Korean Job Discussion Forums

pidgin · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Location: Seoul

Greetings lads and lasses.

My student is looking for a small town or city in the States to study in where she might escape the onslaught of other Koreans, like in New York, LA, etc.... She WILL visit NYC in May but after touring the city she'd like to study somewhere that might afford her a break from speaking Korean with fellow students. She's got the right idea, but has no clue as to where to begin. I haven't advised anyone (in this capacity) for a number of years and kind of feel at a loss as to where also.

Some facts:

*She will arrive in NYC in May of this year.

* She is signed up for an IDP course at Berkely from Sept. to Dec. (some international finance course)

* She realizes that alot of Koreans around her will hurt her studies.

* She prefers a Univ. to an institute, but I encouraged her to consider a summer camp and she seemed interested.

* Her level is lower intermediate.

Anyone know of any decent programs/courses/camps/uni sessions??

Cheers for any suggestions.

NY state or California make the most sense to me.

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

I guess there are a lot of Education agents who could provide the info she is looking for.

Alyallen · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject:

I haven't looked into it but perhaps she can get into a program with a SUNY school? SUNY stands for State Universities of New York. Maybe they offer summer courses for English?
The site is www.suny.edu

hubba bubba · Joined: 24 Oct 2006

What does she want to study? For how long? How much is price a consideration?

Ecumenist · Joined: 04 Mar 2007

Alyallen

Gamecock · Joined: 26 Nov 2003

I had an elementary student go to Omaha to study for a year...I can't imagine there being a Koreatown there.

novimber · Joined: 11 Nov 2006

It seems like maybe a small town won't necessarily be the answer. Even at my university in a town of 20,000 in Mississippi, there are a lot of Koreans, and they all pretty much hang out with other Koreans most of the time, with a few exceptions. There's even a Korean church here. Maybe my school is an exception, though, so good luck.

seoulsucker · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:37 pm Post subject:

I always recommend St. Louis or Indianapolis. They're fair sized cities, just over 1 million, very small Korean populations compared to the bigger cities, hold a populous with neutral midwestern accents.

Small enough that Koreans haven't flooded there in droves, but big enough that they won't be bored out of their minds.

I have a couple of former students living in both cities, and they said it's a perfect match for what they were looking for.

Don't send them to a campus town.

The vast majority of foriegn students in US universities are Korean, so you're going to find a bunch of them at any school worth attending. If you send these students to a campus town with nothing to do off campus, then they'll inevitably end up hanging out with other Koreans.

Put them in a place where there's something to do off campus and it'll encourage them to stay away from the hive.

oneofthesarahs · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Location: Sacheon City

There are a fair amount of small ESL type courses/camps in the Kansas City area, many associated with colleges and universities.

This one's at my ol' alma mater.
http://www.thelanguagecompany.com/hli-liberty.html

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

Why not consider schools in Virginia? University of Virginia is the number 1 public school in the country. James Madison University, Virginia Tech, George Mason, William and Mary, Washington and Lee, University of Richmond, Georgetown, and Virginia Commonwealth University all have top ranked programs.

If she's worried about Koreans, then Virginia is perfect. Only near Washington DC is there a sizable Korean population.

Virginia is one of the best states as far as higher education goes. Since its dead center on the east coast, she'll be able to travel from New York to Florida without having to fly.

She'll be in prime location to go to places like Washington DC, Baltimore, Charleston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, etc...

Richmond International Airport has cheap AirTran flights to New York, Orlando all the time.

Just take a look at what Virginia has to offer. There are so many fine Universities here that you can easily find one that matches what your student is looking for.

Fresh Prince · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea

Is your friend looking to pass the TOEFL or just looking for a place to study English? If your friends wants to find a TOEFL program that will be good then there will be Koreans all over that place. If your friends is just trying to improve then famous cities are out of the question. How about South Dakota, Delaware, or Nebraska?