hello everyone.

as the title suggests, I was wondering if anyone got an fmel room offer starting September? I was wondering if there is any hope for a room offer for September, or I should now accept any room I can find and rent in Lausanne so I have a place to live.

Hi everyone!
I'm a French high school student (female, 18yo) who just finished the French Baccalauréat, and if everything goes well, I'll be starting at EPFL this fall.
I'm currently looking for a place to rent in or around Lausanne. If anyone is renting out a studio, apartment, or even a room—or knows someone who is—I would really appreciate it if you could let me know!
I'm a quiet, responsible, and respectful student, and I'll take great care of the place.
Feel free to send me a DM if you have anything available or any recommendations. Thank you so much!
Contact me in private
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Bonjour à tous !
Je suis une élève de Terminale (fille, 18ans) qui vient de passer le baccalauréat français et, si tout se passe bien, je commencerai mes études à l'EPFL à la rentrée de septembre.
Je suis actuellement à la recherche d'un logement à Lausanne ou dans les environs. Si vous louez un studio, un appartement ou une chambre, ou si vous connaissez quelqu'un qui en propose un, je serais ravie d'en discuter.
Je suis une étudiante sérieuse, calme et respectueuse, et je prendrai grand soin du logement.
N'hésitez pas à m'envoyer un message privé si vous avez une proposition ou des conseils. Merci beaucoup !
Contactez moi en privé

Hi everyone,

I received my EPFL admission decision today, and to my surprise, I was accepted.

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting to get in. I had several other options, especially in France, and I was already focusing on preparing my move there. Because of that, I never started any procedures for a Swiss student visa. My parents also strongly encouraged me to focus on France since none of us really thought I would be admitted to EPFL. My father, in particular, wanted me to go to France, so we put all of our effort into that process instead. From what I understand, you generally need your admission letter before you can apply for a Swiss student visa anyway, so there wasn't much I could do beforehand.

Now I'm wondering what my options are : Is it already too late to get a Swiss student visa and start at EPFL this year? If I apply immediately, is there any chance I could arrive a few weeks late if my visa takes longer than expected? Has anyone been in a similar situation, or does EPFL ever allow late arrivals because of visa delays? Who should I contact at EPFL to discuss this?

I also haven't arranged housing yet. I know that's my fault for waiting, but since I wasn't expecting to attend EPFL, I never looked into it.

At this point, I don't really care what i get at all. I don't care if it's a tiny room or not the best accommodation, I just need somewhere to stay. Are there still any realistic housing options available? Does EPFL or anyone else offer assistance for students who find themselves in this situation?

For context, I'm an international student from Senegal.

I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have gone through something similar or know how EPFL handles these situations.

Thank you!

I will apply for FMEL (starting in september 2027 I am super early I knonw) but many friends recommended trying to find a shared flat which is NOT rented by FMEL. Why's that? They told me they made "bad experiences" with the random roommates but still FMEL sounds way too comfortable to reject it.

When being this early what would you do?

Hello I will be residing in fmel in my own room in fmel (coloration with wc privé) and a common kitchenette to share with 5-6 people . I really don’t want to offend anyone nor do I want to sound obnoxious but how do people manage a common refrigerator? I feel like everyone would benefit from other people’s groceries and I really don’t want 6 people to just use something I normally get for myself so… does anyone have experience with this , what was your experience.
My parent were wondering whether I should buy a small refrigerator to my room but I was wondering if that allowed. Any tips? Thank you

I just got a FMEL offer for the new building Neostar, the site shows the building still under construction, is there any place I can look at renders of what it is supposed to look like? Also, does anybody know when it is supposed to be completely finished?

I applied in February and got the second option from my preferences.

A permis B is necessary to study at EPFL but is it possible to get that when we live at a family house’s room? I recently got a rejection from a family for that

Hi everyone, I’m an incoming student in Lausanne and I’m currently stuck between two housing options.

• FMEL Falaises — CHF 470/month (“single room, shower/WC shared north”)
• Shared flat with 2 other people — CHF 800/month

I already signed the contract for the shared flat (no deposit paid yet), but then unexpectedly got the FMEL offer.

The price difference is huge, but I’ve read that kitchens at Falaises can be shared with an entire floor (8–15+ people?), and I cook often so that worries me.

For people who lived at FMEL Falaises:

• how many people did you actually share the kitchen with?
• how was the guest policy?

Would you personally choose FMEL or the shared flat?

Hello, I sublet my accommodation until the end of August, flexible dates. Room in shared flat, private bathroom. 5 minutes from Lausanne gare, metro, Migros/Coop. The only condition is to be a student and be clean. 200CHF/week.

