Korean at SOAS: The First Year
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Easter Break
Hi everyone, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted on here last but I’ve had the most hectic few weeks I think I’ve ever had… I had 2 essays due, my application, and 3 language assessments all in the space of 2.5 weeks. I haven’t slept properly in all that time and I felt like a bit of a madwoman whilst it was all going on, but I finally had my last assessment on Tuesday and I’ve been able to relax a lot more since then. It’s been so nice to actually have the time to watch a film or some TV when I get home, see friends, see a bit more of London, just generally do the things that I want to do but never have time to. It makes me think how nice it must be not to be a languages student! Not that I would change it, of course
My Easter break starts this weekend, then I have 4 weeks off, 1 week of classes and then I’m straight into exams. So there’s a lot to get done over Easter, things to catch up on, and revision to do. Hopefully I’ll get some rest too and see my friends from home. Since I will have a bit more time, I will be able to write a few more posts for this thread so let me know if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in. I am planning to do an FAQ based on the questions I get through PMs very frequently - this will probably be done in a few parts over a week or so. I will also address some of the details about the year abroad, and what the requirements are for SNU specifically because I know a lot of people are curious about that.
As always, I reply to PMs pretty fast so if you need anything let me know. I guess everyone’s had their offers by now and is choosing/has chosen their firm and insurance choices, so I hope you’re all happy and excited with what’s ahead!
Hi everyone, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted on here last but I’ve had the most hectic few weeks I think I’ve ever had… I had 2 essays due, my application, and 3 language assessments all in the space of 2.5 weeks. I haven’t slept properly in all that time and I felt like a bit of a madwoman whilst it was all going on, but I finally had my last assessment on Tuesday and I’ve been able to relax a lot more since then. It’s been so nice to actually have the time to watch a film or some TV when I get home, see friends, see a bit more of London, just generally do the things that I want to do but never have time to. It makes me think how nice it must be not to be a languages student! Not that I would change it, of course
My Easter break starts this weekend, then I have 4 weeks off, 1 week of classes and then I’m straight into exams. So there’s a lot to get done over Easter, things to catch up on, and revision to do. Hopefully I’ll get some rest too and see my friends from home. Since I will have a bit more time, I will be able to write a few more posts for this thread so let me know if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in. I am planning to do an FAQ based on the questions I get through PMs very frequently - this will probably be done in a few parts over a week or so. I will also address some of the details about the year abroad, and what the requirements are for SNU specifically because I know a lot of people are curious about that.
As always, I reply to PMs pretty fast so if you need anything let me know. I guess everyone’s had their offers by now and is choosing/has chosen their firm and insurance choices, so I hope you’re all happy and excited with what’s ahead!
FAQ Part 1
This will be a multi-part FAQ where I answer the most common questions I get through PMs which I think would be helpful for everyone to see. I will only be answering questions to do with uni itself rather than applications, if you’re interested in application advice then see my other thread here, you’re welcome to ask questions over there (but more than likely it will have already been answered!)
In this post, I’ll answer questions about the course structure, in part two I’ll answer ones about the year abroad, and in the final post I’ll talk about living as a student in London.
1. How quickly do you progress?
In my opinion, it’s pretty quick. The first few weeks are slow, but by about the third week you’ll be doing a chapter (sometimes more) per week. By second semester, the chapters are quite dense so you can expect to be covering around 8-10 grammar points and 60+ new words per week. I don’t think it’s necessarily any quicker than other languages at SOAS, and it’s not impossible to keep up, but you certainly can’t let yourself lag behind otherwise it’ll quickly become overwhelming.
2. What level do you reach by the end of first year/the whole course? Which TOPIK level is it equivalent to?
By the end of the first year, I’d say you’re at a level where you can talk (in a simple way) about most everyday topics and hold a basic conversation. If you were put in Korea with no English speakers, you’d be absolutely fine in terms of getting around, buying food, finding a place to stay etc. You will have a good grasp of some more complex topics too, like being able to explain yourself to a doctor or a pharmacist and understand prescriptions, being able to talk about technology and explain what you’re looking for at a phone shop for example. Our curriculum doesn’t follow the TOPIK curriculum, so I’d tentatively suggest that by the end of first year you’d be capable of passing level 1 will a strong pass, potentially level 2. If you're familiar with the TTMIK curriculum, I'm currently (at the end of year 1) testing at level 6 according to their website which you can take here. Again, we don't follow their curriculum but just as a general idea.
By the end of your degree, the aim is to be essentially fluent. From the third years I’ve spoken to and seen speaking Korean, the improvement by the end of second year in particular is incredible and they seem almost fluent by that point, the next 2 years are more about refinement. Apparently every student should be able to pass TOPIK 5 and some can pass TOPIK 6 by the end of their degree, but this is just based off what I’ve heard. It’s not really a goal of the teachers to get you to pass certain TOPIK levels so it’s not a particularly useful comparison to be honest.
3. Is everyone placed in the same class?
No. At the start of the year, you can choose to take a placement test if you’ve studied some Korean before and are then placed in the most appropriate class.
