pre-departure & important tips
Here is everything that I think is useful for a student studying abroad, both pre-departure and during your stay in Korea.
Beginning on 9/1 (until 9/14), SNU had an online group registration for the Alien Registration Cards. There is also an option to make an appointment on your own, but I figured that it would be easier to utilize the group registration. You MUST get an ARC card within your first 90 days of being in Korea, or else you will be fined. On a side note, because of COVID, when you dine in or enter certain stores, you must either scan a QR code on your phone (which you can get once you get your ARC card), or hand write your phone number, district you live in, time entered, and check a box if you meet the temperature screening. I can't wait until I get my ARC card, as it will make dining in so much easier.
Here are the documents needed for the ARC registration: 1. Copy of passport 2. Confirmation of Visa Issuance If you don't have the Visa you received at the consulate, do not worry! You can still obtain a copy of it from the Korea Visa Portal. Go to "Check Application Status > Check Application Status & Print > Search > Type of applications: Diplomatic Office > Select: Passport No. > Type passport no. > Name in English: type in full name as seen on passport (last name then first and middle) > Date of Birth: type in date of birth (year/month/date) > Hit search." You will be able to retrieve a copy of your Visa. 3. ID Photo When I first submitted my application, I got an email back saying that my scanned passport photo quality was not good enough. I took a picture using the BACK camera (selfie camera quality is not good enough too) of my phone with flash following the same criteria for a passport photo. I had my friend photoshop a white background. 4. Certificate of Enrollment This can be obtained from your SNU portal. Go to "Academic Affairs > Get certificates > Get online > Select: The dropdown with your name and college > Hit next > Under the line with Certificate of Enrollment, select the number of copies you would like > Hit next > Hit Apply." This will send your request for the certificate of enrollment. Next, go to "Issuance List > Internet Issuance > Hit Search." You should see a line with Certificate of Enrollment. Under the Status Column, click issue, and download the application it prompts you to get. Once the application is downloaded, refresh your webpage, and click on the issue button under the status column. It would only allow me to print the document, so I screenshotted it instead. 5. Proof of Residence Because I am staying in a goshiwon, I messaged my host to provide me with the necessary documents. There are mainly foreign students living here, so she is probably very familiar with the documents for the ARC registration. She provided me with a receipt from monthly payment, her Business Registration Certificate, and the Confirmation of Residence/Accommodation. 6. Payment The last thing required for the ARC card is payment. They accept regular credit/debit cards through PayPal, and it was around $37. The website said that it will take up to 8 weeks to receive my ARC. My recommendation to you: do the individual registration that SNU mentions if there is still a 2 week quarantine. The school made us come in by 8/9, but did start the group registration until 9/1. I think they kept the timeline the same as pre-COVID semesters and didn't take into account that the 2 weeks in quarantine still count towards the 90 days. Update (10/18): On 9/28, I received an email from HireVisa notifying me that my documents have been submitted to the immigration office on 9/24. The email also stated that it will take 4-8 weeks from then. On 9/29, I received an email from HireVisa regarding the phone plan. In Korea, when you originally buy your SIM card, you must provide the company with your passport number. The max amount of time you can use the SIM card is for 90 days. You can only use that SIM card for more than 90 days by uploading your ARC to the company website. On 10/7, I received another email from HireVisa stating that we need to come to campus on either 10/13 or 10/14 to get our fingerprints scanned. I went for my scheduled fingerprint appointment on 10/13 at 10:45. It says to get there 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time, but since I had something scheduled after it, I played it safe and got there 30 minutes before my scheduled appointment time. Good thing I did because I was waiting in line for a little over 30 minutes. When I went for my appointment, they said I didn't need to come because they already have my fingerprints scanned. This was really weird because no one else already had their fingerprints scanned. I'm not sure how they would have gotten my fingerprints because I only remember scanning my thumbs at the airport, whereas for the ARC, you need all 10 fingers scanned.
