Thinking about studying abroad in South Korea during the pandemic? Well think long and hard, because COVID-19 has introduced a whole new slew of hurdles. While I don’t discourage the pursuit of your study abroad dreams during this time, I do want to give you an idea of what to expect from the process. All of the steps involved in reaching Korea make sure that only the most determined (or maybe masochistic) do so.
First, in this post, I want to give you a more general overview of the steps I took to get to South Korea for a third time, landing in Seoul in August 2020. Keep in mind, my process was very much affected by which Korean institution I chose and therefore may not look the same for everyone.
My journey to Korea this time around began by talking with my study abroad advisor over a year before applying. I knew I wanted to study in South Korea even before I knew which universities I wanted to apply to. So, I began regularly pestering the Asia Study Abroad coordinator from the study abroad office at my university. I compiled questions that I felt were important: “What does credit transfer look like?” “Are foreign students often overwhelmed at X school?” “What is the financial situation for studying abroad?” After online research and in-person meetings, I narrowed the schools down, and eventually selected Korea University. The deciding factor was major compatibility—my major is a less prominent one here in Korea, and therefore I needed to choose the school with the most course offerings for it in English, and Korea University seemed to fit the bill.
By the second semester of my sophomore year, my preparations to study abroad had officially begun. I applied, then received acceptance from my home institution a couple months later (around March), and in the interim filled out many various documents for my home institution’s study abroad portal. Keep in mind that each school differs in the application and follow through process so I would recommend that regardless of which university you select, you begin preparing yourself as far in advanced as possible (because remember you will still have your current college life to contend with). On my own, I did a lot of research on housing, food, and other such things in order to get a more personalized idea of how much this experience might cost as well as whether dormitories were the best option and more. Your study abroad office may be helpful, but they most likely won’t know much about the nitty gritty of your foreign university nor life in South Korea.
COVID-19 hit the United States just before I had to apply, and when it began to get out of hand, many of the previously established deadlines and release dates got shifted drastically. This was of course adding insult to injury as in my opinion, the process of getting into a study abroad program can already be stressful as it is, and a pandemic certainly doesn’t make it any easier. Now, new steps, requirements, and dates were thrown into the mix, requiring some intense focus and diligence.
However, by mid summer, my home University finally gave those of us trying to go to Korea official approval, only following the requirement of us students submitting a letter of petition (essentially, we had to state a case as to why they should let us go). I’ll be honest, this was a huge relief because so many factors arose that could have easily resulted in the program’s cancellation, as had been the case for every other study abroad program at our school; South Korea stood as the only accepted study abroad program for Fall 2020.
On the Korean end, there was a bit more stress. Korea University did not release our acceptance packages until the week of July 5th. Here’s why this was tricky: it’s usually wise to attain your visa sooner than later in case of hiccups or more major things like loss of passports, giving you enough time to remedy the situation. This meant that amidst my summer class, I had to within the same week I received the admission package: fill out a ton of paperwork for the visa, have a physician confirm that I did not have COVID symptoms (alternatively, a negative test result would have sufficed, but this was harder to attain at that point), and get a TB test (note: while I believe it is acceptable to have a negative TB test from within a year of the visa application submission date, Korea University required a negative test from July 1, 2020 onward, so be aware that similar requirements may be encountered). A tip for this particular step of the process: be as proactive as possible. Set a million reminders on your phone, mark dates on every calendar you have, delegate research to a friend or family member if you are entirely pressed for time. These dates creep up quickly, and there will be a lot going on, so MARK DOWN EVERYTHING ON YOUR CALENDAR AS SOON AS YOU SEE IT.
Another issue caused by this late notification and need to get a Visa immediately was that the Visas were taking at least twice as long to attain. With the fear of potential for lost mail, which would be catastrophic if my passport and accompanying info was lost because the attainment of a new one would be near impossible, my mom and I sojourned to the nearest Korean consulate—a good 3.5 hours away, twice, once to drop off the Visa app and once to pick up my Visa. Luckily, for myself and my classmates also dealing with this particular consulate, they were incredibly efficient and I was able to receive my visa within exactly three weeks. However, this is not a timeline to bank on, and if possible, try to make those arrangements as early as possible, within reason.
There were many additional, smaller steps along the way such as applying for dormitory housing, trying to choose a return flight date despite having no concrete date for last day of spring finals, or trying to begin budgeting. Resultantly, the various tiny steps combined with the larger requirements make for a sometimes-overwhelming process. However, so long as you remain on top of deadlines and try to plan ahead the process is stressful, but in the end, rewarding.
Helpful Hints, especially during the Pandemic:
-You need to book your airline flight before you can get your Visa, so make sure it is a changeable ticket or has a good cancellation policy. COVID presents a great deal of added uncertainty in the study abroad process (such as possibility of program cancellation and such), so you don’t want to be stuck with a ticket that doesn’t allow for cancellations or refunds.
-Additionally you will need to consider what date you need to arrive in Korea, keeping in mind Korea’s 14-day mandatory quarantine that begins once you arrive in country. I would recommend planning to arrive more than two weeks before classes begin, allotting a few days for exploration, necessities shopping, meeting people, and just generally settling in. It is also wise to do this in order to have a time buffer in case of any sort of emergencies. The transition from quarantine to school life can be a bit stressful and intense, so giving yourself time to readjust and acclimate to a new environment is wise.
-If you don’t have a Passport, GET ONE IMMEDIATELY as this process has slowed down due to COVID. You will most likely need the passport to apply for any study abroad program and certainly need one to get a Visa. Be mindful of when your passport expires, too, as you will need to ensure that your passport will be valid during the entirety of your stay.
-If you are traveling Spring 2021 and must quarantine because of COVID, you will need to find accommodations to quarantine at where you will be totally by yourself—no shared housing of any sort (for example, goshiwons/goshitels may be off the table, because as the bathroom may not be communal, the kitchen might be, so unless you are willing to order delivery daily you will be in a tricky situation) or a hotel.* Airbnb’s are available, but many will not allow quarantine occupants, and the ones that do get booked relatively rapidly—so if this is your preferred lodging, book this as far in advance as possible. Also, your university may allow you to quarantine on campus (both Yonsei and Korea University offered school-hosted quarantine options, but I will go into more detail in the post mentioned below) so I recommend looking into that as a possibility.
*I will do a separate post regarding lodging and quarantine and some of the challenges I faced due to COVID in order to provide a more in-depth understanding of the current quarantine situation.
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