Questions About Korean Universities

Student Lounge International Students
1

I’m pretty new to CC, so I apologize if I put this in the wrong category. This might be a little lengthy, but I would appreciate it if anyone read through.

I’m a sophomore in high school and I’m going to graduate a year early (class of 2019). Upon graduation, I will be 16, almost 17. I have been working as a junior instructor for and have been practicing taekwondo for a few years and I love it, so I’ve been planning on going to a Korean university to study in a taekwondo degree program for a while. It’s my passion and I know it’s what I want to do. Universities like Yong In, Kyung Hee, Korea Sports University, etc.

My question is I’m wondering if it’s possible for me to go to Korea from the United States for university at such a young age… with parental permission, of course. Would universities be reluctant to accept me because of this? Would I be able to receive student loans at that age?
Another option I have is to take a gap year and spend the time earning money to help with my admission (since I don’t have much), but that’s something I want to avoid.

Another question I have is one including AP classes and dual enrollment in high school. I’m taking 2 AP classes (euro and bio) this year, but since I work as an instructor, I get home at 8:30-9:00 every night and I don’t have time to complete assignments from these classes. My GPA is going down and I barely get any sleep. I also don’t have time to practice my forms, korean language, stretching, etc.
Since I’m wanting to study in a major that’s not related to STEM, would dropping the AP classes do any harm on my admission? Furthermore, do Korean universities even recognize these classes? I want to drop them because I honestly don’t think they’ll be useful for me, but I’m worried that it’ll seem like I’m giving up when I’m not.

Thanks if anyone read this far and I appreciate any helpful responses.

2

No, No please don’t.

There are plenty of good taekwondo instructors in USA. Why bother going to Korea just for martial arts degree?

Know that in Korea, age is a huge factor in interpersonal relationship. No 17 years old in Korea go to colleges, and even if you do, you will have very hard time socializing with others because of “big brother and big sister” respect that you will be demanded to show. Do not expect a free conversation between you and anyone older than you, even by 1 year. I am speaking of this as a Korean myself.

Also, I am not sure if student loan is available for foreigners.

3

Thanks for your response, it’s appreciated. I already know how big of a deal age is in Korea and that respect is huge.
I want to go to Korea because I plan to make a career out of taekwondo and US universities don’t have the same degrees that Korean ones do. It’s not just a hobby for me. My instructors are all from Korea and they want to help me go there. I’ve been planning on going abroad for a very long time and I want it to be in Korea.

I suppose I should wait a little longer, though, if that’s the best idea?

4

You should continue training but it sounds that, as a sophomore, you’re letting your academics fall by the wayside.
Decrease your hours as an instructor.
Do not graduate early, it’ll negatively impact your odds of getting into any university (us or Korea).
What I would recommend is your taking a gap year during high school to study abroad in Korea. Ask YFU or AFS or similar programs whether they’d be able to help you with that goal. You’d have to attend a school for Taek won do athletes, which is pretty specific.
(Have you taken the SAT yet?)
Then you’d return to the US for senior year, with full fluency in Korean, excellent athletic skills, and you could have a two pronged strategy: college in Korea; Exercise science or Kinesiology major at a US college with a taek won do team.
Are you currently strong enough to get onto the US junior team?

5

I’ll contact yfuusa and ask about the program. The only problem with that is the cost. Do schools that are specific for taekwondo exist?

Another question, what’s your opinion on the AP classes? I don’t know if I want to keep or drop them.

6

Day-to-day life in most developed countries is difficult as a minor without a parent physically nearby to sign legal documents. You may not be able to open a bank account, rent a room, work a job or participate in sports (!!!) without a parent’s signature. The age of majority appears to be 19 in Korea.

Student exchange programs get around this by placing teenagers with a host family, who assumes temporary legal guardianship. I don’t know if universities in Korea are able to facilitate such placements. If you already have family in Korea (grandparents, uncles, etc), you may be able to work out such an arrangement on your own.

7

Another source of information about high schools and universities in Korea would be the Education Officer at the Korean Consulate that is closest to where you live. Contact that person as well.

8

Well, ask if they have contacts with a secondary school with ties to a TaekwonDo center or with an excellent taekwondo team. Estimate your current level accurately: all-state? Qualifying for US junior team?

9

My poomsae would be my best bet, since that’s what I’m best at. Maybe sparring, but I’m pretty confident with poomsae. I’m not a black belt yet, but incredibly close (within a year). I also train at a Kukkiwon school.
I’ve participated in several tournaments, always earning first place (with the exception of my first sparring match), but those were in low-tier tournaments. Do you have any suggestions to how I could participate in harder tournaments so I can asses my level? I suppose I could ask my instructor.

10

Ask your instructor about harder tournaments you’d be able to compete in.
Contact YFU to see if you could spend a year abroad in a Korean school with a strong Taek won do team, and if you could apply for next year (junior year) so you can return to the US for your senior year.

11

Student loans are another interesting topic. Student loans usually come from one of three sources: the federal government, private lenders in your home country, or private lenders in the country you wish to study. All of the below assumes that you are a US citizen or permanent resident, and not a citizen of Korea. If you are a citizen of Korea, there may be more financial support available to you from Korean sources.

