of just saying “I am good at “XX” subject, your letter should reflect implicitly that you are. You can also follow the STAR - pattern- Situation, Task, Action, Result. Also, be concise.
• Any practical experience you have is important: Projects, hackathons, internships, personal projects.
• Justify your choices - Why EIT, why this course, why this particular entry and exit etc
• What are your goals and what do you want to achieve. If you are passionate enough, it will automatically get reflected in the motivation letter.
• Entrepreneurial ideas and insights would be better if they are well researched and thought about.

Also, do take this advice with a grain of salt. What I did might not be what selection committee is looking for and it differs from person to person. These are just my suggestions.

Q. I came to know that for getting admission in EIT you need to have some work experience or Paper publication in some big conference. I have XX Grades and YY GRE Score. What are my chances?

A. As far as I know, there are no mandatory requirements regarding work experience or a paper publication. I know a few students who joined directly from their bachelors; without any job experience or publications in highly reputed journals. Also, this is not the only criteria that your application is judged upon. In fact, your motivation, grades and entrepreneurial insights are the key areas you should focus on. You can also have a look at this video from EIT.

Q. I wanted to know how did you apply for a visa in two different countries. Please do let me know the procedure, that will be really helpful. Please do contact me at the earliest so that I can apply for my visa. My entry University is TU Berlin and my exit University is Aalto University. Please contact me at the earliest.

A. Your entry university (TUB) will approach you with all the details regarding admission and visa. Keep in mind that the German universities start their semester quite late (Around mid-October), so usually they also send the admit letters a bit late. However, if it is urgent, you can try contacting nodal EIT Digital Coordinator. For TU Berlin: link

Q. I have admits from X, Y and Z universities. And also admit from EIT with/ without a scholarship. Which one should I choose? What are the advantages of EIT?

A. To answer your first question: It depends! If you are comparing this program with a regular, 2-year master course then there are a couple of advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage, in my opinion, is you get introduced to the new culture, new topics and new (people’s) networks. When you are in the second year, you also get access to the resources of both the universities. Also, personally, I like the I&E part of the masters which adds another dimension to one’s profile. If you are passionate about tech entrepreneurship, this course is perfect. However, this is highly subjective and depends on person to person.

For example, some of my friends didn’t quite like the Entrepreneurship course and felt that they could have pursued some interesting technical courses instead of these mandatory credits. Some other friends thought that there are too much (and very difficult!) technical courses. Also, each university has its pros, cons, and regulations. The German universities that you mentioned are some of the top universities in the world and indeed one of the best places to do masters, but the participating universities in the EIT program are not that far off. I think, in the end, the choice should be based on coursework, university offerings, your interests and course fees. Personally, my experience at EIT master school has been a rewarding one. After 1 1/2 years, I feel I made the right choice choosing EIT over regular Embedded System master programs such as from TU Delft or TU Eindhoven. You can read more about my experience (here)[https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/student-ambassadors/shreyas-gokhale/].

Q. What made u decide to take up a course in EIT?

A. For me, honestly, the course is a good balance between the technical and business side. In the beginning, even I was a bit sceptical about the business side, and how it might hamper my chances to pursue core technical courses. Although I was not able to take some exciting course (hacker’s hut at TU/e for example), I am quite okay with it.

The business courses make you think differently, which I found very useful in general. Some of my friends didn’t quite like the Entrepreneurship course and felt that they could have pursued some interesting technical courses instead of these mandatory credits. Some other friends thought that there are too much (and very difficult!) technical courses. So it varies from person to person. You can go through coursework online and try to find if you like it or not.

During masters

Q. How is TU/e as Entry for Embedded Systems?

A. As I said here, TU/e as an entry university is usually a bit academically intensive than the other two entry universities. You will encounter some mandatory subjects such as System Validation, QEES etc. for which you will then have to know or learn the maths behind it. The quartile system makes you always stay on your toes as you have exams every 2.5 months or so.

Q. How is TUB as Exit for Embedded Systems?

A. TU Berlin is a big university and there are a lot of activities going on in intra and extracurricular fields. Because of the semester pattern, courses are a bit spaced out. They are more practical oriented and application-based and in TU Berlin, you have the freedom to choose your electives. So I didn’t take any Multicore Programming course! Instead, I did project courses like “Application of robotics” and “Autonomous Driving”. IMO, that is the biggest advantage at TUB.

Q. How are the courses structured for Innovation and Entrepreneurship?

A. I&E courses are approximately 40% of the total credits. In the first year, you will initially learn various aspects of a venture such as business model canvas, marketing, finance etc. Later, you will also get a hands-onn experience of having a mini-startup like a project through business development lab (or course named something similar).