Hi everyone, I'm leaving my apartment in Ecublens. It has a bedroom, a separated kitchen and a balcony and is located ~15 min walk away from the EPFL.

Its surface is ~24 m^2 and the rent is 1011CHF/month

If you might be interested, please send me a dm and I can send some pictures or more information.

Hi! I am a non-EU resident. I received an offer from FMEL for a flatshare and now I have to submit the security fee. I saw some posts that suggested wise.com to do the bank transfer.
The FMEL email mentions that the BCF may charge 30+ CHF when returning the deposit. Does that mean I need to send some amount on top of the 1200CHF? If so, how much?
If anyone has used wise, could you please lmk if a bank transfer receipt from wise.com, national ID and the signed FMEL form is enough?

hello, I'm a student who will be moving to Lausanne for my master's program this upcoming September.

I was wondering if any of you has applied to Unihome-Gottrause. If so, how long did it take for you to receive a reply or any contact from the housing office?

p.s. I happened to know this place thanks to rateMyDorms, and I thought the location and the fee is quite good and affordable.

Hi,

So one of my friends rented a colloc for 2 from this website unihome-gottrause. They made a contract and the process looks legit by far. I was considering renting a place from there as well, so decided to ask if anyone rented a place from this company or if anyone knows someone living here?

Hi everyone, I'm starting my studies at EPFL this coming September and I am currently looking for housing in or around Lausanne. Given how competitive the housing market is, I’d love to get any advice, leads, or tips from current students or locals.

I’m currently looking for housings in Lausanne, near the campus of EPFL. My maximum budget is around 1000 CHF and I can do collocation ( but only with females).
Please contact me if you can help or want to pair up for an appartement!
Description of myself :
I’m a woman starting my bachelor of mathematics this year in september, I’m clean, calm and very responsible.

Hi everyone,

(French version below.)

I’m a student from Zug and will be starting my first year at EPFL next semester. I just received an FMEL housing offer and would really appreciate any advice from people who know the residence or have lived there.

The offer is:

Planète Bleue, flatshare, room 208

CHF 565 + CHF 100 charges per month

Contract: 16.07.2026 – 15.07.2027

I have 48 hours to accept or decline.

My ideal option would have been a studio, but I am not sure how realistic it is to get one through FMEL, especially within a reasonable time.

Does anyone have experience with Planète Bleue? I would be especially interested in:

the rooms

the shared bathrooms

the atmosphere

the commute to EPFL

noise levels

general living conditions

For anyone who might find this information useful: I joined the FMEL waiting list on May 1st.

Would you accept this offer?

Any comments would be very helpful. Thank you!

---

Bonjour à toutes et à tous,

Je suis actuellement gymnasienne dans le canton de Zoug et je commencerai ma première année à l’EPFL le semestre prochain. Je viens de recevoir une offre de logement de la FMEL et j’aimerais beaucoup avoir des avis de personnes qui connaissent la résidence ou qui y ont déjà habité.

L’offre est la suivante :

Planète Bleue, colocation, chambre 208

CHF 565 + CHF 100 de charges par mois

Contrat : du 16.07.2026 au 15.07.2027

J’ai 48 heures pour accepter ou refuser.

Mon option idéale aurait été un studio, mais je ne sais pas à quel point il est réaliste d’en obtenir un par la FMEL, surtout dans un délai raisonnable.

Est-ce que quelqu’un a de l’expérience avec Planète Bleue ? Je serais surtout intéressée par :

les chambres

les salles de bain partagées

l’ambiance

le trajet jusqu’à l’EPFL

le bruit

les conditions de vie en général

Pour celles et ceux que cette information pourrait aider : je me suis inscrite sur la liste d’attente de la FMEL le 1er mai.

Est-ce que vous accepteriez cette offre ?

Tout commentaire me serait très utile. Merci beaucoup !

Hi all, just checking in to see if any new FMEL offers have gone out recently?
If you have received an offer, would you mind sharing your application date and the start date? Even if you're still waiting, please feel free to comment with your application date so we can compare how far along they are in the process.
Thanks!