First, federal loans. You would have to attend a university that participates in the Federal Direct Loan program. Only a handful of foreign universities do, and none in Korea, to the best of my knowledge.

Second, from a domestic private lender. Since you want to get your entire degree abroad, with a major that simply doesn’t exist in the US, lenders will have to assume that you will not return to the US after your degree. That makes you a bad risk. In practice, this means that you likely won’t get a student loan from a private bank unless you have a credit-worthy American cosigner.

Private student loans generally come with worse terms than federal student loans. Federal student loans have lower interest rates; don’t charge interest while you are in school; will cap monthly payments at a percentage of your income once you are in repayment; and the loan balance can be forgiven in the event of disability or having made income-based payments for a number of years without paying off the full balance. Private lenders will generally want their money back no matter what happens to you, and if you can’t make the payments, they will come after your cosigner…

If your parents own real estate, getting a (first or second) mortgage on their house will get you a much lower interest rate than a private student loan with your parents as cosigners. As an illustrative example for how much interest rates matter, in order to repay a $40,000 loan over 10 years at different interest rates, these would be your monthly payments:

  • At 4% interest (mortgage), $404
  • At 10% interest (average private student loan), $527
  • At 15% interest (high-interest private student loan), $645

Whether-or-not interest accumulates while you are in school also makes a big difference. Suppose you are borrowing $5,000 each semester for 8 consecutive semesters at 10% interest. If no interest is charged while you are in school (like subsidized federal loans), you will owe $40,000 at the end of college. If interest accumulates while you are in school (like private student loans), you would owe over $50,000.

The last option are foreign private lenders. Foreign banks only rarely loan money to international students because they have to assume that you will leave the country after graduation, in which case they wouldn’t have much legal recourse to force you to pay. Some private universities are willing to give loans to their students from institutional resources, but I don’t know if that applies to any universities in Korea.

In short, you lose most access to student loans when you decide to study abroad. Your best option may be your parents taking out a mortgage for you, if that’s an option at all.

You say that a high school year abroad may not be an option due to the cost. If your finances are tight, it may be more feasible to finance a college education in the US, where you can get financial aid.

12

What’s your EFC?
(If you don’t know what that is, use your search engine).
Can your parents afford their EFC?
(Few parents can - and EFC is the MINIMUM they’re expected to pay.)

13

I plan to stay and work in Korea after graduating. Which do you think will be my best option? No one in my school or community has ever done this before, so I’m trying to figure out everything on my own since I don’t have anyone to ask for help. Because of this, I’d also appreciate it if you could give me some information about how I would carry out said method? Much thanks.

Also, earlier someone said it would be a bad idea to graduate high school early. Why is that? If I don’t go when I’m 17, I planned on using that year as a gap year to practice my technique (as I have such little time with school). My instructor also offered me a full time job for that time period, so I wanted to use it to earn more money. Does it still seem like a bad idea?

14

The College Confidential forums are mostly about American colleges. The international student sub-forum specifically is mostly frequented by foreigners hoping to study in the US, occasionally also Canada or Britain. You may not find the expertise here that you are looking for.

You might try googling for a website that serves students interested in studying in Korea, or a community of expats living in Korea. Even the /r/korea subreddit may prove more useful to you than College Confidential.

I don’t know anything about Korea specifically, but I’d be happy to give you a few general pointers about obstacles that come up when planning to study in another country.

I would be worried about getting denied admission if your high school coursework falls significantly short of Korean high school standards. For example, it appears that the standard high school curriculum in Korea includes math up through calculus and statistics. Have you contacted some Korean universities of interest and asked them specifically what the admission standards are for students educated in the US?

Graduating early may also put you at a disadvantage for admission and scholarships in the US, should your Korea plans not work out.

Many study-abroad ambitions come to a halt when the student realizes that they cannot afford the endeavour. PLEASE research your financing options, if your family cannot pay for the degree out of pocket. Be as specific as possible. For example, if you want student loans, find at least one lender whose general eligibility criteria you meet (e.g. country of degree, country of residence, country of citizenship, level and major of degree, whether-or-not a qualified cosigner is required, etc).

Since you don’t want to share personal details, we can’t help you with the legwork.

If your goal is to live in Korea after college, make sure you are allowed to do that. If you are not a citizen of Korea, you would need to research the availability of work and spousal visas. (Example USA: there are work visas for college-educated professionals, but they are given out via a lottery. The odds of winning the lottery would be about 30% per year. There’s another type of work visa for athletes of international acclaim… Both are not outcomes that I would want to bet my future on.)

15

By the way, does anyone have any email contact information for Yong In, Kyung Hee, Korea Sports University, etc? I can’t seem to find it on their website, especially Yong In…

16

Are you a Korean citizen?
Have you researched any of the questions we’ve listed?

17

This is terrible, terrible advice.
I know several people who got into colleges early; they were students from science high schools, where one is allowed to enroll/graduate early(depends on the school)
While it is not common, it is certainly not discouraged and sometimes even looked favorably upon:)

18

Thank you! :slight_smile:
I don’t receive much positive feedback from anyone, both online and in real life, when I ask this question. If possible, could you provide some detail on how exactly the people you know accomplished it? If you know yourself, that is.
I appreciate your answer.

19

@tokyohei: can you reply to the questions asked previously regarding financing, citizenship, entrance requirements?