Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hugo85]

[Thiuda]

Doing a PhD at a Korean uni is not going to be easier than doing it at a western university. While it may be that some programs are less rigorous than at highly ranked western universities, the cultural and linguistic differences create a whole different set of challenges. I've witnessed several foreign grad students at SKY unis drop out because they were frustrated with the cultural differences and because they were unable to keep up with the workload, which includes coursework, research, conf presentations and publishing.

Based on my experiences, I'd say that those that are successful share a common set of traits: they're very autonomous and don't require a lot of supervision, they're typically competetive, yet cooperate well with one another and other students, usually they've lived in Korea for several years, have an established network of friends and colleagues, quite a bit of in-country work experience, know a bit of the language and don't get their knickers in a bunch because things aren't the way they want them to be. Does that sound like you?

[takwndogirl]

I am wondering about masters degrees in the sciences: chemistry, biochem, ect. Specifically, are the programs at Yonsei and SNU offered in English/ able to be completed with minimal Korean language skills?

[Garciua]

[coralreefer_1]

I sent info to Kimchipizza in PM because this thread is about PhD programs, but KP's question was regarding MA programs, so I did not want to fill the thread with info that was not related to the pursuing a PhD.

I will forward you the message.

[coralreefer_1]

1. Like you might expect and alluded to, Korean Language was my biggest hurdle. In my case, I had already been in Korea for 2 years doing an associates in Taekwondo and Physical Education, and while I had not studied Korean during that time and my level was probably about the same as your average E2 teacher, I had been in the country long enough to get a good feel for how the language flowed. Upon graduating from that program and having made the decision to stay here longer and just do another BA, I went to study in a full time Korean language program at a university for a full year.

Even though I passed the Korean language test the university gives the students before they can enter regular departments, it was still VERY difficult. The grammar was not much of an issue, but it was just the immense amount of vocabulary words associated with that field of study that was the largest issue for me. That first semester I was literally translating 80% of words in a sentence from my textbooks or handouts~~

However as others mentioned previously, the undergrad level here is pretty lax at most universities, so at least my course studies were not all that strenuous while I was struggling with the language/vocabulary. After the first semester though, and throughout the rest of the following semesters, it was pretty much the same vocabulary and understanding became much easier as time went on and I continued to see the same words over and over.

IN my case, my BA and MA from the US were in economics, so most of the concepts I was studying with a Trade major were not new to me. Other than one course concerning marine insurance, and a few others concerning trade contracts/electronic trade...the rest were made ALOT easier by already having some level of understanding of the theories and general knowledge of the subject.


I am fairly pleased with the program I am in, but I say that because I had already been in Korean universities studying for years beforehand, so I already had a good idea of what to expect in regards to level of education, pushing to do research or projects..etc. I was fortunate to select an adviser who assigns quite a bit of extra work that I feel in many ways is a supplement to what I may not be getting our of regular course lectures/courses. Some universities are obviously better than others, and aside from universities different departments are better than others at any given university, so I think alot of what determines whether or not you may or may not be satisfied depends on what you expect, what you hope to get out of it, and the university and/or department you choose.

[UknowsI]

[coralreefer_1]

[Garciua]