My KU Journey

I am reaching the end of my 5-years journey in Korea under KGSP (now GKS). I am continuously reflecting on how I have grown for the past 5 years and how I would like to see myself in the next 5 years. Triggered by the obligation to write End of Study Report, I decided to look back on my experience and try to focus solely on my KUBS journey. (I already have too much reflections written from my time at Ewha)

It is actually not that easy, as I did not spend much time to physically go to school, join the school events, or work on my coursework.

Freshman - 2016

I remembered my first day ever coming to Korea University Business School (KUBS). I came from the immigration office, feeling upset after taking care of my visa conversion. I take laws very seriously. I make sure I understand every single line of immigration regulations. I cried just a few days before because I could not get my documents on time (full recount here, this marks the beginning of my distrust to all assigned KGSP coordi). Looking back, my superstitious self says this should have been a clear sign that my years in KUBS would be filled with documents problems.

I discovered my first survival skill in KUBS: remembering lines of regulations.

Other than the super sad first day, I had a very satisfying first semester. My heart was filled with gratitude that I was finally part of a business school. I remembered waking up every morning for my first-period class, feeling excited to go to my accounting class, simply because I have always dreamed of studying business (particularly finance). I could not stop comparing KUBS with my previous university.

Yes, I was overwhelmed at first, but it was nothing too much. As I wrote back then, I was satisfied that everyone is required to earn grades - as grades are not given. I was satisfied that everyone speaks English. Like I have recounted here, I was generally happy despite some predictable challenges. Being a foreigner was never easy. The school might have a cool system, but then you cannot expect everyone to welcome you. You will always be an outsider. The professors are not particularly sensitive to this issue. I interacted with a very negative professor during my first semester, who implicitly thinks that I (or other foreign students) only hang out with their countrymen, and I was very disappointed.

Aside from the deeply rooted negative stereotype toward foreigner in KUBS, I was doing fine socially. I spent my first semester hanging out with kind TAs and PhD instructors. I made friend with the Business English instructor, Terence. I concluded my semester with a very high GPA (must say very high for me lo, coz that was my highest ever), thanks to school's tutoring program. I felt that I adapted well, and I decided to take 22 credits in my second semester, plus 6 credits in the winter. Not only that, I was involved in two volunteering programs and took roles in two different organizations at the same time. My main reason? I had too much time in my first semester. Business school is very chill, they never assigned you readings and papers.

My AYNK backups - I am a good recruiter

Unlike what most Koreans believe, it was a great decision to do many things at once while taking 22 credits. My grades went down to 3.5ish but it was still acceptable. I concluded my volunteering projects, finished my responsibility as the Vice Chairman of AYNK, made a strong comeback to SEALNet, and flew to Thailand for the exclusive retreat. I found my community, and I was much happier outside school.

This was my year-end's note.

Sophomore - 2017

Sophomore was emotionally the hardest year for me, and it has nothing to do with school. My Indonesian seniors graduated and left for good, my favorite boss was transferred out of Korea, I did not get what I want out of the project that I led, my visa problem became even more complicated and many other reasons. I was down for a few months.

School wise, it was a roller coaster ride. I decided that I hate economics. This conclusion came after taking some weird major elective courses that I would never understand, even if the professor tutor me 1:1. I got my first C+ ever for Organizational Behavior. I was not offended as I learned that grades in particular subjects cannot justify my skill... Well, I got B for Operations Management but Project Management is one of my most endorsed skills on LinkedIn.
I struggled with Financial Management, as everyone seems to be born math genius. But the school's tutoring program saved me (again), and this time, I was paired with the best tutor I could ever ask for. He teaches really well. He is patient, and he does not give up when we do not understand. While I generally praised this TNT program, it is not always the case. My friend got a tutor for the same subject who gave up midway because the tutor thinks that she is way too far to catch up (there is a reason why we all signed up for tutoring, no?), and the class she is taking is simply too advanced?!

