Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mashimaro]

I'm considering doing a masters in Korean Studies either later this year or next year. Has anyone heard of some good programs? I wouldn't mind doing it outside of Korea, but I wonder how much better it would look on my resume down the track if I did it in korea? Any and all relevant input appreciated.

[Cedar]

Dear Mashimaro,

Thank you for your PM. Since the answers to your questions might be interesting to other people, I decided to post here instead of writing you back privately.

1. U of Hawaii. I was just there presenting at an academic conference. They certainly have a good Korean Studies program, and the campus is gorgeous. The cost of living is high, and their TA-ships, if you get one, aren't enough to quite cover the expenses of living there. They have a gorgeous center for KS and some good profs. But...

2. Why study at Yonsei as opposed to other programs for KS. Look at the number of full-time professors. Almost every KS program in the world, even Harvard, has 1-2 full time professors. There are classes that are taught by other people, but they are not KS experts per se. They are anthropologists, ethnologists, sociologists, etc. You have to make do with what you can get, and you don't have much selection for your classes. Yonsei has 4 full-time KS professors who teach KS... though they have backgrounds in other disciplines, they teach on Korea, and the bulk of the readings for class emphasize Korea, and etc. etc. There are also a whole host of other professors who teach part-time or teach for one of the other programs at Yonsei GSIS. The other programs often have classes that bear heavily on Korean issues, for example last term I took a class that was listed for the International Trade and Finance major, but it was on Trade Policy in Korea. Actually pretty interesting, and taught not by a professor, but one of the top trade/finance people in Korea. Yonsei has 3 KS fields: Modern Korean History, Korean Society, Culture and Religions, and Korean Business, Politics and Economics. We also have several institutes and are closely affiliated with other programs.


3. If you study at Yonsei or any other GSIS in Seoul, you can take 2-3 classes (depending on which school you are at) at the other GSIS programs in Seoul... and you know what? Yonsei students find plenty of classes at Yonsei but Korea and Seoul U KS students are ALWAYS coming to our classes. I have at least one Korea U student in each class I am taking this term!

DRAT! I just burned my rice trying to answer this! After eating dinner I will add onto this...

c

ps. Everyone, wedding date was set today! The ceremony will be August 1st.

[Cedar]

4. Financial Assistance at Yonsei.
Well... if you are a very promising new student you are eligible for decent financial aid (at least half of tuition). Promising is determined by more than just previous grades. If you've got great recommendations or if you've written a kick-ass application essay or if you really have a great reason to study at Yonsei... all these factors can help. It can also help if not many promising new students apply from your same continent. This means N. American applicants may find it harder than say a South African to get financial aid in their first term.

If you keep your grades up, and you demonstrate financial need Yonsei will offer pretty nice Academic Achievement scholarships. These range in amt. depending on their estimation of your need (you fill out the forms demonstrating your degree of need, though).

KS students are able to apply for other grants, like from the Korea Foundation (they offer 2 million per term).

There are also programs at Yonsei like working for the computer lab, library or as an assistant to a professor that pay differing amounts (but not very high). They can be worth it, though, if you just want to sit and mostly do your reading.

Some students work while at Yonsei. Some do this by working at a hagwon that has mostly late afternoon or evening hours. Others work at elementary schools until noon everyday... others have businesses or even office jobs with the military, etc. Last term I worked full-time. You can get an E2 and then get an amendment to your visa that allows you to be a student if you can demonstrate that your work and school schedules don't overlap. However, classes at Yonsei are no joke, I wouldn't recommend trying to do more than a mentally light job while at Yonsei.

5. Studying in Korea as opposed to outside of Korea.
This is really something that people have different opinions on. I tend to feel my entire life is research in a way because I live here. How many times have I found something in Wednesdsay's paper and mentioned it in Friday's class? I think for foreign students, especially, it's not hard to justify studying here. More research opportunities, more "legitimacy" in the eyes of people who might doubt that you could understand a country by studying in a different country. But... it's not a well known university in the world. And if you don't do well here, it'll look terrible. I mean, if you get Bs from an unknown university people will think you are a total lightweight. And Yonsei actually regulates (now) that professors are not allowed to give more than half As and A+s in any class. So that means, if you are in a class with six people, you are literally fighting against them, because if all of you study to the utmost, and you really do A+ quality work, the professor STILL has no option and MUST give at least 3 of you a B+ at the best. And of course, there are professors who think they've never seen A+ quality work and habitually only give a couple As and no A+s at all. So, if you come to Yonsei and screw it up, you could have a degree that needs to be followed with another Masters, with no hope of going on directly to a PhD program. However, many of our graduates have made it on to PhD programs at some of the most famous schools in the world... it all depends on the quality of your work.

[Cedar]

It's not just the U of H (at Manoa) that's worth a look for outside Korea KS programs. There are a slough (or is that slew? must be slough) of good ones. A few I considered and keep bookmarked:

UBC
UW (Seattle)
U of Illinois (ethnology/folk studies)
Columbia (i love the books one of their profs writes)
Harvard


And there are other schools, too. The problem is each school usually just has ONE well known prof. Well, I get that at Yonsei, too! I have Lew Young-ick. And he's the man! It seems that most of the famous profs in KS studied either at UW or at Harvard.

[Mashimaro]

Thanks for the great info Cedar. Any one else have any input?

[gochubandit]

yeah if ur lookin into getting into a KS program in the US, the schools u should be considering are

UW
Harvard/Columbia/Princeton
UCLA
Berkeley - Scalapino is the head prof/dean. he's the guru of KS.
Stanford
POSSIBLY NYU
U of Chicago

basically since the field is so small, u need to look for high profile professors who have written large number of books, like scalapino, cummings, oberdorfer, etc. and get them to mentor u.

but this is if u wanna teach/research in the US. if u wanna stay in Korea, go to Yonsei by all means.