2 Comments
In mid-July, I received an email regarding SNU Buddy, which is a program where you are grouped with a Korean student and a few other exchange students to do activities together. I was a little confused by the application at first, but here is what you need to do to ensure you get to participate in SNU Buddy!
1. Fill out the SNU Buddy Application (a Google form) when the email is first sent. 2. Right after filling out the Google form, you can send in your payment to SNU Buddy. I downloaded the Wise app on my phone to send 50,000 KRW to the program. 3. Once someone at SNU has received your application form and payment, you will be able to create an account for SNU buddy. The steps for creating an account can be found in the email sent by SNU Buddy. Once you create your account, you can view the different SNU students who you might be interested in choosing as your buddy, but you will not become their buddy until you choose them during the matching period. It is not guaranteed that you will get the buddy you want. 4. The last step for SNU Buddy is to match with your buddy. There is a specific time that matching begins at. Each Korean student is allowed to have up to 4 buddies. If you are super set on who you want as your buddy, you should log in right when the matching begins in order to get the buddy you want! There are enough Korean buddies for the number of exchange students who signed up, so do not worry if you don't get to log in right when matching begins! If you don't participate in the matching period, you will be randomly assigned to a buddy. SNU Course Registration
The SNU Course Registration was extremely confusing for me and is much different than how UH's STAR system works. Towards the end of July, we received an email regarding Course Registration from SNU, and this is around when we were able to see all the courses being offered at SNU. SNU registration is located at this website. Here is how I understood the SNU registration process. 0. Looking for classes/saving interest: Once you login to the course registration system, looking for classes is pretty straight forward. Because of the Freeman Scholarship, I am required to take a minimum of 3 business courses, so those are the classes I prioritized looking for. On the top search bar, I clicked the button with three lines, Advanced Search (Past Semester) More, and clicked English lecture. In addition, under department, I selected College of Business Administration to only show business courses that are taught in English. However, there are other English business courses that are not in the College of Business Administration, such as economics courses. There was also a Sport Marketing class in the Department of Physical Education. If you find a course that you are interested in, you can save your interest for that course. The star icon represents how many other students are interested in the course (read below to understand why it is important to know how popular a course is). Note: It is helpful to save the syllabi for the courses you are interested in to submit for course petitions. 1. Pre-course Registration: This part of the course registration doesn't matter that much. It is just a practice round to see if you understand how the registration system works. "Registering" for a course during this time does NOT benefit you in any way during the actual course registration, BUT this pre-course registration period is a good way to see how popular a course is. 2. Course Cart Shopping: This part of the registration process is important because you MUST add courses to your course cart if you want to register for them at the beginning of the real course registration date. During this period you can see how many other students have added a course to their course cart as well. At the end of the course cart shopping period, if the number of students who have added a course to their cart is LESS than the number of students allowed in the class, you will automatically be registered for the course (this is unlikely to happen for business courses though). On the other hand, if there are MORE students with a course in their cart than the number of students allowed in the course, you will have to try and register for this course on the real course registration date. 3. The Real Course Registration: On the real course registration date, all students log in at the same time, and the system is extremely slow. I had to be patient and not click anything on my screen, even though it seemed like nothing was loading. I would recommend trying to log onto the website at least 15 minutes before course registration begins. On the real course registration day, the courses you previously added to your course cart will appear under the "course registration" tab. You will register for courses one by one by clicking the check mark by the course, typing in the two digit number, and clicking course registration. This is why it is important to pay attention to how popular a course is and the number of students allowed to enroll in the course. It is best to prioritize registering for the courses with fewer seats and a large number of students who have that course in their cart. Luckily, my internet was good, so I was able to get into all of the courses I had in my course cart. To double check that you have successfully registered for your courses, click on the "course registration list" tab, and this will show all of the courses you have registered for. Course Equivalencies To be honest, I am not sure what the timeline for submitting course petitions at Shidler/UHM should be like. I knew that getting classes at SNU would be competitive, and course registration wasn't until August 17th... I ended up waiting until after course registration to petition courses (This is also partially because I was open to taking any type of business courses, since I am open to majoring in something else in addition to accounting). I probably should've petitioned classes before registration, though. (UPDATE: It would be smart to start emailing in your petitions once the courses for the semester are posted. It doesn't hurt to petition courses that you are not 100% sure about taking. There is a possibility that you may not get a course you want and have to replace it with something on your back-up list. It is better to be registering for classes that you know will transfer back to UH ahead of time. In short, petition as many classes as you are even considering and do it early. That way, you won't end up like me... ) For the business courses I registered for: I started by updating the Preliminary Course Form that I used for my Freeman Scholarship Application found on the Travel Scholarship Page. I also filled out the Program Petition: Current Students form found on the Shidler Website for each of the classes that were not already on the pre-approved course list, which can be found here. I emailed my Preliminary Course Form, Program Petition form (for each class not on the pre-approved list), and syllabi (for each class not on the pre-approved list) to [email protected]. Within a day, they got back to me about the classes I petitioned - a majority of the classes were for BUS367 credits (BUS367 is a major elective course. The letter following the BUS367 indicates what major it can be used for. For example, BUS367K can be used as a marketing elective). For the non-business course I registered for: I checked to see if the course was already on the MIX website. Unfortunately, the exact course that I registered for was not on the MIX website, but there were courses similar to it. Thus, I filled out the MIX learning agreement and course approval form found on the MIX website. The course I was trying to petition was called Modern Korean History and Society, and after doing some research I found a class at UH Manoa called HIST 328: Modern Korean History. I sent the MIX learning agreement form to the History Department Chair for approval. After the History Department Chair signed off on the equivalency, I sent the form to my advisor at Shidler. Once the form is signed by the department chair and your advisor, it is sent back to MIX. Goodbye friends, family, and coworkers! You guys are the best. Thanks for all the goodies before I leave <3
I packed a giant suitcase and a duffel bag for the semester. I plan on buying certain things when I arrive in Korea. Some of these items aren't really needed if you are staying in a hotel for quarantine. Here's most of my packing list!
Toiletries Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss Rubber bands Band Aids Chapstick Kleenex Masks (don't be like me and pack like 40 BLUE masks.. no one here wears blue masks. They only wear the KN94s) Contacts/solution Glasses Hand Sanitizer Sunscreen Shampoo/conditioner/soap Hand soap Nail clipper Medication (with prescription) Pain killer Allergy medicine Thermometer Anti itch cream (THE BUGS IN KOREA ARE INSANE) Wallet School ID Driver's License Credit/debit cards Vaccination Card Health Insurance Card Cash (won and USD) Folder w/ Important Documents (for easy access @ airport) Covid test result (2 copies) Important information sheet (address of quarantine and host contact info) Passport with visa Any printouts of information your school gave you Electronics (with chargers) Phone iPad Camera (SD card) Earbuds Portable charger (don't put this in your checked bag!) Watch Laptop (USB-C adapter) Ethernet cable Mini Wifi router Hard drive Universal adapters (can be found at Long's - I found mine for $9.99. Pictured below. The outlets in Korea are 220V, so be careful when plugging things in. Read this helpful article!) Clothes Shoes/slippers Winter jacket Shirts/pants Others Snacks (don't forget the Hawaii omiyage to share with friends in Korea!) Emergen-C Water bottle (don't forget to empty it if carrying it on!) Ziplock bags Pens, pencils, scissors Packing bags Plastic bags Plastic containers Purse Backpack Notepad Batteries Umbrella Dish soap and sponge Laundry detergent Towels Toilet paper Flight booking
