Idea of Transferring to University in South Korea

<p>I'm a Freshman in college right now, planning to graduate in 3 years in math w/ a minor in econ. I not really sure on what career I want to undertake besides getting a Phd->being a prof.</p>

<p>I have a huge interest in South Korea and started learning the language a month or so ago, and I'm planning on studying abroad my 2nd year. The university that I want to attend also takes in transfer students who've completed 2 years already, and the requirements for graduating from the South Korean university is just 4 semesters of classes.</p>

<p>So, I have to decide between studying abroad, and graduating from my home university in the US after 3 years, or transferring next year if possible (I have over 60 college credits total even though I'd only have 1 year completed in college) and graduating in 3 years from the university in South Korea. My other option is studying abroad next year and then transferring if I want, to go for a total of 4 yrs in college.</p>

<p>I already have a large scholarship to my college, and since I can use it for study abroad also I know that doing the study abroad will be relatively cheap (~$5,000 more than I would get in scholarships to pay for rest of living expenses probably). But, since I'm living at home right now and commuting to college to save on money, it's cheaper to go the route of graduating in the US then transferring in 3 yrs by about $18,000 probably. This is after getting 80-100% off of the tuition rate because there are grants/schols for 80-100% tuition at the university that I will most likely get (it's about 8,000/year for tuition, about 3,300+ less than my current university)</p>

<p>I think the best option is to study abroad because it should be pretty cheap with my scholarships, and then decide to stay in US to graduate from my college or transfer and take 2 more yrs in South Korea if I want to.</p>

<p>The only other thing I want to mention is the career/job prospects after graduating. Since the education is much more rigorous etc in South Korea, it would actually be a better degree at the South Korean university than my current one probably, but not as many ppl in the United States would know about the university. Is this ok since I can just explain how high end the university is? Does it just show that I have worked hard/can work hard and have put in a lot of time to also work hard at learning the language etc.? How would it compare in the US to my current college's degree, which the size of a D1 college but considered D2 (about 17,000 undergrad students basically)? If I want to work in South Korea afterwards besides teaching English at a school, I feel like it'd be better to have a degree from the South Korean university as well (since I want to live in South Korea for at least a number of years).</p>

<p>A South Korean university an employer has never heard of will likely not have much weight in comparison to an American university that the employer may recognize. </p>

<p>You absolutely do not need to attend college in South Korea to teach English there after graduation. That’s just overkill. You can study the language/culture at your college or one nearby if that’s not an option. It would likely be best to stay in the US and save money. Believe me, South Korea’s not going anywhere, you can always travel after college or study abroad for a semester or two. And are you fluent in Korean? Can you easily read and write in the language to be able to complete your college degree? If not, it would be extremely advisable to stay in the US to complete your degree.</p>