I am a Hispanic-American minority living in the United States. I graduated this year, at the age of 18 with an Associate’s Degree, from an Early College High School with a 3.5 GPA unweighted and 4.4 weighted due to ALL of high school classes being honors (every class is honors by default in an ECHS). My community college GPA is also a 3.5. My ACT score is a 24 (will retake to make at least a 30). I took two Pre-Calculus college courses and two Pre-Calculus based physics college courses. I plan on applying to Seoul National University, Korea University, Pohang University, and KAIST as a computer engineer/networking specialist/computer scientist/software engineer, etc. What are my chances as a minority that knows native Spanish, English, and intermediate Korean? What are my chances for other lower universities in Korea such as Sungkyunkwan? Thanks.
As a korean, I think I can give you some advice.
First of all Seoul National University and KAIST.
I’m sorry but no chance. (Seriously. Monsters only go to those schools. Monsters who does not know anything but studying)
Honor classes? I doubt they even understand (nor care to) how harder it is than regular classes (korean don’t have IB, AP or honor class system)
College Math Courses? Korean schools don’t care about that. Korean High school is well above most of college math in the US.
Also ur ACT score is pretty low. (Even if you got 30… the schools you are looking at…)
Korean schools don’t really care about GPA as much as US schools do.
Ur race doesn’t matter as well. Korean schools don’t have affirmative action nor any incentive or feel to honor it.
However, the fact that u are from the US will help.
Ur language? Well the fact that you speak Spanish helps very little. (Those school expects one to be fluent in English and Korean as a given)
One thing you have to know is that Korean schools don’t care about EC (sports? Who the hell cares? Rich or poor? Literally don’t care. Legacy? LOL. First in family to go to college? Not my business. Your community service? Just do your requirement, I can’t care less!) They only care about grades and test scores!
However, I am speaking as if you were in Korean pool when applying for those two schools. I cannot speak for the international pool but to get into Seoul University or KAIST in Korean pool is probably harder than trying to go in to Ivy Leagues in US pool because Korean schools only care about GRADES and nothing else.
You must understand Korea has a very different system than in the US.
That said… if you do happen to be admitted to one of those two, live in Korea from then. The amount of respects and jobs you will be getting will be incredible.
If there’s any more questions feel free to ask!
Also I’ll try to look into some of the other schools you mentioned.
As a korean, I think I can give you some advice.
First of all Seoul National University and KAIST.
I’m sorry but no chance. (Seriously. Monsters only go to those schools. Monsters who does not know anything but studying)
Honor classes? I doubt they even understand (nor care to) how harder it is than regular classes (korean don’t have IB, AP or honor class system)
College Math Courses? Korean schools don’t care about that. Korean High school is well above most of college math in the US.
Also ur ACT score is pretty low. (Even if you got 30… the schools you are looking at…)
Korean schools don’t really care about GPA as much as US schools do.
Ur race doesn’t matter as well. Korean schools don’t have affirmative action nor any incentive or feel to honor it.
However, the fact that u are from the US will help.
Ur language? Well the fact that you speak Spanish helps very little. (Those school expects one to be fluent in English and Korean as a given)
One thing you have to know is that Korean schools don’t care about EC (sports? Who the hell cares? Rich or poor? Literally don’t care. Legacy? LOL. First in family to go to college? Not my business. Your community service? Just do your requirement, I can’t care less!) They only care about grades and test scores!
However, I am speaking as if you were in Korean pool when applying for those two schools. I cannot speak for the international pool but to get into Seoul University or KAIST in Korean pool is probably harder than trying to go in to Ivy Leagues in US pool because Korean schools only care about GRADES and nothing else.
You must understand Korea has a very different system than in the US.
That said… if you do happen to be admitted to one of those two, live in Korea from then. The amount of respects and jobs you will be getting will be incredible.
If there’s any more questions feel free to ask!
Also I’ll try to look into some of the other schools you mentioned.
