Minor Things I Wish I Knew before Studying Abroad at Yonsei

Guest Post By: Jenny Jeong, a Senior studying Accounting, Information Systems, CISB, and Korean. She is a Global Business Center Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient, and she studied abroad through Foster Exchange at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, during Spring Semester 2023.

Academics:

As a study abroad student at Yonsei University, I had the privilege of experiencing its academic excellence and international standing firsthand. The university offered a diverse range of courses across multiple disciplines, catering to students from various academic backgrounds. However, there are a couple of things I wish I knew before starting my program at Yonsei that I want to share in hopes that it helps someone in the future.

• Wait until a few days before registration before deciding your classes.
  • The course catalog is continuously updated from when it is made available, so what may not be open to exchange students at first may become available later. New classes and course syllabi are also added and updated after the course catalog is opened, so deciding all of your classes as soon as the catalog is opened limits your choices significantly.
• Explore Yonsei’s one credit class options.
  • Yonsei’s Pass/Non-Pass one credit classes offer an impressive variety, from swimming, to pilates, to physical training, and even golf. These classes fill up VERY quickly so you need to allocate a good amount of your mileage points or just be really quick to be added to the waitlist.
• Business electives are far and few between.
  • As a senior studying abroad, I had all of my core classes completed. I was expecting to register for a business elective, only to find that business electives open to exchange students are 1) limited 2) competitive and 3) kind of vague. If you want to take a business course studying abroad at Yonsei, I personally recommend saving one of your core classes since there are more options for those. However, usually the business courses open to exchange students are only offered in English, so you may need to pursue additional steps if you want to take a business course in Korean.

Global Network and Connections:

Studying at Yonsei University allowed me to form lasting connections and friendships with fellow international students from all over the world. However, opportunities to make local Korean friends are a little more limited. I strongly recommend trying to join a club or two to maximize your chances to expand your network! Search for clubs earlier than later, since sign-up deadlines are final and come sooner than expected