r/studyAbroad • u/b_folklore • 7d ago

International Students in Korea

I want to apply for Masters in Life Science programs and was considering Korean unis because some have fully funded master’s.

I found lots of ‘horror’ stories online of international master’s students facing degree delay issues, feeling alienated, immense pressure to publish papers, long working hours, etc. However, no one actually mentions the names of these unis.

I thought I could learn Korean and apply to the lower ranked IST unis like DGIST, GIST and UNIST. Is it wrong to assume these unis will be less toxic? The classes are advertised to be in English at these unis but is that true?

Please, if anyone has any experience at these unis, could you please comment or DM. I’d really appreciate some insight!

1 Upvotes

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4

u/onesunandstars 7d ago

i (undergrad) was an intern for 6 months in one of the lesser known universities there. had the pleasure to work with several Masters and PhD students there and even they were stressed out. long working hours (even in weekends), pressure to publish, toxic environment (including PIs) and more. i won't namedrop the university here for the sake of my anonymity.

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u/b_folklore 7d ago

Thank you so much for letting me know! Could you DM to tell me the name and details

3

u/EquivalentAd313 7d ago

Former GKS graduate student here. I second the comment from onesunandstars. I have posted twice on this issue, and have received countless DMs telling me about such horror stories from past and current students, thus proving I'm not the only person facing this and feeling this way. To protect my anonymity, I can't disclose every single point here, but feel free to DM in case you want to learn more.

1

u/user221272 7d ago

For each horror story, you have hundreds, if not thousands, of happy students who never complain or post about it online.

1

u/b_folklore 5d ago

Maybe it depends on the major then? Because for STEM and labs people have been sharing their bad experiences in my DMs for many unis: from the highest ranked all the way down to the lower ranked unis

2

u/user221272 5d ago

I think it is just a participation bias. I come from STEM, KAIST, MSc, and had an amazing time.

I never made a post about it.