It was a pretty big hassle because I had to get my hands on my transcript which I had to dig out from piles and piles of stuff (I should be more organized!) and then I had to get my mom to scan a copy of my graduation certificate - which I was not happy to see again because I did not like the photo they used for me! I also had to write a statement of purpose to... I guess state my purpose of why I want to learn Korean at the institution? I wonder how much that ways into their decision or if they just want to make sure you are sane (normal?) and then admit you. In all honesty, I didn't put too much effort in the statement of purpose and typed it up in only a couple minutes - around 3 paragraphs I think stating this, that, and such.
Info on the documents required for the application can be found here:
http://lei.snu.ac.kr/site/en/klec/regular/application.jsp
At the bottom of the page, you will find the application button. However, you will need to first make an account in order to apply! The sign-up button can be found at the top of the page.
The MOST difficult part of the application process was having the pay for the application fee, which is 50,000 won. There are two ways to pay, one is through credit card (online) and the other is through wire transfer. It took me a total of THREE (yes 3!) weeks to finally get my application payment through to SNU. Why did it take so long?
1. At first I wanted to pay through credit card online as it would only be around $50 CAD. And so I installed the plugin but somehow the plugin just would not start up properly on my computer at the time (my first try!). And I tried and tried and tried and it just would not work. Mind you, this was on MOZILLA FIREFOX.
2. Because my previous attempt at paying through credit card did not work, I decided to go to the bank to fill out a wire transfer form to get my money transferred to their bank account. When I finally got to the bank, the bank representative told me that they could not wire any money for me if I did not have my passport. And so I went home and decided that I would go another day. So after a couple of days I brought my passport with me to the bank! After filling out all the required forms and such, the representative started typing away at his computer only to realize that for some reason THEY DON'T TRANSFER IN KOREAN CURRENCY!! Are you kidding me?! How can you not be able to convert to korean currency? That should be one of the most common conversions, especially in the vancouver area where so many koreans live. I asked the representative if it mattered if I transferred it in CAD and he said he would ask his representative. After a couple minutes the representative said that they used to be able to convert to won but for some reason they changed it. And also she wasn't sure if the korean bank would be able to take foreign currency and if it were to be rejected, my transfer fees would just go bye-bye :c And so I decided that I would go back home and call SNU LEI to ask if it was possible to transfer them CAD.
3. When I called SNU LEI, a lady picked up and told me that they accepted it but that it would be easier for me to pay online. I told her that it would not open the plugin for me and she said that I would need to use Internet Explorer as the plugin doesn't work on any other browser. Oh great! No wonder... and I spent all that time trying to pay through wire transfer... So FINALLY everything worked out and I finally paid for the application fee with my credit card. Phew~ At the time I was really beginning to worry that I would not be able to make the payment by the date of the application deadline because of all the misfortunes I had to go through to pay the application fee.
Here's what it should look like when you check under the 'Screening Status' tab of 'Courses I have taken' which is located in your 'My page'
The status will only say 'Pass' once you have been accepted into the program.
The acceptance letters will be sent out about a week after the Application deadline date and looks like this:
There's much more to the letter that I just haven't screenshot-ed because it is quite lengthy, but they tell you about the placement test, letter of admissions, and dormitory. I've applied for dormitory but results are out yet. I hope I get the on-campus residence because I'm completely unfamiliar with Seoul and it would really suck to get lost there. I'm the kind of person who needs to settle down somewhere and feel at home before I start going around and exploring.
And I registered for the class and paid the tuition today! It took me a good 2 hours on the phone because my credit limit is pretty low so I had to call to ask them to increase it for me so that I could pay all of the tuition in one go.
For more information about the SNU LEI regular program, click here .
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