On a reply by Raja to one of the incoming 2009 KGSP fellow;
1)How is the living cost here?
Well, it really depends on where you have been placed to do your language course. If you're placed in Seoul like I was, the cost of living would most definitely be higher. Generally, if you're satisfied enough on eating school cafeteria food (which is the cheapest, certainly), the price ranges from 1700won to 3000won. Outside food could be a lot more expensive, depending on the types of food. The cheapest kind of restaurants... well, you could get from 3000won to 5000won. And if you want to go for italian food, it would roughly be about 8000won to 10000won (Think Nando's style of pricing). And the cheapest bottle of mineral water is around 500won (but there are more expensive ones, of course).
For accommodation, it depends on your university. But from what those from my batch and I have discussed about, dormitories in Seoul are more expensive as well (with a few exceptions). Out of the six of us, my dorm fees were the highest during our language course, 280,000won per month in Myongji University (Seoul). Those in Cheonan (out of Seoul but still connected by subway line), had the lowest among us, at 170,000won (although I'm not so sure of this figure) for SunMoon University. For my degree course though, SNU dorm is only 150,000won per month.
For the language course, some universities include books in the course fees, so for example, people from Sogang University (Seoul) didn't have to fork out any of their own money for language books. SunMoon university people had to buy their own books, whereas I had to pay for some of my books (textbooks were included in the course fees but not workbooks).
Entertainment wise, the average price of a movie ticket is 8000won but ice-skating is as low as 1000won for one hour (inclusive of rentals). So you see, how much you would spend on the side is really depending on your preferences. Generally though, as long as you're not too wasteful (you can still do shopping every now and then), you can live quite comfortably on this scholarship. But in the beginning, be prepared to spend quite a bit on handphone and necessities
2)How is their education system?
I wouldn't know about how it would be for following batches. But for the 2008 batch, we went through a different process of university application compared to other students (even other regular international students). After the 1 year language course (let's hope that you guys get a full one year course compared to the barely seven month duration we got), you will have to sit for the Korean Language Proficiency Test (KLPT) and SNU's TEPS which is basically just an English proficiency test. We were ranked using our scores in those two tests as well as our ongoing language course university assessment and based on our ranking, our academic background and originating country, we are considered by the universities we had applied to as our first choice (we were given five choices, but if I'm not mistaken, your choices have been limited to three). And of course, application essays (usually self-introduction and study plan) play a very important role as well. Since the application deadline for Malaysian KGSP is earlier than the STPM result's release date, SPM was sufficient for your application, of course. But when you apply for university admission later on, you will need to use your STPM result as well. They're looking for your highschool diploma, so you must submit everything from PMR, SPM to STPM. And if you're not STPM, your other courses like CAT or whatnots. The admission process is pretty annoying since if your batch would be like ours, we got the application forms one week before the deadline. And it's hard enough doing one application under one week, let alone for us, five applications in one week. Be sure to make sufficient copies of your highschool certs. You will need them later on. And make lots of passport sized photos while you're in Malaysia. Of course, the rule is the photos need to be not more than 6 months old, but honestly, to do photos here is very expensive. So you should try to bend this rule a little bit!
We didn't have to take any entrance exams for university application, since we only used KLPT and TEPS (Malaysians generally don't score very high in KLPT but our TEPS really boosted our rankings). But I would also suggest to you bring some of your books from Malaysia. Especially if you're in the science stream. Those of us in engineering and mathematics are really starting to regret not having revised any math for one year. Although the chemistry, biology and physics sylabus for the first year has basically already been covered in STPM, the math, however, is way beyond STPM math. Of course, most importantly is to concentrate on your language course since without sufficient language proficiency, you will really be facing a very very tough time. But if you could try to fit in a bit of revision, that would be ideal.