Due to COVID, there are a limited number of flights going in and out of Honolulu/Seoul, and SNU is requiring all students to arrive by August 9th due to the 2 week quarantine. Once I received my acceptance from SNU, I decided to book my flight. When I booked my flight in early June, Hawaiian was the only airline with a direct flight to Incheon. The flight was a little pricey (~$1,100 round trip), but I decided to book it earlier rather than later. My flight was non refundable, but Hawaiian does have a change policy, which would allow me to change the date of my flight in case anything changes. Booking the round trip is much cheaper than buying two one way tickets, so I booked a return flight for the end of December. Hawaiian also allows two free checked bags. Update (11/26): Book your flights early and get your plans solidified ASAP! Airline prices will shoot up. Unlike UH, there isn't a designated week for finals at SNU (and many other Korean schools). Some professors don't announce when the finals are until later in the semester. Don't be afraid to ask your professors when the finals are going to be if it's not already stated on the syllabus. Let them know that you need to book your flight home, and they will most likely be able to solidify a date and time for the final. Since I booked a round trip flight when coming to Korea, I had no clue when I would be coming home, so I booked the return flight for 12/31 to be safe. I want to come home as early as possible to see my friends and spend Christmas and the holidays at home. I thought one of my classes would have the final on Tuesday 12/21, so in early October, I paid $38 to move my flight from 12/31 to Friday 12/24. As of now, Hawaiian is only flying from HNL to ICN on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In early November, my professor said that she would move the final to 12/14 because she realized that people want to go home. After this change, my last final would be on 12/16. I wanted to change my flight from 12/24 to 12/22, but Hawaiian was going to charge $193 for the fare difference in mid-November. This was absolutely ridiculous, so I decided to just keep my flight for 12/24. At the end of November, I found out that my landlord would charge the entire months rent even though I'd only be there for around 17 days (since I moved in on the 7th). She said that if I'm there for more than 15 days of the month, she charges the entire month of rent. I wish I had asked her earlier about the pricing for the last month, but I didn't think anything of it. At that point, I thought that it would be cheaper for me to leave earlier and pay the difference on Hawaiian. However, at the end of November, the fare difference for 12/22 was $265 and 12/19 was $315. This is absolutely ridiculous just for the fare difference (and Hawaiian has "no change fees"), so I decided to forget about it. Housing Dorming in Korea is typically pretty competitive, so I decided to play it safe and reserve off campus housing. This Goshipages website is super helpful in finding housing near each of the Universities in Korea. I reserved my housing early because the place I am staying at (Naejari Oneroomtel) only required a $50 deposit. I will also be doing my 2 week quarantine there - they charged an additional $300 for doing quarantine there, which I think is much more reasonable than the government facilities. Phone Plan My phone carrier in Hawaii is T-mobile, which allows for free texting, unlimited data, and 25 cent calls per minute with most phone plans. However, when I have traveled internationally in the past, the data was extremely slow and would be impractical for me to use for an extended period of time. I will be taking my iPhone (with the T-mobile SIM card and Hawaii number) up to Korea in order to still receive texts and FaceTimes at the same number from friends and family back at home. In addition, I also purchased a Korean SIM card from Trazy with the Premium Lite Plan. I had the SIM card shipped to me in Hawaii, and I didn't have the greatest experience with the company. They lost my original SIM card (which I ordered 3 weeks prior to my departure), but they sent me a replacement one, which thankfully