4. Is it difficult?
It always makes me laugh when I get this question because it’s so subjective. In my opinion, yes, it’s one of the harder degrees to choose. Most ab-initio languages will be hard and really intense, especially ones that are the most different to English. I believe according to hours of study needed to become fluent, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic and Korean are the hardest in the world (see here). Languages in general tend to be hard because you have to completely surround yourself with the language and try to immerse yourself as best as you can. Language students (at least at SOAS) eat, sleep, breathe the language and work so incredibly hard. Whilst I don’t find the concepts necessarily difficult to understand, making things stick, keeping up with the work, doing work for my other modules, and managing to keep my grades high is a bit of a juggling act and that aspect is what’s difficult.
5. Do you have to have any prior knowledge? Will I be out of place if I need to start from scratch?
No, you don’t need to have any prior knowledge at all but I’d recommend at least knowing Hangeul before you come just so you have a smooth start to the year. I’ve noticed that the people who didn’t know Hangeul at the start of the year still don’t have the best reading and spelling skills since the teachers went through Hangeul very quickly. You absolutely won’t be out of place if you need to start from scratch, the majority of people (I’d say around 2/3) will start in the ‘from-scratch’ class. It’s not common that people know literally nothing, but a lot of people choose to start from scratch to insure they haven’t picked up any bad habits whilst teaching themselves and to make sure there are no gaps in their knowledge.
6. What materials will I need?
The only things you’ll need for Korean language (at least for the Elementary Korean module) are the two textbooks I mention in this post.
7. How many people are in a class?
At the start of the year I think there were about 15? Now there are 11.
8. Can you pick up other language modules?
Not in first year, no. You can in third and fourth year.
9. How are you assessed? What grades will I need to get?
You’re assessed in many different ways:
Weekly tests
> 6-8 questions and 10 marks
> Summative (5% total)
Homework
> Length really varies depending on point in the year, but can be anything from 30mins to 3hrs per piece of homework
> Get set one piece every day
> Summative (5% total)
Revision tests
> 4 in the year
> 1hr long, 100 marks
> Not summative, but will be used in your uni application for year abroad
Listening tests
> 4 in the year
> 1hr, 100 marks
> Summative (20% total)
Presentations
> 2 in the year
> 15mins, 300-400 word script
> Summative (10% total)
Oral exam
> 1 in the year
> 15mins
> Summative (10% total)
Final exam
> 1 in the year
> 3hrs, 100 marks
> Summative (50%)
Whilst a 40% is a pass, the teachers will expect you to get 50% and higher in all of your tests. If you get lower than 50% in revision and listening tests, your teacher will have a serious discussion with you and will often ask you to improve over the following week/two weeks otherwise you’ll be at risk of being removed from the course. They’re not bluffing either - 4 people have left our class alone since the start of the year because they couldn’t keep up, and all within the first term.
10. What’s the selection of open modules like? Are there many related to Korea?
There’s a huge selection of modules, but unfortunately not many about Korea for first years. Most people end up doing open modules to do with East Asian History or Japan.
*EDIT: The BA Korean course for 2019 no longer has the option to take open modules
This will be a multi-part FAQ where I answer the most common questions I get through PMs which I think would be helpful for everyone to see. I will only be answering questions to do with uni itself rather than applications, if you’re interested in application advice then see my other thread here, you’re welcome to ask questions over there (but more than likely it will have already been answered!)
In this post, I’ll answer questions about the course structure, in part two I’ll answer ones about the year abroad, and in the final post I’ll talk about living as a student in London.
1. How quickly do you progress?
In my opinion, it’s pretty quick. The first few weeks are slow, but by about the third week you’ll be doing a chapter (sometimes more) per week. By second semester, the chapters are quite dense so you can expect to be covering around 8-10 grammar points and 60+ new words per week. I don’t think it’s necessarily any quicker than other languages at SOAS, and it’s not impossible to keep up, but you certainly can’t let yourself lag behind otherwise it’ll quickly become overwhelming.
2. What level do you reach by the end of first year/the whole course? Which TOPIK level is it equivalent to?
By the end of the first year, I’d say you’re at a level where you can talk (in a simple way) about most everyday topics and hold a basic conversation. If you were put in Korea with no English speakers, you’d be absolutely fine in terms of getting around, buying food, finding a place to stay etc. You will have a good grasp of some more complex topics too, like being able to explain yourself to a doctor or a pharmacist and understand prescriptions, being able to talk about technology and explain what you’re looking for at a phone shop for example. Our curriculum doesn’t follow the TOPIK curriculum, so I’d tentatively suggest that by the end of first year you’d be capable of passing level 1 will a strong pass, potentially level 2. If you're familiar with the TTMIK curriculum, I'm currently (at the end of year 1) testing at level 6 according to their website which you can take here. Again, we don't follow their curriculum but just as a general idea.
By the end of your degree, the aim is to be essentially fluent. From the third years I’ve spoken to and seen speaking Korean, the improvement by the end of second year in particular is incredible and they seem almost fluent by that point, the next 2 years are more about refinement. Apparently every student should be able to pass TOPIK 5 and some can pass TOPIK 6 by the end of their degree, but this is just based off what I’ve heard. It’s not really a goal of the teachers to get you to pass certain TOPIK levels so it’s not a particularly useful comparison to be honest.
3. Is everyone placed in the same class?
No. At the start of the year, you can choose to take a placement test if you’ve studied some Korean before and are then placed in the most appropriate class.