Fortunately, my grades are not all gloomy. I scored extremely well at the Social Network class. Happy to say that it was the only A+ I got from the business department (the rests of my A+ came from English and Korean courses...) and I had my best class ever in Fall 2017, which was International Financial Management. I have met many good teachers and kind humans (this is how I categorize my professors, you rarely meet someone who falls into both categories), and Professor DWL is just exceptional in teaching. He shared how he processes each concept in a simplified way. I called it 'baby finance.'  His grading scheme is also crystal clear, you can count your own grade. That semester, I was able to secure B+ without taking final coz it was only worth 10%.

I felt that the sentiment toward foreigners was worsened, partly because my Korean skill was improved. This year, I could fully understand those reviews on Klue (our anonymous course rating portal) and warning toward foreign students' existence are pretty common. The worst was when someone wrote how my Intermediate Accounting I class could have been more enjoyable if there were no foreigner there. The thing is, there were only five international students enrolled in that class, and four of them are my gang. We did not do anything, we did not even speak in class. There was no group work, so there was no forced instance of interaction. Then how could our existence make the class less enjoyable?

Contrarily, I developed meaningful relationships with some professors. I would never forget how my social network professor introduced me and my bestfriend to his bestfriend, a fellow professor who is passionate in the social entrepreneurship sector from another university. Not only that we gained so much valuable insights, the professor he introduced helped us a lot in our side projects. It was one of the best moments in my undergrad and one of the unexpectedly nice ways to make valuable connections.

I started doing internships and asked more questions in life. It was clear that I do not like studying and I do not want to give up my organizational activities. I came to my advisor with a very simple question: I know my GPA is not great, but I am happy with it. What do you think?

The simple question I asked sparked a very meaningful conversation. We had the chance to talk about my plan, what I like and the things I want to do. My advisor was one of the most significant figures I have encountered in Korea. He helped me to point out the things I cannot see. He sharply deduced the root of my concerns, and he is always willing to see where I am coming from. This is particularly touching, as I did not get to meet many Koreans who are willing to understand others' circumstances. Most people believe in the same standard for everyone, hence the conformity.

This was my year-end's note.

Junior - 2018

I started to go to school twice a week, and my life quality has been improved since then.

The school had become less and less important to me, as I started to be convinced that I would not need a high GPA to be qualified for the jobs I want. Reflecting on this, I focused on gaining experiences and trying things. I started my influencer life, particularly by freelancing in the tourism industry. I made connections in the sector, found my niche field, and enjoyed the process for a little while. It was a good experience to fill my empty schedule. (I did not change my mind, I still have plenty of free time even as a third-year student)

Third-year classes were particularly tough. I had Investments in my Spring semester and I would prolly end up with C, if it was not for the help of my financial management tutor. He was really passionate about teaching that he voluntarily taught me for the first half of the semester. I was proud of my 84.6% for midterm but the professor (who is also my advisor) said that it was not enough - it was still below the 87% median. Oh well, I was already very proud of myself for not giving up.

There was Intro to MIS class that should not be that hard, but weirdly, I had to keep coming to school to finish the demanding group project. I also took the most challenging class ever in my entire undergrad journey, Business Valuation class. I was on the verge of getting F with my super bad midterm results, but I liked the class so I did not give up. The entire group project was extremely difficult, to the point that I had to volunteer to do the task that I dislike the most, making PPT. Sadly, that was the only thing I could fully help when I zoned out most of the time.

Out of four team members, only a sweet Indonesian student exchange fully understood what is going on in the class. She is an accounting major who managed to save the entire group. I was really happy that I spent weeks studying together with her, her knowledge was solid and she got it from her classes back home. I felt that this is what KUBS is lacking, the opportunity to gain solid basic knowledge - simply because the school expected everyone to be the same genius. It is not the case in Indonesia. You came to university expecting to meet students from all over the country. Some of them are admitted for regional quota and the knowledge gap is huge. The professors and school management know that there is a gap that has to be bridged.

Aside from the bloody Business Valuation and Investments, I also took great classes that I would remember for life. Leadership class was interesting. I made friends there and ended up having fun with super long black and white video(s) from the 80s? 90s? the professor showed in class. There was also another Terence's class. As usual, I just took his class without caring what it was (I ended up taking four classes by him, his name is printed so many times on my transcript). I trusted him, although it turned out to be a very demanding Advanced Academic English class.