arrived the night before I left. The customer service rep was helpful, but I was a little disappointed with the shipping situation taking so long. However, I have met other people who used Trazy and received their SIM cards very quickly. I'm not sure if the price on Trazy is the best, but it was the most convenient, considering I will have to quarantine when I arrive in Korea. My friend was very kind and is letting me use her old phone, which I will use for the Korean SIM card. Luckily, her phone was unlocked, which is important if you want to insert a SIM card from another carrier into the phone you're using. From this phone, I will be able to make phone calls in Korea without an additional charge and use fast data, which my Hawaii T-mobile plan wouldn't allow for. Money I set up an Investor Checking account with Charles Schwab. It was super easy to set up, and once you deposit money into the account, Schwab will mail you a debit card. This card has unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide and no foreign transaction fees. I tested the debit card at an ATM in Hawaii, and the $4.50 ATM fee was refunded at the end of the month. In addition, I will be brining my Costco Visa with me. For the places that do accept card in Korea, I plan on using this Visa, as there are no foreign transaction fees. And, I can go to the Costco in Korea :) I haven't exchanged won yet because my dad had extra won at home. Doctor, Dentist, Eye Doctor For MIX, you are required to fill out the Health Clearance form. I went to my PCP a few months before this form was due, so I didn't schedule another appointment. I dropped off the form at her office, and she filled it out within a few days. I also scheduled a last minute appointment with my dentist and eye doctor to be sure I am healthy for the next semester. I also made sure I had an ample supply of contacts because I won't be able to find them in Korea. COVID Testing Korea is requiring all visitors to present proof of a negative COVID PCR test within 72 hours of the departure of your flight. I got my test at the airport with the National Kidney Foundation, since it was free because of where I work. Here is the website to register. You can show up at any time on the day you registered for. When I went for my test, I brought my ID, printed out QR code (emailed to you after you register), and my most recent paystub (in order to get the free test). Due to the surge in cases in Hawaii, there were a lot of people waiting to get tested too. Thankfully it was a self-swab test, so it didn't hurt as much! My results came back in 8 hours. Backing-up Documents To be extra safe when traveling, I will be saving the following documents to Google Drive, screenshotting it on my phone, and bringing a physical copy.
There were a handful of assignments for MIX that need to be done before departure. The forms that need to be filled out can be found on the MIX website.
Pre-Departure Orientations Throughout June and July, there were three pre-departure orientations held on Saturdays. Each one covers different topics that are helpful for studying abroad. MIX Health Insurance MIX requires you to purchase health insurance for $1/day through the Study Abroad Center's Mandatory Health Insurance Plan. All of the instructions can be found here under the "Instructions for enrolling in UHM Study Abroad Center’s Mandatory Health Insurance Plan" section. I mailed the check and health insurance forms with my health forms. At the end of June, MIX sent an email with our insurance card. MIX Learning Agreement and Course Approval Form Because the Freeman application required a preliminary course form, I submitted that form instead of the MIX learning agreement and course approval form. The two forms essentially asked for the same information. The MIX forms can be found here. MIX Confidential Health History Form & Health Clearance Form The health forms can be found here. I filled out pages 2-3 and gave pages 1-4 to my PCP. Because I went to a doctor's appointment in March, I didn't schedule another appointment with my PCP. I dropped them off at her office and went to pick them up a few days later. Participation, Assumption of Risk, Consent, Waiver, Release and Indemnity Agreement for Outgoing Students Form This form was sent by MIX in an email saying that programs will continue in the Fall. The form can also be found on the MIX website. My preparation for studying abroad started way back in April 2020. I intended to study abroad in Spring 2021, which unfortunately got pushed back until Fall 2021. After many deferrals, I am beyond excited to be studying abroad at Seoul National University. Here are the applications I had to fill out, along with a few tips and helpful resources.