4. Is it difficult?
It always makes me laugh when I get this question because it’s so subjective. In my opinion, yes, it’s one of the harder degrees to choose. Most ab-initio languages will be hard and really intense, especially ones that are the most different to English. I believe according to hours of study needed to become fluent, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic and Korean are the hardest in the world (see here). Languages in general tend to be hard because you have to completely surround yourself with the language and try to immerse yourself as best as you can. Language students (at least at SOAS) eat, sleep, breathe the language and work so incredibly hard. Whilst I don’t find the concepts necessarily difficult to understand, making things stick, keeping up with the work, doing work for my other modules, and managing to keep my grades high is a bit of a juggling act and that aspect is what’s difficult.
5. Do you have to have any prior knowledge? Will I be out of place if I need to start from scratch?
No, you don’t need to have any prior knowledge at all but I’d recommend at least knowing Hangeul before you come just so you have a smooth start to the year. I’ve noticed that the people who didn’t know Hangeul at the start of the year still don’t have the best reading and spelling skills since the teachers went through Hangeul very quickly. You absolutely won’t be out of place if you need to start from scratch, the majority of people (I’d say around 2/3) will start in the ‘from-scratch’ class. It’s not common that people know literally nothing, but a lot of people choose to start from scratch to insure they haven’t picked up any bad habits whilst teaching themselves and to make sure there are no gaps in their knowledge.
6. What materials will I need?
The only things you’ll need for Korean language (at least for the Elementary Korean module) are the two textbooks I mention in this post.
7. How many people are in a class?
At the start of the year I think there were about 15? Now there are 11.
8. Can you pick up other language modules?
Not in first year, no. You can in third and fourth year.
9. How are you assessed? What grades will I need to get?
You’re assessed in many different ways:
Weekly tests
> 6-8 questions and 10 marks
> Summative (5% total)
Homework
> Length really varies depending on point in the year, but can be anything from 30mins to 3hrs per piece of homework
> Get set one piece every day
> Summative (5% total)
Revision tests
> 4 in the year
> 1hr long, 100 marks
> Not summative, but will be used in your uni application for year abroad
Listening tests
> 4 in the year
> 1hr, 100 marks
> Summative (20% total)
Presentations
> 2 in the year
> 15mins, 300-400 word script
> Summative (10% total)
Oral exam
> 1 in the year
> 15mins
> Summative (10% total)
Final exam
> 1 in the year
> 3hrs, 100 marks
> Summative (50%)
Whilst a 40% is a pass, the teachers will expect you to get 50% and higher in all of your tests. If you get lower than 50% in revision and listening tests, your teacher will have a serious discussion with you and will often ask you to improve over the following week/two weeks otherwise you’ll be at risk of being removed from the course. They’re not bluffing either - 4 people have left our class alone since the start of the year because they couldn’t keep up, and all within the first term.
10. What’s the selection of open modules like? Are there many related to Korea?
There’s a huge selection of modules, but unfortunately not many about Korea for first years. Most people end up doing open modules to do with East Asian History or Japan.
*EDIT: The BA Korean course for 2019 no longer has the option to take open modules
(edited 4 years ago)
This section of the FAQ is all about the year abroad.
1. Which unis can you choose from?
For my year (in Korea for academic year 2019-2020) we could choose from Seoul National University, Korea University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Sogang University. This can change year by year, and the availability of spaces will change every year too. There will be spaces for everyone so you don’t need to worry about that, there just may be more/less competition for certain unis depending on how many spaces are being offered by each.
2. How does accommodation work? Does the uni help you find some?
You have to sort out your accommodation completely independently. The main 4 options are halls, goshiwon, apartment/officetel or homestay. It is very rare for people to choose halls/dorms because they have a ridiculous number of rules and you have to share. Most unis don’t offer non-shared rooms. Goshiwons and officetels are the most popular.
3. What is paid for?
There are grants available for your flights dependent on your household income which you can find more info on here. Tuition fees will be covered by your student loan, or if you’re paying for it yourself then you will have a greatly reduced tuition fee to pay (for the 2019-2020 academic year, it's £1,350). Health insurance is provided by the university, but if you have pre-existing health issues then you might want to get extra private insurance.
4. How do you plan to fund your year?
Tuition will be paid for by my student loan, and you will receive your maintenance loan as normal. It is still based on your household income, however the base amount is around £700 lower because the cost of living in Seoul is not as expensive as in London. I have also been saving pretty hard so I will have enough money to travel whilst I’m there.
5. Is there a certain level you have to pass in order to continue in third year?
Yes, you have to pass level 4 of the university’s language programme. There are some options to re-sit exams in the UK if you don’t pass it, but that’s worst-case scenario.
6. Do you have to go for a specific semester?
You have to go for the September semester so your study stays in line with your degree programme once you get home.
7. How do you qualify for the year abroad in the first place?
Mainly just by getting good grades and having good attendance! You need to be getting 50% or more in all of your exams if you want to qualify for the year abroad. If you want to insure you get into your first choice uni, you’ll want to be getting slightly higher grades than that. If you want to go to SNU specifically, it will be higher again. Your attendance should be above 85%, preferably above 90% unless you have good reason to miss classes.