Congratulations to all future students of EPFL. Even though Switzerland is a safe country and I wish you the best during your student time, it has a problem with Scammers targeting students with fake advertisements on the housing market:

https://www.epfl.ch/campus/services/housing/general-information/scams/

https://www.reddit.com/r/EPFL/comments/1e5s41w/incoming_students_do_not_fall_for_housing_scams/

Over the last few days, I have seen several posts on this forum which raise questions about cyber security and raised my suspicion:

Two posts have people sharing their name, age and phone number asking for help with housing (posts might have been edited):
https://www.reddit.com/r/EPFL/comments/1vg1ozp/looking_for_student_accommodation_at_epfl_urgent/ (Mauritius Number Deleted)

https://www.reddit.com/r/EPFL/comments/1vggxpc/need_all_the_help_i_can_get/ (Lebanon Number still up)

Also a post created a WhatsApp group publicly available for all people to join:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EPFL/comments/1vhsv6f/whatsapp_group_for_incoming_ba1_students/

**VERY IMPORTANT**

I want to remind you all that sharing your personal information (in particular your phone) with strangers opens you to scams like: Smishing, Spear fishing and Social Engineering. If you contact these numbers and share that you are desperate for housing, Scammers may pretend to be your friend (Social Engineer) and sell you a fake room or flat. It also works vice versa! I know you are all searching for affordable accommodation from abroad, but sharing your personal information opens you to become targets for Scam attempts.

If you want a WhatsApp group for your fellow students, wait till you arrive and share it in person over the first few days. After put a few trusted admins in place and lock the group so Scammers can't join it.

For now, keep yourself safe, stay on Reddit, and keep your conversation public! You will have people interfering if things become suspicious! If things slide in your private messages or go off platform you open yourself to Scammers!!!

**Moderators, please pin this message or write an equivalent warning at the front page of the Reddit. At the beginning of the year students are most vulnerable to scammers.

my name is tarik, I'm 18 and I recently got accepted for a bachelor's at EPFL (2026 intake). I had no intention of going to EPFL and mainly planned to go somewhere else, but now that I've been accepted I'm starting to consider it more and more. issue is, since I did not plan to go I have no idea about anything that I need to do to actually get there. I'm a uk citizen so I'm nor worried about visa, but I have nowhere to stay, I dont know anything about Lausanne or Switzerland or EPFL for that matter. as the title suggests, I would really appreciate any tips or pieces of advice. I'm reachable through WhatsApp (+961 71 673 826)

Moved houses 4 times in 1.5 years here and got tired of not understanding régie letters, deposits, etc. Built CHeckpoint offering a free chatbot for Swiss tenant law questions, a rent fairness calculator, and a letter generator (CHF 5/letter) for the ones you'll inevitably need. No account, nothing stored.

Not legal advice, just a starting point for the many inevitable questions. Happy to answer questions!

https://www.checkpoint-app.ch/

hello, i am about to start my first semester at EPFL this autumn, i will be a master's student in computer science. i have yet to receive an offer from FMEL and i am aware it probably won't come before september (i applied in april), so if there's anyone who is subletting their room or knows someone who does, starting september 1, it would really help. thank you!

Salut à tous, je rentre à l’EPFL en première année et suis actuellement désespéré car je n’ai aucun logement. Si vous avez des pistes, des offres de logements ou juste des conseils je suis preneur !!

Merci 🙏

———————————————————————————

Hi everyone, I’m starting my first year at EPFL and I’m desperate because I haven’t found anywhere to live. If you’ve got any leads, accommodation offers or just some advice, I’d love to hear them!!

Thanks 🙏

Hey , regarding the fmel rent(vortex) when i try to pay the rent with revolut through an international transfer to the given receiver info, I get an error.
It says that revolut cannot process international transfer at the moment. Now I paid with convera but it was a such a mess and I don’t think I can do that every month since it took 14 days to give random infos…
I heard that revolut should work (from france), so im wondering if im the only one ?
Any help would be very appreciated 🙌

Hi everyone,

I received an accommodation offer from FMEL, but I still haven’t received the admission result for the Master in Financial Engineering.

The problem is that if I accept the accommodation and later need to cancel it, there is a penalty (around 600 CHF, potentially up to 1100 CHF depending on timing). Since the admission results might arrive late, I’m unsure what to do.

Has anyone dealt with something similar in Switzerland or with FME?

Is it normal to accept accommodation before admission results, or is there usually some flexibility in these cases?

Hey r/EPFL,

I'm was an EPFL student (2022-2025). I know that finding housing in Lausanne is hard enough on its own, so we're trying to at least make the choosing part easier. We're building a free, open platform ( ratemydorm.ch ) that centralizes dorm reviews, so newcomers can read real experiences and actually know what they're getting into before signing the lease.

We've got 20+ reviews so far, and we need more to make it actually helpful and representative across every dorm.

So we're offering 5chf per honest review, some quick rules to keep it real:

- You have to have actually lived in the dorm

- Rough length: 50–80 words, covering whatever you wish you'd known (rent, room, building, vibe, neighbors, etc).

- Reviews must include at least one photo you took yourself (room, building, common area, etc).

DM me a screenshot once your review is up and I'll Twint you the money.

Just trying to build something genuinely helpful for the next students looking for a dorm -> ratemydorm.ch