1. MIX Application UH has two different programs that you can utilize for international exchanges. I looked at the different programs on both the SAC and MIX websites and decided to apply through MIX because I was pretty set on going to school in South Korea. Other than the choices in schools/locations, the main difference between MIX and SAC is that MIX is more independent. If studying abroad through SAC, a UH professor will go with you, and you will take a course from them. When filling out the Google Form for the MIX application, there were some questions that required a little more detail, so I typed all my responses on a Google Doc before submitting the form. The MIX application also requires a reference. Please keep in mind that the MIX application deadline is relatively early compared to when you will actually be studying abroad. 2. MIX Nomination Acceptance In January, I received an email from MIX regarding the partner university that I would be assigned to. There was a form to fill out to accept my nomination. 3. Pre-Departure Orientation On February 1st, I received a welcome email from MIX. Our first assignment was to complete the pre-departure orientation, which is a course on Canvas. We had two weeks to complete the course, which covered the basics of studying abroad. 4. Secondary Application to SNU Even though MIX has nominated you to a partner university, you must apply through the partner university. Being nominated by MIX does not guarantee acceptance to your partner university. The instructions to apply will come from a representative at SNU, which I received in early March. a) Order Transcript ASAP. It takes about 1-2 weeks for the transcript to come in. You will be needing the transcript for your SNU online application. b) Obtain Verification of Enrollment. I filled out the PDF request for verification of enrollment form on the website and emailed it to [email protected]. I received mine in about 3 days via email. c) Online application - A representative from SNU sent a link in early March to the SNU online application. Be careful when filling out the online application, as the website can be a little glitchy. Due to COVID, the application deadline was extended to March 26 (Korea time). Here is what the online application asks for: Certificate of Enrollment (Verification of Enrollment) Academic Transcript: You will need to break the seal on the envelope to make a copy of it. I used the Notes app on my iPhone to make a digital copy of my transcript. Statement of Purpose: There weren't any guidelines on what to write for the statement of purpose. I included a little bit about myself and why I want to go to SNU. There weren't any guidelines about how long it should be, but mine was about a page and a half double spaced. Passport copy Recommendation letter (optional) Once I submitted my online application, I saved it as a PDF and emailed it to MIX. 5. Freeman Application All of the information for the Freeman application is located here. The application has five different parts to it. The Freeman scholarship is specifically for students studying abroad in Asia, but the Johnson scholarship is for students studying in Europe. a) Scholarship Application Form: This part of the application is what takes the most amount of time. b) Preliminary Travel Expense Sheet: I filled out a very rough estimate of my expenses. I used the program budget sheet on the MIX website as a guide to fill out my expense sheet. c) Preliminary Course Form: I used the Shidler website to find course equivalencies at SNU. Please be mindful of the dates that the course equivalency is valid for. The MIX website also has a list of course equivalencies. You may also find courses are you interested in taking via the SNU website. However, at the time you are working on the Freeman application, the courses for the semester you will be attending SNU are not published yet. You can use prior semesters courses as a reference for what may be offered in the semester you attend, but just because it is offered in a prior semester does not guarantee that it will be offered in the semester you will attend. When browsing the SNU course website, 1st semester refers to the Spring and 2nd semester refers to the Fall. I met with a Shidler and MIX advisor to get this form signed before submitting my Freeman application. d) Resume: I adjusted my resume a little to factor in the international experiences I've had. e) Academic plan: I printed out a copy of my STAR account. It included the classes I plan on taking at SNU, as well as the classes I plan on taking when I return to UH Manoa. 6. SNU Acceptance Due to COVID, SNU delayed their selection results. On May 18th, I received an email from SNU with my conditional acceptance. The acceptance is considered conditional because there are forms and documents needed in order to attend SNU (e.g. Visa). 7. Visa On June 16th, I received an email from SNU with the documents required to obtain my student Visa. MIX has a handy Visa guide for each country. Once you fill out the form and obtain all the documents for your Visa, you will need to drop it off at the Korean Consulate in Honolulu (conveniently located on the Pali Highway). The Consulate gave me a specific date (exactly 3 weeks from the date I dropped off all my documents) to come and pick up my Visa. Here is what I needed for my Visa: Visa Application: I printed out a hard copy and brought it to the Consulate. The application requires a passport photo, which I took at Long's out of convenience. Passport: While my Visa was being processed for 3 weeks, the Consulate held on to my physical Passport. I would highly recommend making a copy of your Passport, just in case you need the information to fill out forms during that 3 week period. Certificate of Admission (from SNU email) Notification of Acceptance (from SNU email) Certificate of Business Registration (from SNU email) Transcript: The consulate requires an OFFICIAL transcript in an UNOPENED envelope. I would recommend ordering this early once the previous semester is finished and all grades are posted. Birth certificate: Even though both my parents were born in Hawaii, the Consulate still required me to bring my birth certificate because I have Korean blood. I also brought my parents birth certificates just to be safe. Because my dad is the one with Korean blood, the Consulate took a copy of his birth certificate. |
AuthorStudying abroad at Seoul National University! Archives
January 2022
Categories |