Applying for 3week korean course at Ewha women university

To decide to do this course was easy. However, to choose between the universities was tough. If you do your research, you will know that there are several universities you can choose from. See link to another blog for more information: http://littlemisshoo.com/?p=10

First, I shortlisted based on the period available. Since I'm only available in March-April period, that pretty much eliminated several universities. Now, I'm left with either Yonsei or Ewha.

Second, it was down to the curriculum. I wanted something that stresses more on speaking since I personally feel that the furthest I'll go in a language is to read and speak it, not write. (DISCLAIMER: i'm not sure if i'll be happy with the curriculum at Ewha because I have not gone for it. I can only pray it's good). Unfortunately, the universities don't release their curriculum in detail online. So, I depended a lot of many other articles to read and find out the differences between the universities curriculum.

(PS. I'll write about the curriculum again after my experience)

Third and the most important reason was the cost of the course. Yonsei was more expensive than Ewha. So... there you go.

Application can be broken down into 2 parts: 1) online registration 2) payments and sending your documents.

1) Online registration

This online registration process can be quite frustrating. I could not access the registration website because I don't have java applet or something. I tried downloading as instructed by the system but IT DOESN'T WORK. (PS. I'm using a macbook pro) Then, I went on to try on my brother's computer (window-based computer) but it just won't work. This is probably the worst experience I had when applying for courses. I was extremely frustrated because I had already spent at least 3 hours just on the registration page. I gave up and emailed for help.

For some randomness, I decided to try it on the rusty old windows laptop at home that only serves for printing. MIRACLE happened and I successfully completed the application!!! 

Ewha replied to my SOS on the following day though.

2) Payment and sending documents

For me, Ewha then email the following day you upon receiving the online registration. Sending the documents was much easier than I expected. Soft copies are fine as long as you verified them.

Payments however, was a bitter thing. Depending on the local bank you liaise with, you may experience a loss due to currency exchange. Let me explain. Ewha accepts only japanese yen, korean won and american usd. My bank has local currency and can only work with usd of the 3 choices given. So, first my money was converted from local currency to usd for payment. Then, from ewha side, they would convert the usd to korean won. So, with 2 rounds of conversion, I would need to pay more. In fact, I still ewha a couple of dollars due to the conversion.

However, the good thing about ewha is that they allow me to pay the remaining (or if you have paid excess), they will deal with the money matters when you get there! so, I don't need to transfer any money a second time! :)

Application is finally completed! yeah!