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Applying to Underwood international college (UIC): My Experience

Bothy's Briefings
10 min readMar 21, 2019

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© Yonsei University

In 2018, I applied to the Underwood Division of Yonsei University, Underwood International College (UIC), for the Spring 2019 semester. While I was applying for it, of course, there were blog posts and videos on the internet that helped explain the application process. However, since the information was scattered across different sites, it took me quite some time to gather all the necessary details.

Therefore, I decided to write this article to share my experiences and the knowledge I gained from other informative posts on the internet, as well as insights from UIC students whom I spoke with. Throughout this entire post, I will refer to Underwood International College as UIC, using their abbreviation.

First of all, if you are here, you probably already know that UIC is an international college located within one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea, Yonsei University. This means that you do not have to know Korean beforehand in order to study there. (However, you will have to take language classes once you start studying there. But that is not a big problem anyway.)

UIC accepts all kinds of students: Korean, Overseas Korean, and International, just like me. So, there are three different tracks that students can apply to according to their backgrounds. Since I am neither a Korean nor an Overseas Korean, this post will mainly focus on the International Student track application.

There are three rounds of admission and two semesters, either Spring or Fall, in which you can matriculate.

UIC Application Schedule (credit: UIC website)

Above is the schedule for students attending UIC in 2019. If you plan to matriculate in the spring, you can apply during either the first or second round. For the Fall semester, you may apply during the second or third round. In my case, I applied for the second round in late 2018, with the hope of starting in the Spring semester of 2019. If you choose the second round, you will need to specify in your online application which semester you prefer.

I also want to mention that UIC offers scholarships to incoming students based on their past performance. Every international student is automatically considered for a scholarship upon admission. There are full-tuition scholarship and half-tuition scholarship available for all four years you will be staying at the college. However, these scholarships only cover tuition fees, so you will need to cover dorm and other expenses yourself.

From what I have heard, not many students received full-tuition scholarships upon admission. Nevertheless, you can apply for scholarships later once you are enrolled at UIC, though they may be more competitive.

The admission process is divided into two stages:
1) Document Review (200 points)
2) Interview (100 points)

Firstly, you need to send all your documents to the UIC Admission Office in South Korea. They will review all the documents you have sent. If you pass the first stage, you will be notified via email and scheduled for an interview for the second stage.

For the materials you have to submit, I recommend checking out UIC’s official guidelines here. But before sending all the documents to Korea, do not forget to pay the admission fee. The amount you need to pay depends on the application method you choose — Direct Application to UIC or Common Application. Personally, I applied directly to UIC, so I had to pay 150,000 KRW.

Now, once you pay the admission fee, it is time to start working on your documents. For the first stage, document review, it will be separated into two minor processes. First, you need to apply online by filling in all your information and lists of documents you will be sending on UIC website here. Once you finish this, you have to print it out, and send it along with other documents to South Korea. While doing the online application, I encountered several problems, but all of them were solved by writing emails and asking for help from the Admission Office (uicadm@yonsei.ac.kr). After filling in all the information online, you will receive the first email from the Admission Office regarding the Postal Address and document submission deadline.

Moreover, there are two essays you have to write: one with 600 words or less, and one with 300 words or less. For the longer essay, there are five questions for you to choose from (as of 2019 admission.) My tip is to choose the one you think you can write best and be yourself the most. Personally, I chose the diversity question due to my background. For the shorter one, it is about yourself and UIC. I recommend being precise, cutting down irrelevant information, and knowing what you are talking about. I also had my friends, seniors, and teachers read my essays in case they had any suggestions or recommendations.

Sending all your materials to South Korea can be done through any means you are comfortable with. I sent mine by air through DHL, and it arrived safe and sound at the Admission Office, taking only a day or two. Here is a funny but not-so-fun story to share: I forgot to include a copy of my own passport (Yes, I sent everything but a copy of my passport because I misread the guidelines), so the Admission Office had to email me and ask me to send it through email later.

Once they receive everything you have sent, they will email you about your application number, confirming receipt of your application and informing you that they will review your documents and get in touch with you afterwards.

Then, you will have to wait for another email. If you pass the first stage, they will inform you about the interview time. But if you do not, then that is the end of your journey. From my experience, it is stated on the website that they would announce about the interview on 7 December. So, I waited patiently throughout the day, but nothing arrived in my email. I waited another day, yet nothing arrived, and that was when I started to get anxious. I thought things might have gone wrong. However, based on my conversations with people at UIC, the Office might be a bit late in announcing. Therefore, if you are experiencing the same thing, do not worry. Eventually, I received an email saying I passed the first stage on 10 December, and that was a huge relief.

For the interview, I have heard there are two types so far: Skype interview and phone interview. However, most people seem to get the phone interview. I saw some people from the US getting a Skype Interview (probably due to time difference). Personally, I reside in an Asian country and got a Phone Interview.