8. How do you qualify for SNU? Why is it different?
I’m not sure what the official grade requirements are, but to me it seems like people who have an average mark of around 75% or more in their more ‘official’ assessment (presentations, listening and revision tests) were offered spaces. For me, these are the grades I can remember getting throughout the year, although I can't remember all of them for certain so some are an estimate:
Revision 1: 92%
Presentation 1: 61%
Revision 2: 78%
Listening 1: 72%
Revision 3: 84%
Listening 2: 88%
Presentation 2: 69%
Revision 4: 81%
Listening 3: 72%
Listening 4: 84%
Oral exam: 72%
Final exam: 76%
SNU is the #1 university in Korea so they have a huge reputation to keep up! It actually makes a lot of sense to ask for those grades, too, because the pass rate at all Korean universities is 70%.
9. How do uni applications work?
After the briefing, you register your interest for your unis, ranking them favourite to least favourite. People with high grades are pretty much guaranteed their first choice, but if your grades and attendance are low then other people will have priority. Then when the convenor gets the green light you will get some info about how to apply (when I say ’some’, I mean it - the info we got was very limited and we had to really dig for a lot of what we know now) and you can start writing your application and getting documents together. You send off your application, will later be told whether they’re offering you a place (this only applies to SNU, for all other unis as far as I know you only get told after results), and then once exam results are released they will be sent to your Korean uni and you will be told whether you were accepted or not.
10. What happens if you fail the application or your summer exams?
It’s worth saying that unless you write a truly terrible application, it’s unlikely you’ll fail any application other than SNU where they’re more strict. But, if you fail the application or summer exams, there is no plan B. You just have to stay in the UK for another year. There may be an option of going abroad in third year, but I’m not certain about that.
1. Which unis can you choose from?
For my year (in Korea for academic year 2019-2020) we could choose from Seoul National University, Korea University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Sogang University. This can change year by year, and the availability of spaces will change every year too. There will be spaces for everyone so you don’t need to worry about that, there just may be more/less competition for certain unis depending on how many spaces are being offered by each.
2. How does accommodation work? Does the uni help you find some?
You have to sort out your accommodation completely independently. The main 4 options are halls, goshiwon, apartment/officetel or homestay. It is very rare for people to choose halls/dorms because they have a ridiculous number of rules and you have to share. Most unis don’t offer non-shared rooms. Goshiwons and officetels are the most popular.
3. What is paid for?
There are grants available for your flights dependent on your household income which you can find more info on here. Tuition fees will be covered by your student loan, or if you’re paying for it yourself then you will have a greatly reduced tuition fee to pay (for the 2019-2020 academic year, it's £1,350). Health insurance is provided by the university, but if you have pre-existing health issues then you might want to get extra private insurance.
4. How do you plan to fund your year?
Tuition will be paid for by my student loan, and you will receive your maintenance loan as normal. It is still based on your household income, however the base amount is around £700 lower because the cost of living in Seoul is not as expensive as in London. I have also been saving pretty hard so I will have enough money to travel whilst I’m there.
5. Is there a certain level you have to pass in order to continue in third year?
Yes, you have to pass level 4 of the university’s language programme. There are some options to re-sit exams in the UK if you don’t pass it, but that’s worst-case scenario.
6. Do you have to go for a specific semester?
You have to go for the September semester so your study stays in line with your degree programme once you get home.
7. How do you qualify for the year abroad in the first place?
Mainly just by getting good grades and having good attendance! You need to be getting 50% or more in all of your exams if you want to qualify for the year abroad. If you want to insure you get into your first choice uni, you’ll want to be getting slightly higher grades than that. If you want to go to SNU specifically, it will be higher again. Your attendance should be above 85%, preferably above 90% unless you have good reason to miss classes.
8. How do you qualify for SNU? Why is it different?
I’m not sure what the official grade requirements are, but to me it seems like people who have an average mark of around 75% or more in their more ‘official’ assessment (presentations, listening and revision tests) were offered spaces. For me, these are the grades I can remember getting throughout the year, although I can't remember all of them for certain so some are an estimate:
Revision 1: 92%
Presentation 1: 61%
Revision 2: 78%
Listening 1: 72%
Revision 3: 84%
Listening 2: 88%
Presentation 2: 69%
Revision 4: 81%
Listening 3: 72%
Listening 4: 84%
Oral exam: 72%
Final exam: 76%
SNU is the #1 university in Korea so they have a huge reputation to keep up! It actually makes a lot of sense to ask for those grades, too, because the pass rate at all Korean universities is 70%.
9. How do uni applications work?
After the briefing, you register your interest for your unis, ranking them favourite to least favourite. People with high grades are pretty much guaranteed their first choice, but if your grades and attendance are low then other people will have priority. Then when the convenor gets the green light you will get some info about how to apply (when I say ’some’, I mean it - the info we got was very limited and we had to really dig for a lot of what we know now) and you can start writing your application and getting documents together. You send off your application, will later be told whether they’re offering you a place (this only applies to SNU, for all other unis as far as I know you only get told after results), and then once exam results are released they will be sent to your Korean uni and you will be told whether you were accepted or not.
10. What happens if you fail the application or your summer exams?
It’s worth saying that unless you write a truly terrible application, it’s unlikely you’ll fail any application other than SNU where they’re more strict. But, if you fail the application or summer exams, there is no plan B. You just have to stay in the UK for another year. There may be an option of going abroad in third year, but I’m not certain about that.
(edited 4 years ago)
This section of the FAQ is about student life in London and at SOAS as a languages student.