Lastly, I would never forget Professor DWL Fixed-Income Securities class for a very unique reason, the classmates. This class, unlike his International Finance, was hard and heavily excel-based. I still like his way of teaching, but I would not survive without extra help from my classmates. So I teamed up with two Korean guys who ended up helping me A LOT. They went the extra mile to help me understanding concepts, doing homework, getting notes from another classmate and even sharing all the things I would never know about job hunting - as one of them was a final-year student. I learned so much from him, and I felt so grateful for the chance to take many classes with him (unplanned). He was so selfless and sincere. He was very reserved when I first met him in Social Network class, but turned out he became the savior of my undergrad life.

Major thing he did that he would never realize that it was so significant: he was comfortable answering questions about me from his friends(Is she your girlfriend? How did you know each other? How the hell did you become close? all the things that would never raise a concern in the rest of the world). I realized that it was very weird for a Korean guy and a foreign girl to be friends in the first place, especially when the foreigner looks... Asian. This is relevant for college or younger students, presumably because people think that being friend with the opposite sex always lead to a romantic relationship. Also, the foreign vs local gap is too big, that this is an anomaly.

My career concerns was still blurry at times. I asked my advisor weird questions. I felt beyond grateful that he would always entertain my curiosity and bear with my strange point of view. We both agree that third year is a good time to start putting maximum effort into internship hunting. Easier said than done, I thought I would easily snatch a spot for Summer 2018. But then, I only got a spot very late, after the summer break started.

Learning from my experience, I was better prepared for Winter 2018. I focused my effort to apply for one internship at a large financial institution in Korea. Looking back, I was full of strategies. I dragged samples of Indonesian students at KU to the recruiter, implicitly telling him that I speak the best Korean among my countrymen at Korea University. Then I attached a recommendation letter from my advisor, although it was not asked for. I also strategized my essay, to balance out the fact that I could not write in Korean. I asked my students from the Indonesian-Korean translation and interpretation technique class that I had at HUFS to review my draft (believe me, it took way longer to write in formal Indonesian than in English), correct the weird words and edit the wrong particles. The effort did not go to waste, I got accepted and the company particularly noticed my recommendation letter, as I was the only applicant sending them.

No year-end reflection this time, as I had a super hectic December 2018-January 2019.
One thing for sure, I kept going back home partially because I was so scared I would have no time to travel or to enjoy life in my final year.

Senior - 2019

making sure I fulfill all the requirements

I started the year with a very clear objective: to leave school
I have had enough and I want to graduate and secure job offers. Luckily, I had clear goals I wanted to achieve in my last two-semester. One of them is to improve my Korean by taking many Korean academic classes. I had this motivation to work on my Korean after my supervisor during the winter internship helped me to point out my flaws. My Korean skill was both my asset and biggest challenge, as I am quite good at speaking but I could not write at all in formal Korean.

I gave up my two-days of school schedule to take the Academic Korean Writing class on Tuesday and Thursday. I reduced my freelancing gigs, I stopped teaching Indonesian and I came back to do a government job. I was appointed as the election officer, the youngest in the Seoul office. With this commitment, Yeouido was practically my second home in Spring. My free time was dramatically reduced and I still had to squeeze in meetings with companies plus my job-hunting effort. But Alira being Alira, instead of sacrificing my sleep, I chose to sacrifice my swimming time and get distracted in class.

The final year was full of... administrative drama. The new KGSP coordi is very strict and I happened to go overseas for very short trips almost every month. While I am familiar with the temporary exit procedure, she demands an official document after each of my trips. I had to make many trips to the district office and submit it to the coordi. However, I must acknowledge that she is the best coordi I've had in four years. The office always responds very fast and the Kakao hotline is super useful.

