After studying Korean in a language institute for about 6 months, I was admitted to Yonsei university. Back then I had no idea about Yonsei but apparently it is one of the most prestigious universities among SKY (Stands for Seoul, Korea, and Yonsei university). I heard Koreans need a really high score of 수능 (대학수학능력시험= a test to measure your ability to study in a university), some students who failed the exam wait for another year only to enter this university. Yes, it is super competitive. But luckily international students have different admission process (but never underestimate it ^^)
Since a lot of friends asked, I will share about how i got admitted to this university.
Admission Process and Requirements
First, you have to complete the online application, but usually they only ask basic informations. After that, the International students are required to write essay answering some questions. I am not sure if they have changed the questions, but for me, they asked me to answer some basic things such as self introduction, educational background, reason of application, study plan, and personal goal. They also asked me to submit high school transcript, high school diploma, and photocopy of passport. Those two were compulsory, for the additional documents I could submit certificates of some activities I joined during high school and language proficiency. Korean language proficiency (TOPIK) was not compulsory and that time my Korean was kindergarten level LOL, so I only submitted my TOEFL IBT result.
If you do have a thought of applying to Yonsei University, please check the admissions on the homepage: https://www.yonsei.ac.kr/en_sc/admission/undergraduate.jsp . You can check out some departments that you are considering but for international students, I recommend you to apply for the colleges specially built for foreigners and Korean overseas students, such as Underwood International College or Global Leadership Division (I used to study here ^^). You can see some available majors for each college on their homepage OR you can also check Yonsei main page for more available majors (do take note Korean language score is required since most of the courses will be conducted in Korean).
How to Apply?
Go to the Yonsei admission page: http://iadmission.yonsei.ac.kr/admission_en/index.do , go to the announcements, and they usually announce it every semester if the following semester application has started. For example, if you are aiming to enter the university for spring semester (March), means you have to apply during the fall semester (application is opened since mid August). Once you click the (Spring)(2020) Online Application for International Students, you will be directed to a new page called JinhakApply, you can choose the language, then you can check the application schedule and the procedure for online application, document submission, and performance test for some departments.
Scholarship?
I have received many questions regarding the scholarship in Korea. "Are foreigners eligible for scholarship in Korea?" The answer is: YES.
There are many different kinds of scholarships in Korea, if you want to get the full scholarship for 4-year study (5 including Korean language course) you can go for Korean Government Scholarship Program. It is a competitive program but I do know some friends who were under this program and the scholarship they received was more than enough to study and live in Korea. However, if you don't manage to get admitted to the program, you can still apply for other scholarships such as Global Korea Scholarship or any other scholarships given by some companies or organizations, and you can check them on my previous article (click here).
Good luck guys! Feel free to contact me if you need help!