3) Preparation
Follow what the guidebook tells you. It covers pretty much everything, like preparing one month's worth of living expenses (roughly 800,000won). Malaysian handphones will not work in Korea, so you can just leave yours in Malaysia (unless like me, you plan on using it as an alarm to make sure you get up in time for classes~). Laptops...well, it would really be very convenient to have a laptop from the very beginning since you won't have enough language proficiency to haggle with Korean vendors. If you plan on bringing a laptop from Malaysia though, be sure to install the Korean fonts and all that jazz from the Windows CD. You can't type Korean characters otherwise. So be sure to bring all your installation CDs with you when you come (I had to have my parents mail me my Windows CD since I didn't install the Korean files). All of us brought laptops from Malaysia, but one problem we faced was the fact that the keyboard doesn't have Hangul characters on it. So some of us wrote the characters on to the keys, some put stickers, and like me? I just rely on the trial and error method. Some of the scholars from other countries decided to buy their laptops here, and the price was around 800,000won to 900,000won. But again, obviously the price would differ with varying specifications. Ah, and LAN cable. Some dorms already have LAN cables attached to the wall of your room, but that depends. Some require that you use your own... unless of course, you're lucky enough (like me) the previous room resident left behind his or her LAN cable. Cameras? Again, same thing applies. Shopping when you have a very high language barrier is hard. And if you could bring a camera from Malaysia, it means you can immediately take pictures of your first moments in Korea~ If you have a strong inclination towards music and play the guitar, like Xin Ying and myself, you should consider bringing a guitar (but getting it on the plane will be annoying...). I don't know what I would've done without my guitar with me here~
That's the most I can recall from the top of my head for now. But really, I think as long as you follow the guidebook, you should be fine. The rest aren't 'necessities' per se, but they make your life easier and more comfortable.
We need to study biology , physic , chemistry etc in korean there?!
i just thought it's language. This is harder than i imagine ><~ Ok, i will bring all my stpm math books there, hurm, do u think i need to bring chem n physic as well?
Okay, here's the thing. Since you took science stream from STPM, I'm assuming you want to continue on in this stream, right? But even so, whether you have to take certain subjects or not, it would depend on what kind of major you would want to do. I can't speak for other universities, except for SNU, but I think it's a pretty fair assessment of general requirements, because;
If you want to do engineering, you have to take into account whether the course offered by a certain university has the proper accreditation. Since I'm assuming that at the end of your degree programme, you would want to return to Malaysia to work, you would need to be licensed under the Board of Engineers Malaysia. It would be safe to assume that those recognized by JPA would also be recognized by BEM. You can check out what course is recognized by JPA at the esila website. And both will take into account whether the university has been accredited by ABEEK (google this up if you're not sure what this is). If not, from what I've heard from those under JPA scholarship, once you return to Malaysia after graduating from university, you would have to go for a special course before you can actually work. But this is just what I heard, and I'm not sure how true the statement is.
So, for my course, for example, Civil & Environmental Engineering, only five of the twenty participating universities in the KGSP are recognized by JPA. SNU is one of them. Which is why for engineering students, they have to fulfill certain requirements especially in the first year since it is required by ABEEK. This means that for all engineering students, every freshman has to take two science subjects. This could be in the combination of any two between Chem, Physics, Bio and Statistics. I wouldn't know about the other JPA students in SNU, but Ritchie (Materials Science & Engineering) and myself are currently taking Chem and Physics. We are both taking Physics in english (a new class opened this semester for the benefit of foreigners) but Ritchie is doing English Chem whereas I'm doing Korean Chem (it's a bit complicated to explain this part as well... but you don't have to worry about this yet). Anyway, as I've said before, Physics and Chem syllabus are both basically STPM sylabus, so as long as you haven't burnt your STPM notes, you should be fine ^^;. In fact, if you haven't burnt your STPM student lab's manual, you should definitely hold on to it.
But this isn't to say that you should bring all your books when you come here this month. Nooooo, just hold on to them. You can get your family to ship your books and notes under this special category for printed material. It's cheap but it'll take a few months to reach. But it's not like you'll need them immediately during language course. As I said before, focus first on your language. Everything else is secondary. The most important book that you'll have to have with you for revision is your math book. Your math notes. This is because calculus is a compulsory subject for freshmen. And having abandoned math for one year has really made life hell for us here (okay la, it could've been worse la.. since we're taking calculus in English right now).
