Why do Koreans return home after studying abroad?

By Park Ju-won

Many students selected by admissions officers at 47 Korean universities were those who have studied abroad, according to Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the Grand National Party (GNP).

As stated in the lawmaker’s congressional report, Sungkyunkwan, Yonsei, Hanyang and other prestigious universities filled at least one third of their early admission student pools with international applicants.

The majority are Korean students who have been studying in the United States, Canada and Japan.

Many would ask why students who went abroad are returning to Korea.

This bizarre trend has reached its peak since Yonsei University opened the Underwood School with all-English classes and foreign majors such as international relations or political science.

Also, new admission processes are said to favor students with the experience of studying overseas.

For example, out of 754 admitted from Sungkyunkwan University’s 2010 admissions officer selection pool, 285 students graduated from foreign high schools.

Joanne Lee got into the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2009.

When I reached her and asked her the reason for rejecting the prestigious Emory University for KAIST, her answer was simple.

“I just missed Korea.”

Also, tuition for international students in America is just too expensive.” Emory’s 2010 tuition was $38,600 (44 million won).

Financial issues are just one of many problems that are making students return.

Some students are just unable to keep up in more serious university classes due to lack of their English skills.

Most of the time, home-sickness becomes too much to bear. An impervious wall of medical and law schools are another reason for coming-back too.

The Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and TOEFL scores are the main requirements for admission to universities.

GPA is also a very important factor in admission and Advanced Program (AP) and SAT II scores can also be a plus.

One anonymous student from Yonsei University says “GPA is very important. They look at your GPA then your SAT or TOEFL score. Honestly, you need over 115 TOEFL score to get into good universities.”

Colleges say the admissions officer selection process helps well-performing students that don’t qualify for the special selection of students who have resided for a minimum of 12 years overseas.

Some college admission officers say that they are hoping to attract many competent Korean students.

However, this special admissions officer selection is highly criticized due to the apparent favoring of “foreign” students over native Korean students.

The writer is a student at Oklahoma Christian School in the United States.