You're one step closer to getting to your study abroad experience at Yonsei! Now that you have officially been accepted to the University, there are a few things that you have to do before heading off to Korea. visa (D-2)I suggest doing this as soon as possible so that you are not worrying about getting your student visa in time for your departure. The visa requires you to have a few things: 1. Visa applicaitonThe first thing you will need is the visa application, which can be found here. I would fill out at much as you can and if you have any questions, the person at the Consulate will be happy to answer any questions that you have. 2. Valid passportYou should already have this! 3. Passport photo (2x2)The Consulate is very strict about the way they want their pictures and you can use the same requirements that you used for the Yonsei app ID photo. Beware that if your photo does not meet the requirements, they will turn you away. I got my photo done at Costco and it was very affordable. But, there are many places that you can get your passport photo taken. 4. admissions letterYou will need your acceptance letter, but I would just bring the entire admissions packet because you will be needing a few other forms and pieces of information that will be in the packet. 5. copy of most recent transcriptI am not sure if it has to be a sealed copy of your transcript or not, but just to be sure, I ordered another copy just to be safe. 6. certificate of bank balanceThis is just to make sure that you have the funds to study abroad. I printed out a copy of my Freeman Scholarship reward email and that worked just fine. 7. $45The last thing you will need is $45. The payment must either be in CASH or MONEY ORDER. They will not accept any other form of payment so make sure you dont forget about this! Thats everything you will need! The website for the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Hawaii can be found here if you need more information. HousingThe housing application period is extremely competitive at Yonsei. If you are not diligent and on top of things, then you will not receive the housing that you want or receive on campus housing at all. Yonsei is very good about sending out emails about key topics such as housing and registration so keep an eye out for those. These emails will give you instructions on how to get to the housing website, your log in information, as well as the time and date for housing registration. You will have to create an account on the website prior to actually registering so I would do this beforehand so that you are not rushing to do so on the day of registration. So, how the registration process goes is that you first register for your preferred form of housing, then they inform you of whether or not you received your first choice, then within 10 days you must wire the money to Yonsei for the housing you received. I opted for the single room room in SK Global house because I like my privacy and this room also has it's own bathroom which I appreciate as well. This room does cost a more than the other housing options, but I think it is worth it for the privacy. All the times that are given in the Yonsei emails are on Korean time, so keep this in mind when you begin the registration process. The website allows you to log in prior to the actual registration time so I would do so just to be sure that there are no issues that would set you back. This is what you will see once the registration period begins. You choose your preferred form of housing, answer a few questions, and hit submit! I would do this as quickly and accurately as possible. After you submit that form you can go to the "My Page" tab of the housing website to check the status of your housing. Yonsei will inform you of the date that they will be announcing if you received your choice of housing. The status will say "Pass" if you got your choice. After the date that Yonsei announces the decision, you will have 10 days to wire the payment to Yonsei. All the information of how much you have to pay and where to pay it to will be under the "My Page" tab. My bank does international wire transferring for a fee of $50 per transaction so you should check with your bank to see if 1) they do wire transferring and 2) if there is a fee to do so. I'm not sure if there are any fees that the Korean bank charges so I sent extra money just in case there are any other fees. You will get the surplus back after arriving at the dorms. course registrationPrior to registering I would ready this course guide that tells you about what all the symbols mean in the course catalog. I had a few bumps in the road when it came to figuring out my schedule and finding classes that will transfer back to UH and go towards my major. So, I have a couple tips for you when it comes to course planning:
1. Look at the course catalog as soon as it comes out!! The course catalog for the spring semester does not come out until around early to mid January, so you dont have much time to plan your courses out. When I applied to MIX and wanted to go to Yonsei, I looked at the course equivalencies (I did not link the actual course equivalence sheet because it is constantly being updated so the link would stop working when the sheet is updated) and saw that many of the courses offered at Yonsei would transfer back to UH and go towards my major. BUT, when I was actually preparing to register, I found that the courses I was planning to take were not being offered anymore or were not being offered to business majors!! (BEWARE: Check to make sure the classes are being offered in your semester because not all of them are, a few of the course numbers have changed, and some of the classes are no longer available to exchange students or business majors!!!) I was extremely thrown off with this and was having an extremely hard time finding classes that had course equivalencies, would go towards my major, and didn't overlap time wise. So, dont be set on a schedule that you made before the course catalog comes out because it is very likely that it will change. Finding the right courses was a difficult task and I worried that I would not receive credits for any of the courses that I am going to take in Korea! I started later because I figured since it was on the course equivalence list, then it will be offered, but THIS IS NOT THE CASE! So, I decided to meet with Rikki and she is such a blessing!!! This brings me to my second tip. 2. MEET WITH RIKKI MITSUNAGA (study abroad advisor)!! This is why I suggest looking at the course catalog as soon as it comes out for your semester because if you have any questions, you will have time to make an appointment with Rikki before the registration date! I felt so much better after meeting with Rikki about my courses. She helped me find courses that I could petition to get credit for and we found a "shopping list" of courses that could go towards my majors so that if they are approved, I will be able to pick which ones I really want to take. If i had not met with Rikki, I would have ended up taking classes that I dont find interesting or courses that I would not get credit for. So, If you ever have any questions at all, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH RIKKI. She is so knowledgable and will know what to do if you get stuck. Thank you so much for getting me out of my sticky situation, Rikki!! Yonsei's course registration is a little different than other school's there are two rounds of registration and the first round is based on a mileage system where you "bid" a certain amount of your milage (I had 72) for the courses you would like to take. The more mileage you bid, the more likely you are to get that class. Yonsei will email you information for how and when to register. Once you have figured out which classes you would like to take, the actual registration is quite simple. You just log in, search for the classes, and then enter the amount of mileage you would like to bid. The courses that you bid on will be shown at the bottom of the screen and you can make changes to your choices afterwards. That is all there is to it! The most stressful part is finding the classes that you want to take so get started on that early! After you bid for the courses, you go back to the same place where to registered at the give given in the email in order to see if you go the classes that you bid on. If you are unable to to get your classes the first time around, there is a second round where it is first come first serve for the courses that are not full and a waitlist for the ones that are. That was my experience with registration, and I hope my tips help!
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About meMy name is Michelle Pham and I am currently a junior at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I am a full time student majoring in finance, human resource management, and international business. My dream is to travel the world, help people, and to make a difference in my community. Archives
May 2018
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