They told you just to bring your SPM cert, but please please please bring along all other related documents XD. Especially STPM. And by the way, since you won't be competing with regular applicants (both international and local), you don't have to worry too much about whether you're eligible or not. You're only competing among KGSP scholars and the universities are forced to take in a certain number of students whether they want to or not. For example, during our application period, out of 20 participating universities, SNU and Yonsei had 15 spots; Korea, Inha and Hanyang had 10 spots; etc. whereas there were only 162 KGSP scholars. So sometimes it had even reached a point where it's not so much as you qualifying or not (although it IS important) but whether you're brave enough to attempt an application to SNU as your first choice (since we didn't know our ranking at the time of application). From what we saw during our batch application period, Malaysians on average, rank at about high middle level. Again though, these are just things you only need to consider. Don't worry about this too much and FOCUS ON YOUR LANGUAGE COURSE ;).
About the guidebook, hrm, we actually got our guidebooks on the day of the ceremony. But then again, we had like...three weeks in between the ceremony and the departure itself. But basically, just bring enough money for the first month, bring sufficient amount of copies of your documents (for emergency purposes... like your certs and passport) and bring lots of passport sized photos. The guidebook is mainly to prepare you for stuff that you have to handle after arriving in Korea. Like alien registration and opening bank accounts. But again, there's no need to worry too much about that. During your first year, most of the universities where you would be doing your language course will take very good care of you. Some will even do everything for you if you're close enough to your coordinator ^_~.
Yes, I do tend to write very very very lengthy essays in school as well XD.
We understand that there will be a lot of things which you don't know about. Hey, we were once in your position as well! We wished we had seniors who could advise us on stuff, but ahaha being the first batch made that pretty much impossible. So, any questions, just e-mail us okay? We'll try our best to reply promptly. But since we're the first batch, there's also a lot of stuff that even we're not sure of yet. So keep in mind that info coming from us might not necessarily be 100% accurate.
On a reply from Xin Ying;
You can use your cellphone IF you have a 3G phone. You have to activate international roaming before coming to Korea with ur service provider. However, it is not advisable for long-term usage. I am using my Malaysian phone just for my friends to sms me from Msia. (it cost the same for them to sms you, but you pay RM1 if you reply.)
The power point (the socket) is different from the one in Malaysia. They use the plug with 2-round thing (I am so sorry because I don't know what is the name of it.) I will take a picture of that and send it later. So my advice is, don't bring too many unnecessary electrical appliances, BUY THEM HERE.
Do not convert. (that makes your life here easier) Spend 800,000won like you are spending RM800 (assumption). 1700 - 3000 is like 1.70 - 3.00.
You have to pay the dorm fees from your allowance (800,000won - 150,000won = 650,000won for us). So we have 650,000 a month.
Which university did u get? We did not hear from any other scholarship holders YET. As for us, we tried to keep in touch via msn and we met up a few times during our language courses. My suggestion is that, get each other's email addresses when you're in the airport. Have u not met any of them yet?
Well, different universities offer different courses in english. As for SNU, you'll probably get lectures in English but as for some other universities, you might or might not. If "not" is the case, then yes, you have to study those subjects in Korean. But do not worry, I think you can talk to your professors and assignments or exams can be taken in English.
Well, don't worry about your STPM pointers, the most important thing about getting an admission is to do well in KLPT and TEPS and write good essays when you apply later on.
You can buy the extensions for the plugs here. They are different from the ones in Malaysia.
Yes, you can buy the LAN cable here.
It depends on which university you are in (like in SNU, we have our own bookstore in the school campus), they have BIG bookstores like Kyobo in Korea and they sell alot of English books as well. (Not to worry about that) Well, the scholarship money is enough to spend. Alternatively, you can lend the books from the libraries as I am quite certain that those libraries in the universities are well furnished. (with books)
On a reply from Bilqis;
I see that you are applying degree course in architecture (Note: Applies to all other majors which takes more than 4 years to complete). Let me express my concern regarding this matter. If you were to apply architecture, the NIIED will only sponsor for 4 years programn and architecture requires 5 years to finish the degree.Of course i will not discourage you for applying what you want to do. I have a friend from the same uni who is doing architecture design. He will have to pay off the final year tuition fee on his own or probably with university scholarship if he performs well. Well, i would recommend you Yonsei Architecture as it is highly recognized. Physics is required for architecture but not chem. So i suggest you bring along/ or request your parents to mail you ur physics and mathematic books. You will definitely need it when you start your undergraduate. We are allowed to change course when u apply for degree programn after the university entrance exam. No worries about that.