Thank you for your reply. I heard many things about race and being a foreigner is a huge advantage when applying to a university in Korea. The purpose of an EC is to take rigorous college classes alongside honors high school classes (starting at age 14), and the majority of these kids are the brightest the U.S has to offer. The Early College at Guilford, NC, for example, is in one of the top 20 high schools in the United States if I am not mistaken. Me being of a completely obscure race, in the eyes of Korean people, makes for a huge advantage from what I have heard. I suppose having perfect English, better than most Koreans, also helps out a significant amount? My GPA is also a transfer college GPA; it weighs in a lot better than your average crappy HS GPA (not that my HS is crap at all.)
Oh hey @timstoley ,
Don’t listen completely to the guy above. It’s true that Korean universities don’t give much merit for speaking Spanish, however.
International students have a HUGE advantage when it comes to admissions (like, 2x as that of korean applicants). It’s also an added benefit if you come from overseas. In other words, you’re in a different pool from all those Koreans if you’re not of a Korean decent.
An admissions officer from Yonsei visited my school and he told me that Koreans need to 2250+ on SAT, but for international applicants it’s a whole different story.
However, I’m not so certain if they accept or consider ACT scores. You may want to check on this just in case.
I would say, don’t give up, and try to raise those scores substantially this year. Those scores, regardless of how Korean admissions officers have a different outlook on international students, need to be improved if you want to secure your admission. 
Good Luck!
actually listen to Chajen. As I said, I’m speaking for the Korean pool and it seems he knows much better about international pool. Also I’m really surprised race takes factor. I know regions do(even for the Korean pool) but I didn’t know race mattered. Good luck anyway
Thank you both for your answers. @chajen16 - Do you happen to remember the full details of the Yonsei admissions officer in regard to international applicants? Are you in Korea or the United States?
Hi Tim. Congrats on your great academic career so far. I didn’t apply to KAIST for the undergraduate degree, but I did spend 8 years as a graduate student in computer science at KAIST (proof: http://mind.kaist.ac.kr/Francis) for a Master’s and PhD. I can’t speak for what things the college admission looks for (I don’t think race is a factor because there are no university rankings for race, but I’m sure they consider country of origin). It is extremely rare to see a Hispanic American such as myself there or any other non-Korean American, but those numbers are growing recently as more international students are visiting. I suppose the reputation of the high school is one factor in undergraduate admissions; how does your HS school rank among American high schools? Many of the students I met at KAIST came from the top high schools or colleges in their respective countries. I had a full time job before going to graduate school. The other thing is, Korea is an awesome country in many ways, but the job prospects there currently are very bad compared to elsewhere in the world. KAIST in particular is also getting more famous to foreigners due to global university rankings, student exchanges, classes in English, Kpop stars visiting campus at times, and continued international exposure in the media in Korea and abroad. I heard these days, it is actually harder for a foreigner to enter KAIST than it is for a Korean, which was probably a different situation 8 years back when most foreigners never heard of KAIST. Speaking intermediate Korean already certainly would help your chances.
OH really?
I didn’t know Korean high schools cover diffrential equations too! HOW SURPRISING!
@FrancisRojasPhD Thanks for your reply. You said that it is more difficult for a foreigner to enter a school like KAIST than a Korean? Do you know about other schools like Korea University, Sungkyunkwan, and Pohang? My school would easily be in the top 100s in the United States. The nearby Early College in Guilford County, NC is one of top 10 high schools in the United States; our EC competes with them on a regular basis, so we should not be that far behind. To even get into the EC, you need to prepare an actual college admission essay with proper math/writing scores from previous testing done in junior high. We have a near 100% graduation rate of Associate’s Degree and High School Diploma at the age of 18/19 for free, and we take rigorous CC courses starting from the age of 14 to gear us for the duress of college work. All HS classes by default are Honors/AP level, and it’s common to see people take 4 college classes + 2 HS classes every semester.
That is a huge jump.
I didn’t even try at all the first time I took it. I never looked in an ACT book or even cared. If I actually prepare, then it shouldn’t be difficult at all.
Yes that was my only score; In fact, I was so dumb to not have realized that I should have bubbled in everything, and I left a lot of them not bubbled… 
Georgia Tech has a dual computer engineering program with KAIST where you spend your first and last year at Ga Tech and the two years in the middle at KAIST and you get a degree from both universities. You should check it out.
@mommyrocks I very much appreciate your input! However, I cannot go through this program since I already have my Associate’s Degree, and I only need two years as a transfer student; thank you for your time.