1. How much do books and resources cost?
Not much at all. I probably spent £40 total for both of my language textbooks and I haven’t had to buy any books outside of that. All the reading materials for your modules should be online or in the SOAS library, otherwise they will almost certainly be available at the British Library. If they can only be bought, they won’t be on your compulsory reading lists so you can just avoid those ones.
2. What’s it like for mature students?
I know several ‘mature students’, in fact my best friend at uni is 25 and you shouldn’t worry about fitting in. I’d say the number of mature students is probably about equal to the number of 18-20yr olds, I actually struggled to find people my age in the first few weeks!
3. How much roughly do you spend per week?
Obviously it depends on your lifestyle but I’d say £100 a week is a good amount. It’s definitely possible to live on £70 a week but anything less than that would be really difficult; on that much you’d basically just be able to buy groceries, do your washing, maybe a meal deal or two and general toiletries. If you want to be able to go on nights out and drink alcohol regularly, you’ll need at least £100 a week.
4. Should I get a part-time job?
You can do, I know a few people who manage to have a part-time job alongside a language subject but most people don’t because there’s so little time. But it is doable.
5. How is the ‘work-life balance’?
Not sure I even know what that is. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t really believe work-life balance is that important (which I’m sure will change when I’m older but for now I’m too much of a workaholic) so I don’t actively try to prioritise ‘life’ that much. Whenever I have the spare time, I will see friends and get out and about but I don’t purposefully make time for those kinds of things if that makes sense. As with anything, if you put your mind to it and work really hard when you do work, it’s probably something that’s possible but I think it’s definitely hard with languages, especially at SOAS. Because we have so many contact hours together and we’re all struggling with the same things, we tend to all be friends with people from our own courses almost exclusively (at least when it comes to close friends) so that certainly doesn’t help things. We all end up being so busy all the time and always working so that rubs off on each other and we don’t tend to relax that much.
TL;DR the work-life balance will be almost non-existent if you don’t actively work on achieving one.
1. How much do books and resources cost?
Not much at all. I probably spent £40 total for both of my language textbooks and I haven’t had to buy any books outside of that. All the reading materials for your modules should be online or in the SOAS library, otherwise they will almost certainly be available at the British Library. If they can only be bought, they won’t be on your compulsory reading lists so you can just avoid those ones.
2. What’s it like for mature students?
I know several ‘mature students’, in fact my best friend at uni is 25 and you shouldn’t worry about fitting in. I’d say the number of mature students is probably about equal to the number of 18-20yr olds, I actually struggled to find people my age in the first few weeks!
3. How much roughly do you spend per week?
Obviously it depends on your lifestyle but I’d say £100 a week is a good amount. It’s definitely possible to live on £70 a week but anything less than that would be really difficult; on that much you’d basically just be able to buy groceries, do your washing, maybe a meal deal or two and general toiletries. If you want to be able to go on nights out and drink alcohol regularly, you’ll need at least £100 a week.
4. Should I get a part-time job?
You can do, I know a few people who manage to have a part-time job alongside a language subject but most people don’t because there’s so little time. But it is doable.
5. How is the ‘work-life balance’?
Not sure I even know what that is. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t really believe work-life balance is that important (which I’m sure will change when I’m older but for now I’m too much of a workaholic) so I don’t actively try to prioritise ‘life’ that much. Whenever I have the spare time, I will see friends and get out and about but I don’t purposefully make time for those kinds of things if that makes sense. As with anything, if you put your mind to it and work really hard when you do work, it’s probably something that’s possible but I think it’s definitely hard with languages, especially at SOAS. Because we have so many contact hours together and we’re all struggling with the same things, we tend to all be friends with people from our own courses almost exclusively (at least when it comes to close friends) so that certainly doesn’t help things. We all end up being so busy all the time and always working so that rubs off on each other and we don’t tend to relax that much.
TL;DR the work-life balance will be almost non-existent if you don’t actively work on achieving one.
(edited 4 years ago)
The End of First Year
I can't believe I'm already sitting here writing this! I hope everyone's well and surviving exam season for GCSEs and A-Levels, it will all be over before you know it but best of luck in the meantime. Theres a few things to update you all on so I'll get straight into it.
Towards the end of April I received my offer from SNU! Just a few days ago I registered with the language school (the application process is a bit convoluted but we're getting there) and I have my official SNU email all set up and ready to go which is very exciting. I don't know for sure whether I have a place until exam results are released on 11th July, but according to some third years we get an email once the language teachers are finished with marking and moderating to hint to us whether they think we'll be given our place or not. I don't know when that will be, although one teacher told me they expect to be finished with marking mid-June so we'll see what happens over the next month or so. This also means that I haven't been able to sort out flights because I am way too superstitious to jinx it all by being overconfident and booking them before I have a good idea of what's likely to happen. We also don't get given info about dorms until we're given our acceptance packages (this only applies to SNU) so it means that flights, visas, and accommodation have to be left to the last minute unfortunately. Honestly at this point I'm just glad to have my offer and ready to get the result!
I also ended up applying for a BAKS scholarship towards the end of the semester which is a £2000 scholarship offered to all British citizens going for a study abroad programme in Korea and majoring in a Korean-related subject. I'd highly recommend anyone who does Korean to apply for this scholarship because although the timing is a bit awkward revision-wise, you really don't have to write much (I wrote mine in a few hours) and the only other thing you have to do is get 2 references. Getting the references was the most difficult bit but it's so worth it if you do get the money. I ended up not getting it but I wasn't surprised by that at all. Only 5 people are awarded the money and any British citizen across the whole of the UK who fits the criteria (ie. the vast majority of SOAS, UCLan, and Sheffield's Korean students) can apply. On top of that, students who have family that fought in the Korean War get priority, which I don't have. Please apply for it if you get the chance though!
