“C-R-I-N-G-E” is a frequent comment on YouTube as a reaction to the video that ETH Zurich made to address prospective Master’s students all over the world. Other users describe the video as “cool” or “great”. Within the first 24 hours, the video was viewed 60,000 times. On YouTube the majority of reviews and comments were negative, while positive and negative comments were more balanced on other platforms, such as Facebook.

But what lies behind the comment buzzwords? Are emotions running high on campus too?  ETH students gave us their opinions on the video – and on the reactions it generated.

“We were aware that the ‘Master’ clip would polarise people more than the ETH trailer we produced with the same agency two years ago,” says Rainer Borer, Head of Corporate Communications at ETH Zurich. “But the extent of the reactions and especially the level of emotions still surprised us.” At the same time, he stresses that the video has triggered many discussions about studying at ETH Zurich. Discussions that also describe everyday student life and include realistic input from ETH students. For example, there is a lively “cringe” discussion on Reddit with 300 comments, some of which are from ETH students. “These sorts of discussions are important. That’s how we get the conversation going. And, of course, we don’t think that someone will decide for or against ETH simply because of a video”, says Borer.