1 year/ or should i say less than 7 months of language programn is fully concentrate on the language studies itself. You should spare sometime to do revision on your own though for your own good. Anyway, 7 months is also for you to have fun and learn about the korean culture!! Do take time to go for travelling around Korea.
You can just ship through the post office. By air take a week or two. By ship take less than 2 months. Im not sure how it charges as everything is done by my family ^^. And also.. bring some Malaysian food. You'll miss it here, alot. Do bring some sourveniers from Malaysia like keychains batik or whatsoever as well to exchange with your new friends from the language programn.
Bank Account. Dont worry about it. Your designated university will take charge of that. They will have "buddy programn" where korean/foreign senior student will help you out when you make your bank account. To open a back account you will first need your Alien Registration card ( IC ) and it takes about 3 weeks plus to make one. So make sure u prepare enough $$. It is better to change to Won in Malaysia cos i heard the exchange rate is lower over there. Around 600 000 Won (600USD) should be sufficient. They will grant you another 200000won settlement fee when you arrives during the orientation if im not wrong. The common bank they have here in Malaysia is Citibank. If you are citibank account holder, i think is valid here. Im not too sure about that. Transfer money from Malaysia is expensive. The bank charged 20000won (20USD) for every transfer.
Time Zone. is only 1 hour difference here than Malaysia. One hour earlier if im not wrong. I suck at keeping track with time =) Doinstall skype so you can keep in touch with your family and friends. The internet connection here is superb!! ^
I would also like to add that bring only necessary things. DO NOT bring overload clothes. Im speaking based on my personal experience. 2 pairs of jeans and few long sleeves shirts will do. Bring our traditional clothes too baju kuring cheongsam sarii or whatever. You will definitely need it during language programns. A good pair of shoe is important as the weather is still quite cold. Bring lots of good quality socks to keep warm. I dont think you need to bring toiletries along. People incharge of you will bring you for grocery shopping on the first day of your arrival. Because those tends to add weigh to your luggage. I can assure you, you will tend to shop a lot here. The airline only limits 20kg. So pls pls dont bring too many clothes. Bring warm jacket along. Is getting warmer here. Something like genting now. But is still cold. Jacket is sufficient. If you need, i could loan you mine (=
Korean dictionary is a MUST.
Added in reply to another incoming KGSP M'sian's inquiry;
Added in reply to another incoming KGSP M'sian's inquiry;
Besides 6 of us here, there are more malaysian undergraduate students under JPA ( LOTS of them, easily more than 200??), and graduate students under KGSP as well.
for the one year Language program, are we gonna be placed with the other international students of KGSP to learn Korean? For example, I will be studying in Konkuk University with 8 other students.
Basically, the Korean Government will split mostly all Malaysians into different universities for i don't know what reasons, Maybe for political reasons or just to make sure universities here are diversed in nationalities, etc
As me and two of my friends are muslims, we are fully awared about the food in Korea. Is there anything that we can know regarding how to get halal food as well as is there any mosques in Korea? i only know that there's a Mosque in Seoul built by our Malaysian Government.
Food can be a real headache if you are a Muslim. But rest be assured. If you inform the coordinator from your designated university, he may come out with a new scheme to help you guys to get halal food. Besides that, if you can get to the nearest supermarket, you can always buy your own food.(They'll teach you how to get to the nearest supermarket during the orientation of your own university)
Do we get in touch with any Malaysian societies in Korea as well as the Malaysian Embassy? especially during Hari Raya, Chinese new year, deepavali etc?
This is still kind of a problem for us KGSP malaysian students. Since our number is quite small, the Malaysian Embassy here 'tutup one mata' on us. So we don't really get much news about the embassy except from our JPA friends. Maybe with the inclusion of more KGSP students from this coming batch, they'll start to recognise of our existence here >.<. Still, we gave the embassy our personal information for official purpose. But they wouldn't bother so much unless we really pester them. ㅋㅋ
Do we get a green card to travel overseas by our own expenses? I was told a no no for the first year.
None of the 6 of us have travelled away from Korea during this time. So we don't really know about that. But definitely it's best not to travel out of Korea during your Korean Language Studies.
Upon entering university, do we have to sit for test? How is that?