Of course I also had my exams. My official end of year exams spanned from 1st to 22nd May and I also had a 'coursework exam' (I'm not sure what else to call it) which was my final listening exam on 25th April straight after we got back from Easter. That first listening exam was so long ago that I can't remember much of it, but I think I felt relatively okay about it. We were all super freaked out by the first page of questions, which is usually the easiest, but I don't remember being too fazed by the rest of it. The speaking exam was on 1st May and I was so so nervous for it. My friend and I went into uni really early, got some food and a coffee on the way, revised in costa, and then sat and chilled out for a good 30mins before we went in. I meditated for 10mins beforehand which was probably the best decision I could've made! We don't get told who our examiner will be until we walk into the exam room (which is just a lecturer's office, it's not intimidating at all) but thankfully I got Yeon Seonsaengnim who I am definitely most comfortable talking to. The exam was weirdly enjoyable - it was nice to have a one-to-one conversation rather than the quick snippets we have in class, and it was way more relaxed than I expected. The written Korean exam was on 14th May and I don't remember there being anything particularly unexpected on the paper, apart from one word in the Korean to English translation section which completely threw me off! It was 덕분 which means 'by virtue of'. By some absolute miracle, one of the guys in our class managed to guess it?? But I was totally stumped! The rest was fine and the composition topics at the end were quite open and nice.
My last week of exams, however, was terrible. On the day of the written Korean exam I had a bit of a sore throat and chalked it up to hay fever. The next day I woke up feeling a bit groggy so let myself have the day off. The day after that and for the whole week before my international relations exam I had a horrible flu, it was the most sick I've been in a long long time. In fact I managed to not get sick since going to uni, I think the last time I was ill was for my Sheffield open day in February last year!! So all in all I only got 2 days of revision for IR and I ended up coming home during the week because I just couldn't look after myself... it was bad. The exam wasn't as disasterous as it could've been, especially considering the circumstances, but luckily I only need 23% in my exam to get 40% (a pass) for the year. God bless past me for putting effort into my essays!
Anyway, that's enough of my rambling! And I suppose it's also the end of this thread... I will update you all on what's happening when results day comes around, and I will make a thread for next year's antics! Of course I will post the link for that here once it's done. To keep my Korean from getting rusty I will be doing some revision over summer and hopefully testing out some online Korean resources so if you have any you are curious about then let me know. I'll probably post my thoughts on my original applying for Korean thread since that seems a bit more fitting for prospective students. Other than that, thank you all for following me along on my journey for this year and I hope to come back to you with good news in July! Make the most of the summer break and see you all soon <3
I can't believe I'm already sitting here writing this! I hope everyone's well and surviving exam season for GCSEs and A-Levels, it will all be over before you know it but best of luck in the meantime. Theres a few things to update you all on so I'll get straight into it.
Towards the end of April I received my offer from SNU! Just a few days ago I registered with the language school (the application process is a bit convoluted but we're getting there) and I have my official SNU email all set up and ready to go which is very exciting. I don't know for sure whether I have a place until exam results are released on 11th July, but according to some third years we get an email once the language teachers are finished with marking and moderating to hint to us whether they think we'll be given our place or not. I don't know when that will be, although one teacher told me they expect to be finished with marking mid-June so we'll see what happens over the next month or so. This also means that I haven't been able to sort out flights because I am way too superstitious to jinx it all by being overconfident and booking them before I have a good idea of what's likely to happen. We also don't get given info about dorms until we're given our acceptance packages (this only applies to SNU) so it means that flights, visas, and accommodation have to be left to the last minute unfortunately. Honestly at this point I'm just glad to have my offer and ready to get the result!
I also ended up applying for a BAKS scholarship towards the end of the semester which is a £2000 scholarship offered to all British citizens going for a study abroad programme in Korea and majoring in a Korean-related subject. I'd highly recommend anyone who does Korean to apply for this scholarship because although the timing is a bit awkward revision-wise, you really don't have to write much (I wrote mine in a few hours) and the only other thing you have to do is get 2 references. Getting the references was the most difficult bit but it's so worth it if you do get the money. I ended up not getting it but I wasn't surprised by that at all. Only 5 people are awarded the money and any British citizen across the whole of the UK who fits the criteria (ie. the vast majority of SOAS, UCLan, and Sheffield's Korean students) can apply. On top of that, students who have family that fought in the Korean War get priority, which I don't have. Please apply for it if you get the chance though!