You will have a summer school and in the second year another actual, hands-on business task. (For us, it was finding a suitable business model for a drone startup) Overall for me, the experience was informative and fun. You can find more about these courses via your coursework.

Q. What are the research opportunities in this area in the TU Berlin university, what university can offer me in the way of facilities and extracurricular activities strongly connected with this field? I am a first-year student.

A. TU Berlin is a big university and there are a lot of activities going on in intra and extracurricular fields. But not all interesting courses are available in English. (For example, there is a cube-sat course in German). However, as a first-year student, I really doubt how much free time you will get. Still, there are lots of meetups, hackathons going around in Berlin, so you can also get some hands-on experience outside of TU Berlin. Regarding research, there are definitely a lot of opportunities but again, I don’t think you will have enough time.

Q. As I have a strong background in control theory, electronics and microprocessors. Can you tell me how strongly, these particular fields apply to possible projects in embedded systems that are usually conducted during the studies?

A. Mechatronics and robotics will be helpful in this masters and also your experience in control theory. I believe you want to pursue a career in hardware, then it would be the perfect background. Additionally, for embedded systems masters as a whole, you will definitely need good programming skills, and some basic mathematical concepts such as Logic and Set Theory, Linear algebra and probabilities. (ref from TU/e)

But these requirements are just recommendations as some of the courses will be based on this knowledge. For example, if you select TU/e as an entry university, you will encounter some mandatory subjects such as System Validation, QEES etc. for which you will then have to learn the maths behind it. This also varies from university to university and although there is supposed to be a common base, the course content can vary significantly. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about courses in TUB as entry university, so you will have to look it on your own.

Q. In what projects were you able to participate as an embedded system developer during the studies?

A. In my first year, I did projects based on Raspberry Pi, GPU programming and multicore processing as a part of the coursework. In my second year, I worked on Autonomous Driving, Robotics and IoT / Wireless Sensor Networks projects.

Q. Change of Entry/ Exit university?

A. As far as I know, you have to give your preferences for entry and exit university when applying for the course. If you receive an admit, you will be assigned one of the choices you submitted.

Thus you will have to follow the course according to the offer you have received from EIT Digital Master school. There is a slight possibility of changing your exit university on a basis of strong motivation and available spots, but such a chance is offered around the time when you finish your first semester in your entry university. But you should not rely on your decision based on the chance of changing the exit university.

TUB ONLY

Q. Housing in Berlin

A. Unfortunately, the housing situation in Berlin is really difficult. I got my student room in June 2019 (After 1 year in waiting list)! Nevertheless, I would suggest joining Facebook groups, looking on wg-gesucht and checking out HouseOfNations every month.

Q. While browsing through the internet I found this answer about EIT master and TU Berlin here. What can you tell me about the problems he mentioned there?

A. I am a second-year Embedded Systems student and there are indeed certain things that I don’t like about TUB but so it is with every university. As I said in (https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/student-ambassadors/shreyas-gokhale/), there are both positive and negative sides of the same point. Indeed, most TUB exit students do not graduate in time, but they also enjoy the student benefits such as very good courses, working while you study, free transport, affordable housing and cheap mensa. This is not a TUB thing, it is true for most German unis, people spend 1-2 years, just writing the thesis! And so is the case with me as well, I will probably not graduate on time. This might cause some monetary issues, but I have no regrets choosing TU Berlin as an Exit university.

You can also ask anyone else about these issues but keep in mind that this depends on person to person and I know students who very much liked and very much hated their universities (not just TUB, any entry-exit). Also, the situation for TUB Entry is very different from TUB exit and this answer might not be relevant in your case.

Internships and Master thesis

This section is still WIP

Q. How much time took you to find the internship? What did you do?

A. I found a summer internship in Delft in between my Entry and Exit year gap. Professors are helpful but I found the internships on my own.

Post Masters

I get asked this question A LOT!

Q. I want to know-how are the prospects for job and internship opportunities?

A. Regarding the job prospects, I would not be able to say anything concrete as it largely depends on the individual’s skill set, experience, liking and opportunities. Also, as I am currently pursuing my second year and I’ll be applying for a job after I graduate, I am not so aware of the full-time job market at this moment. However, from my experience so far, the job opportunities are promising in Germany and the Netherlands in the fields such as software, hardware (and embedded systems) development. There are also several positions available in Startups and research organizations, but in the end, it really depends on your profile or inclination. One very important thing to note: you have to take efforts to get any job, internship etc. It can take anywhere from 5 to 500 applications to achieve it. Recruiters will not differentiate between an EIT student and a regular student as long as you possess the right skills for the job.

Q. Will German language certifications boost my resume?

A. For job applications in Germany, it is always beneficial to have some certifications. Higher the level, the better is your profile. In fact, everywhere in Europe, learning the local language is beneficial in job applications. But it may or may not be a mandatory requirement.