As a job hunter, I discovered even more flaws within my school and its not-international-students-friendly policy. The staffs are not ready to handle complaints. None of the officers was familiar with KGSP policy and they know only the bare minimum of visa requirements. Not their fault, but the fact that none of the officers I met have empathy toward foreign students fueled my anger. I spent the Spring semester trying to snatch jobs like Korean. I went to job fairs, I attended recruitment sessions and tried to apply to companies to know the whole process, I had meetings with HR from many companies who are interested in recruiting Indonesians, and finally, I held a job fair for the Indonesians here with the knowledge I gained.

I learned a big lesson: job hunting is much easier than dealing with the school's bureaucracy. To be very specific, I never expected that I would lose many job opportunities due to my school's inefficiency. I planned to work in the Fall semester and I have got two job offers whose HR were willing to fulfill all my administrative requirements for school credits acknowledgment. However, the process is just impossible. No one was familiar with immigration (S-3) procedures and they led me with wrong steps. I gave up.

I could not work for credits, so in the Fall semester, I had to take two random major electives classes. This was totally unplanned either, as the system was not ready for the classes I want to take. I initially intended to go to school only at night - so I want to take a class in the first half of the semester, and another class in the latter half. But the flexible semester (intensive class) is not recognized on the system, and it takes both classes as conflicting (same class time, different part of the semester).  I alerted the potential problem to three people at KUBS but they cannot do anything (one staff could not even get what I meant). It can not be fixed before the course registration period started.

This year, I bothered my advisor even more frequently. I had to channel my feedback to the school management and felt helpless at times. I am lucky and blessed that my advisor always cares about my struggle and he would help me to process and understand why things are the way they are. Sometimes you cannot change things. It is particularly challenging for me to accept things when I do not know the underlying reasons. My advisor would then explain the unseen things in a nonpolitical way, and I am beyond grateful that he is there to help, while the system failed us. At some point, I truly hope that there will be no more foreigners who struggle in KUBS with employment - because they do not know who to reach out to.

My final (school-related) reflection

Conclusion

I am happy with the quality of education that I received from KUBS, but their management is not entirely foreigner-friendly. Maybe because I am an undergrad student that sometimes the staffs are unwilling to help, or maybe the foreigners just do not speak up. I also have to remember from time to time that KUBS is already a dreamland. Once I go out of Business School, discrimination is even worse.

I would never forget the burning debate in one of the science required electives. One day, a business student demanded the professor to NOT allow students to write the exam answers in Korean - because it was an English-mediated course. It caused an uproar among the Korean students. For Business School students, this is obvious. Many Ph.D. instructors are not comfortable in English, but will still stick to speak English-only because it is the regulation. Apparently, it is not the norm outside of Business School. The worst part was when a Korean student shouted, "But this is a Korean school in Korea!"

So what? Are you saying Korean schools in Korea should only accept Korean students and anyone who is Koreanized enough? Are you exemplifying the local sentiment toward foreigners? I wish he could shout it to the admission team.

If I were to recommend KUBS, I would say you have to compare your options. KUBS offers top-quality education, no doubt. I love my professors, they are experts in their field and most of them are passionate educators. KU and KUBS rank highly in world university ranking lists, so it will definitely boost your pride. But sometimes it is not what you are looking for. I did not care about SKY. When I was choosing a university, what I had in my mind was the specific stuff I want to learn and thesuitable environment for it. For me, the perfect university is the one with a holistic education that offers English-only track (because that is what I am comfortable with). Also, career support is important for me. However, I figured out that KUBS is not equipped with job preparation classes for foreigners, nor will it help you to get employment - which has always been my priority ever since I came to this school. One thing for sure, KUBS is suitable for people who do not want to learn Korean. You can survive with zero Korean.

If you have no intention to blend in, KUBS is a good place. But if you want to immerse and try a Korean college lifestyle, then it might be challenging. You can try, some of my friends did but eventually gave up after a year or two, because everyone will always remind you that you are an outsider.

Other KUBS strong point is financial support. There are plenty of scholarships and financial support available to students. Being in SKY also boost your chance to get external scholarships from Koren companies. Many of these external scholarships are given specifically to target schools, and KU is almost always part of the list.

All in all, there is no perfect school. Semua tergantung bagaimana perspektif kita. Cara terbaik adalah to know what you are looking for and choose wisely!