Of course I also had my exams. My official end of year exams spanned from 1st to 22nd May and I also had a 'coursework exam' (I'm not sure what else to call it) which was my final listening exam on 25th April straight after we got back from Easter. That first listening exam was so long ago that I can't remember much of it, but I think I felt relatively okay about it. We were all super freaked out by the first page of questions, which is usually the easiest, but I don't remember being too fazed by the rest of it. The speaking exam was on 1st May and I was so so nervous for it. My friend and I went into uni really early, got some food and a coffee on the way, revised in costa, and then sat and chilled out for a good 30mins before we went in. I meditated for 10mins beforehand which was probably the best decision I could've made! We don't get told who our examiner will be until we walk into the exam room (which is just a lecturer's office, it's not intimidating at all) but thankfully I got Yeon Seonsaengnim who I am definitely most comfortable talking to. The exam was weirdly enjoyable - it was nice to have a one-to-one conversation rather than the quick snippets we have in class, and it was way more relaxed than I expected. The written Korean exam was on 14th May and I don't remember there being anything particularly unexpected on the paper, apart from one word in the Korean to English translation section which completely threw me off! It was 덕분 which means 'by virtue of'. By some absolute miracle, one of the guys in our class managed to guess it?? But I was totally stumped! The rest was fine and the composition topics at the end were quite open and nice.
My last week of exams, however, was terrible. On the day of the written Korean exam I had a bit of a sore throat and chalked it up to hay fever. The next day I woke up feeling a bit groggy so let myself have the day off. The day after that and for the whole week before my international relations exam I had a horrible flu, it was the most sick I've been in a long long time. In fact I managed to not get sick since going to uni, I think the last time I was ill was for my Sheffield open day in February last year!! So all in all I only got 2 days of revision for IR and I ended up coming home during the week because I just couldn't look after myself... it was bad. The exam wasn't as disasterous as it could've been, especially considering the circumstances, but luckily I only need 23% in my exam to get 40% (a pass) for the year. God bless past me for putting effort into my essays!
Anyway, that's enough of my rambling! And I suppose it's also the end of this thread... I will update you all on what's happening when results day comes around, and I will make a thread for next year's antics! Of course I will post the link for that here once it's done. To keep my Korean from getting rusty I will be doing some revision over summer and hopefully testing out some online Korean resources so if you have any you are curious about then let me know. I'll probably post my thoughts on my original applying for Korean thread since that seems a bit more fitting for prospective students. Other than that, thank you all for following me along on my journey for this year and I hope to come back to you with good news in July! Make the most of the summer break and see you all soon <3
(edited 4 years ago)
Results
Hi everyone, I’m back after what feels like forever! I’ve been a bit absent from TSR over the past few weeks as I’ve done some travelling and only had about a week and a half at home since I last posted here. That week and a half has been incredibly hectic to the point where I’m unfortunately sick again, which is so odd since it’s rare that I’m ill, but the stress has been getting to me. It’s all for a good reason though so I don’t mind it too much
The big news is that I’ve been accepted to SNU! I got the subtle nod from the LYA coordinator (Yeon Seonsaengnim for my year) about 2 weeks ago now and got my official acceptance email 3 days ago. It was a relief but also the start of a LOT of stress… there are a lot of moving parts to the process of studying abroad and it’s certainly not easy to get them all in motion how you want them to. There’s a lot of admin stuff to organise and a lot of ducks to get in line. But it’s going okay for now!
The other big news is that today was results day so I finally got to see what my overall grades are. I’m not talking about my grades because I want anyone to compare themselves to me, but I just want to show that taking the leap of faith to study something totally new but something you truly love is undoubtedly worth the risk. My overall grade for my Korean language module was 77% and I’m so pleased with that! The grades I was most interested in seeing for Korean were my final exam grade and my oral exam grade. In my head, I knew I would be happy with 70 in the final exam and 65 in the oral exam. In the final exam I got 76 and in the oral exam I got 72 so I’m chuffed with both of them. The biggest surprise, however, was international relations! If you remember my previous post, I was incredibly ill on the day of the exam and I’d only been able to revise for 2 days but somehow I managed to finesse my way through it and come out with 68%? I’m almost certain they marked it wrong but I won’t complain. Overall I finished the year with 69.25% meaning if I would’ve handed in just one of my late essays in on time it would’ve been a first, but honestly I’m so happy I got into SNU and got marks I’m proud of.
In the next few weeks I will set up my thread for the year abroad and on there I will talk about the preparation process and what that’s like because so far it’s been a bit of a journey, and not a fun one… but it’ll be worth it in the end and if everything goes to plan, the thread should show that! I’m excited to share the next step of my journey with you, so I’ll see you all over on that thread in a few weeks’ time
Hi everyone, I’m back after what feels like forever! I’ve been a bit absent from TSR over the past few weeks as I’ve done some travelling and only had about a week and a half at home since I last posted here. That week and a half has been incredibly hectic to the point where I’m unfortunately sick again, which is so odd since it’s rare that I’m ill, but the stress has been getting to me. It’s all for a good reason though so I don’t mind it too much
The big news is that I’ve been accepted to SNU! I got the subtle nod from the LYA coordinator (Yeon Seonsaengnim for my year) about 2 weeks ago now and got my official acceptance email 3 days ago. It was a relief but also the start of a LOT of stress… there are a lot of moving parts to the process of studying abroad and it’s certainly not easy to get them all in motion how you want them to. There’s a lot of admin stuff to organise and a lot of ducks to get in line. But it’s going okay for now!