If you also get a Phone Interview, they will call you twice: once for checking the connection, and the other for the actual interview. They will provide the date and time for both calls. Note that you will receive the check-up call around your actual interview time. For example, my interview time was around 14:45, and I received the check-up call at 14:39.

For my interview experience, there were two interviewers: a male professor and a female professor. From their accents and small introductions before the interview started, it was clear that the male professor is a foreigner, and the female professor is Korean. Additionally, I discussed this with my seniors who are at UIC, and they all mentioned having two interviewers, one male and one female, just like me.

Most likely, the interviewers you will get are the professors teaching under the division you have applied to. My seniors and I all applied for the Underwood Division, so it seems this interview format is consistent. I am not sure if other divisions have the same format or not.

For those worried about speaking Korean during the interview, do not fret; they only ask questions in English. Although I know Korean and stated it in my documents, they did not ask me to speak it. Therefore, if you know zero Korean, there is nothing to be anxious about.

During the interview, the professors took turns asking me questions. I asked many UIC students for tips, and most of them said something along the lines of “Just know why you want to come to UIC, that’s all.” Based on my experience, I completely agree with them.

Below are the interview questions I was asked along with those I have gathered. (Credits to all the blog posts, videos, and seniors I have been in touch with!)

  • Why do you want to study in Korea?
  • Why did you choose this division/field/course?
  • Why do you want to come to UIC?
  • Have you ever been to Korea before?
  • How many countries have you ever been to? What were your experiences there?
  • What is your career aspiration?
  • What is the last book you have read?
  • What is the book that recently inspires you?
  • How do the extracurriculars that you did shape you?
  • Describe one failure you have had
  • What is your weakness?
  • If we ask your friend to describe you with three adjectives, what would they say?
  • What do you do in your free time? (I said I normally read books about Korean Politics, and they asked me which book I read about Korea and how I felt about it.)
  • Any questions about UIC? (Be sure to read the UIC website in advance. Avoid asking what is already on the website.)

You can see that the questions are pretty standard. So honestly, prepare for the interview just like you would for a normal university interview. Speak at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow. I have heard some people were cut off even though they had not finished their answers, but fortunately, that did not happen to me. Experiences may vary from person to person, so it is best to answer in an average length. Explain your points, but do not go off-topic.

They said the interview would take about 10–15 minutes. From my experience, I spent about 6 minutes answering their questions and 4 minutes asking them questions about UIC, so it took me around 10 minutes in total. To sum up my UIC interview experience, it was great. I think I rushed a bit at the beginning, but it went smoothly once a minute had passed.

Once the interview is over, you will have to wait for another two weeks for the final announcement.

Although it was stated on the website that the announcement would be out on 4 January, it came as a surprise when I received an email from UIC on 2 January. And yes, I was accepted into the Underwood Division of UIC, matriculating in March 2019.

Now, my UIC application ended here, and you may be wondering how I am spening my time at UIC. Unfortunately, I eventually had to decline their admission offer.

I do like UIC a lot for their courses and many other aspects, but my problem was with the timing and documentation. Long story short, I applied to UIC back in late 2018 without realising that I was scheduled to take my country’s national exam on 2–3 March 2019. This exam is a one-time opportunity for students in my country and is crucial for our final transcript. If I had not taken it, I would have had to go through numerous processes to have my transcript sent to UIC without the exam, which would have been a huge hassle. Additionally, my official graduation certificate would not be available until late March. However, I was required to move into the dorms in late February and matriculate in early March. You can imagine how hectic things would have been.

I did consider emailing the Office and asking if it was possible for me to matriculate in the Fall semester of 2019 instead, given the complications. But eventually, I decided to decline their offer. It was sad to make this decision after putting in so much hard work, but it is not like I gained nothing from the experience. I met amazing UIC students, helpful admission officers, kind-hearted professors, and many more. That is why I decided to share my experiences here, even though I will not be attending UIC myself.

Also, I just want to point something out here for those who are considering applying. I have seen people hesitate about applying to UIC because they have heard that the college does not treat international students the same as Korean or overseas Korean students, lacks transparency, and has had students leave the college due to dissatisfaction, among other reasons. I did my homework to find everything on the internet that shares these kinds of experiences at UIC. While most people acknowledge these issues, many also mention that UIC is improving.

I mention these things not to criticise the college, but to highlight that there are challenges you might encounter. If you are prepared to face them, then go ahead and apply. However, if you are concerned and have other alternatives that suit you better, then the final decision is up to you.

Here are all the links I used, and credits to the people who posted about UIC:

Anyway, I do hope that you will get the answers to most of your questions from this post. For those who are determined to attend UIC, I am rooting for you. Just give it your best shot. Good luck!

Bothy’s Briefings

Education
Uic
Yonsei
University
Korea

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Bothy's Briefings

Written by Bothy's Briefings

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I write to share the information I wish had been available on the internet when I was younger.

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