Upon entering university?? Test??? The only test we need to sit is Korean Language Test and English test( After completion of Korean Language Studies, test are given to determine who goes to which university of choice according to their language abilities, so the best is to study Korean language as hard as possible ^^ )
[Note from Raja: Prior to university admission, you would only be required to sit for the Korean and English proficiency tests. But after you've gained admission, some universities may still require you to sit for a math test to determine what sort of math class you're eligible to take. For example, in SNU the freshies (for those who will need to take calculus later on) were required to take a math test. Those who did not (including Ritchie and myself) were then required to take up Basic Calculus (something like a tutoring programme) alongside the normal Calculus course.]
Three of us are pursuing the engineering course, and I was told that SNU is the place to go...So i would like to know which university in Korea is recognised by the Malaysian Government?
Of course, SNU is the best choice. There are still other universities which are recognised according to their courses by the Malaysian Government. The more prominent ones are Yonsei, Korea, Hanyang and Inha.
[Note from Raja: There used to be a list on JPA's eSILA website regarding the courses which are recognized by JPA... but I've just checked the site again and it seems that the site has been revamped and the link is nowhere to be found. So just try checking out the site every now and then to see whether it'll pop back up again. By the way, the last time I checked, the recognized universities were SNU, Yonsei, Korea, Inha, Hanyang, Ulsan, Kyungpook and some other place which offered diplomas. Out of those seven mentioned universities, only Ulsan and Kyungpook were not in the list of the twenty participating universities in the KGSP. So that leaves five. But another important thing to mention, it's not about which universities are recognized by JPA. What you should confirm is what COURSES provided by the universities are recognized by JPA. You see, take for example, the last time I viewed the site, the only courses offered by SNU which were recognized by JPA was Civil Engineering, Dentistry (or something like that) and some computer thingie. But there are JPA scholars actually taking degrees not mentioned in the list and the list had changed from the first time I had accessed it (before leaving Malaysia) to the time I was applying for universities. So again, nothing's for sure, but those under JPA may have added security since they're under JPA after all. Because of that, please try your best to check for recognition since technically JPA doesn't owe you anything LOL.]
Do we have to do housemanship in Malaysia or somewhere else after we graduated from the korean university...?
No. Just study, graduate and then do whatever you want. lol. NO BONDS
[Note from Raja: If you're talking about housemanship, it must mean that you're looking to do a degree like medicine, dentistry or pharmacy... This is a bit tricky to answer. Because first of all KGSP scholars are not allowed to do medicine. One scholar (not Malaysian), after completion of the language course and wanted to pursue medicine, was told to either change his major or go back to his own country (he went back). I don't know about dentistry or pharmacy, but if you're planning to pursue either of these majors, it's important that you CHECK with JPA to see if it's recognized or not. It could be hell for you later on if you don't especially since these degrees require housemanship. But let's say for engineering, you'd probably only need to take a special course when you graduate and return to Malaysia. Again, you have to confirm the accuracy of whatever information you're getting from us. I can't stress on that enough. ]
What is the best thing to do during our weekends? travel?
This is really random ?? but you'll have things to do with your university and new-made friends EVERYDAY, not only just weekend. And travelling might be kinda hard for you guys due to language barrier. So just try to stick among your university friends first, get used to the korean culture, food, weather, people, language etc.What is the best thing to do during our weekends? travel?
In Japan, to work parttime or baito(arbeide) is one of the best thing and excellent thing to do to help us improves our Japanese as well as to understand the culture and social life in Japan, is it the same in Korea?
All the best for your preparations!
Hope to see you guys in Korea soon.
Please send an email to kgspmalaysia@gmail.com
1)Full name
2)DOB
3)Hometown
4)Email
5)Designated Korean language institute/university
6)Major and university of choice
7) Korean Language Ability ( If applies )
8) Anything you want to add about yourself.
All inquiries should be directed to kgspmalaysia@gmail.com only.
Edited & posted by Ritchie
msn/email: leezhezin@hotmail.com
Reedited by Raja
Updated: 19 March 2009
1)Full name
2)DOB
3)Hometown
4)Email
5)Designated Korean language institute/university
6)Major and university of choice
7) Korean Language Ability ( If applies )
8) Anything you want to add about yourself.
All inquiries should be directed to kgspmalaysia@gmail.com only.
Edited & posted by Ritchie
msn/email: leezhezin@hotmail.com
Reedited by Raja
Updated: 19 March 2009