The other big news is that today was results day so I finally got to see what my overall grades are. I’m not talking about my grades because I want anyone to compare themselves to me, but I just want to show that taking the leap of faith to study something totally new but something you truly love is undoubtedly worth the risk. My overall grade for my Korean language module was 77% and I’m so pleased with that! The grades I was most interested in seeing for Korean were my final exam grade and my oral exam grade. In my head, I knew I would be happy with 70 in the final exam and 65 in the oral exam. In the final exam I got 76 and in the oral exam I got 72 so I’m chuffed with both of them. The biggest surprise, however, was international relations! If you remember my previous post, I was incredibly ill on the day of the exam and I’d only been able to revise for 2 days but somehow I managed to finesse my way through it and come out with 68%? I’m almost certain they marked it wrong but I won’t complain. Overall I finished the year with 69.25% meaning if I would’ve handed in just one of my late essays in on time it would’ve been a first, but honestly I’m so happy I got into SNU and got marks I’m proud of.
In the next few weeks I will set up my thread for the year abroad and on there I will talk about the preparation process and what that’s like because so far it’s been a bit of a journey, and not a fun one… but it’ll be worth it in the end and if everything goes to plan, the thread should show that! I’m excited to share the next step of my journey with you, so I’ll see you all over on that thread in a few weeks’ time
Congratulations! Those are great grades and you're going to SNU! I'm excited to read all about it, even the application process, lol
Original post by mollyxoo
Congratulations on your results! So happy for you! I look forward to reading your next thread all about the year abroad as in September I'll be starting my Japanese degree at Soas good luck!!
good luck!!Aw thank you! That's so exciting!! Do you know your results already? Wishing you the best of luck for starting uni, you'll have the best time <3
Original post by hypotrochoids
Congratulations! Those are great grades and you're going to SNU! I'm excited to read all about it, even the application process, lol
Thank you so much! And thank you for following along even if it's not the most interesting at times haha
Original post by umbrellala
Aw thank you! That's so exciting!! Do you know your results already? Wishing you the best of luck for starting uni, you'll have the best time <3
Yes I am just waiting on my certificate to come through as I did an Access to HE course instead of traditional A-levels. I'm very excited and reading your thread kept me motivated so thank you!
Original post by umbrellala
Thank you so much! And thank you for following along even if it's not the most interesting at times haha
Kind of feel like I should thank you really, lol, your post appeared exactly at the right time for me when applying to uni, I was originally thinking of only applying to SOAS for Korean but then your post talked talked about Sheffield quite highly, so I applied there & UCLan too. I got in all 3 and visited Sheffield on an applicant open day and was surprised how much I liked it (also somewhat cheaper to live than London, lol) So yes, I'll be starting Korean Studies in Sheffield in September
Paid the deposit for my accommodation this morning, how exciting, lolOriginal post by mollyxoo
Yes I am just waiting on my certificate to come through as I did an Access to HE course instead of traditional A-levels. I'm very excited and reading your thread kept me motivated so thank you!
No problem at all! It's nice that you don't have to wait for results day or anything like that, you can start getting excited and organising stuff ahead of time, I hope everything goes smoothly for you
Original post by hypotrochoids
Kind of feel like I should thank you really, lol, your post appeared exactly at the right time for me when applying to uni, I was originally thinking of only applying to SOAS for Korean but then your post talked talked about Sheffield quite highly, so I applied there & UCLan too. I got in all 3 and visited Sheffield on an applicant open day and was surprised how much I liked it (also somewhat cheaper to live than London, lol) So yes, I'll be starting Korean Studies in Sheffield in September Paid the deposit for my accommodation this morning, how exciting, lol
Paid the deposit for my accommodation this morning, how exciting, lolAh not at all, I'm glad you found the university that's right for you, and that is exciting!! Good luck with everything and I'm always here if you need help with academic stuff
Gahh thank you so much, your threads are so helpful 😊 Sorry if you already mentioned this and I missed it, but I have a question. Obviously tuition fees in the UK are £9,250 per year. And I've seen on the SOAS website that the language year abroad's tuition fee is £1,385. Is this on top of the £9,250, or instead of it? Also, does the £1,385 include the cost of the flight, or do you have to pay for that yourself?
Original post by Mynxas
I'm happy for you and your thread been a great read; can't wait for your YA thread! (and the journey you're going be taking soon)
Thank you!!
Original post by YasudaSayo
Gahh thank you so much, your threads are so helpful 😊 Sorry if you already mentioned this and I missed it, but I have a question. Obviously tuition fees in the UK are £9,250 per year. And I've seen on the SOAS website that the language year abroad's tuition fee is £1,385. Is this on top of the £9,250, or instead of it? Also, does the £1,385 include the cost of the flight, or do you have to pay for that yourself?
No problem! That's instead of the usual £9250 and doesn't include anything other than tuition. You have to pay for flights yourself, but if you're eligible you may be able to get them reimbursed for anything over £300 through student finance via a separate study abroad bursary
Original post by umbrellala
No problem! That's instead of the usual £9250 and doesn't include anything other than tuition. You have to pay for flights yourself, but if you're eligible you may be able to get them reimbursed for anything over £300 through student finance via a separate study abroad bursary
Oh wow, that's awesome. When taking out the loans for all of that, is it also paid back in the usual way (you don't pay it back until you earn over a certain amount)? 🌞
Original post by YasudaSayo
Oh wow, that's awesome. When taking out the loans for all of that, is it also paid back in the usual way (you don't pay it back until you earn over a certain amount)? 🌞
Yep it’s all part of your usual student loan because it a compulsory part of the degree. If you’re doing an optional year abroad, it’s not part of your normal student loan so you have to find funding through other means
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