Korean universities to bring back personal statements for international undergraduate admissions

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Korean universities to bring back personal statements for international undergraduate admissions

A student takes a photo with her family at Korea University's matriculation ceremony on Feb. 29, 2024. Many universities will be bringing back personal statements for international undergraduate admissions starting with the fall 2025 intake. [YONHAP]

A student takes a photo with her family at Korea University's matriculation ceremony on Feb. 29, 2024. Many universities will be bringing back personal statements for international undergraduate admissions starting with the fall 2025 intake. [YONHAP]

 
Universities are bringing back personal statements for international undergraduate admissions starting with the fall 2025 intake.
 
Korea University will require students applying via its undergraduate international student admissions track to submit a statement of purpose starting with the fall 2025 intake, although the university did not require such a document for the previous intake. 
 

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Applications will be open between Feb. 24 and March 21 for the university, with hard-copy documents accepted until March 28.
 
Korea University isn't the only one that hasn't required applicants to submit personal statements in the past year or so, but it will start doing so now.
 
Personal statements were prohibited from Korean universities' undergraduate admissions starting with the spring 2024 intake, as the government implemented the policy to eliminate the influence of external factors, such as the applicant's socioeconomic background, in admissions. Graduate school admissions were not subject to the exclusion.  
 
However, the Ministry of Education announced amendments to the Higher Education Act in July last year, allowing international student and adult learner admissions to require personal statements starting with the fall 2025 intake. According to the ministry, the two admission tracks were made an exception because universities experienced difficulties in evaluating applicants without additional documentation.
 
Seoul National University is another institution that has reintroduced personal statements.   
 
Starting with the fall 2025 international undergraduate intake, applicants will be required to submit a personal statement of up to 4,000 bytes, or around 800 words.
 
Applications will be open between March 4 and 6, with letters of recommendation able to be submitted until March 7. 
 
Yonsei University also announced via its fall 2025 international undergraduate admissions guidelines that "in accordance with amendments to relevant laws and regulations, a personal statement has been added to the list of required documents."
 
For the university, students will need to write a personal statement within two pages, discussing their motivation for applying, their understanding of Korean culture and how they have prepared academically.  
 
Applications will be open between March 17 and 28, and hard-copy documents can be submitted until April 11.
 
Yonsei University's Underwood International College (UIC) operates a separate admissions process but will also require a personal statement for undergraduate applicants starting with the fall 2025 intake.  
 
Applicants will be given two essay questions, for which they will be asked to write answers of 600 words and 300 words, respectively.
 
Having a different application window, UIC and Yonsei University admissions have different deadlines. UIC accepts applications between Monday and April 4, with physical documents able to be submitted until April 11.   
 
Kyung Hee University was one institution that brought back personal statements a bit earlier than other universities, although it is not using them for evaluation.
 
The university required applicants to submit the document starting with the spring 2025 intake, but specified that it is a supplementary document that will not be part of the evaluation criteria.
 
Although universities are requiring personal statements again, some schools may take a bit longer for the changes to apply.  
 
The University of Seoul is one school that announces admissions guidelines for both the spring and fall intakes at the same time, leaving little time for the school to make changes in response to Education Ministry announcements made in July 2024.  
 
Currently, the university states that it does not require personal statements for both the spring and fall 2025 intakes.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]
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