This is the first part in my blog series about how to go about applying for Sogang University’s KLEC General Korean (KGP200).
I scavenged the web and found very few people have blogged about this process before, so I hope to shed some light on some questions you may have and give you a heads-up on what the process is actually like.
Short disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Sogang. I am not being paid to do any of this. This is just something I wanted to do.
Here are some handy-dandy links first.
- descriptions of the different Korean Language Program classes (This guide will be focused on applying for the Korean for General Purposes 200 or KGP200 class.)
- list of documents to submit, application procedure, school schedule, prices for the different sessions
- the FAQs page
- How to Sogang: Level 1 Summary
- How to Sogang: Level 2 Summary
So first you have to decide when you would like to start.
- four sessions a year — March-May (Spring); June-Aug (Summer); Sept-Nov (Fall); Dec-Feb (Winter)
- a session is 10 weeks
- 20 hrs a week
- Mon-Fri
- 9am-1pm
- You can begin during any session. For example, if you test into level 1, you can take the level 1 session starting in March, June, Sept, or Dec. There really is no “beginning” of the school year.
- The summer session is the busiest session, so if you wish to start in the summer session, make sure you apply early.
- The applications for each session start after the session previous starts. Ex: The application for the Spring session started Dec 5th—just as the Winter session started.
- If you are from North America, Europe, or Australia and you plan on getting a 6-month student visa, you must sign up/pay for 2 sessions in advance.
To apply, the first thing you’ll need to do is create an account on the website.
Then you can select to apply for the session you want. Ex: 2017/Spring (Make sure it says KGP200.) This part is pretty straight forward.
- When you get to “Write Application”:
- Obviously you don’t have a visa yet so select “no visa” and in the “memo” line, write “I will get a X visa.”
- Say “D-4 visa” if you plan on getting a student visa and staying for at least 2 sessions/6 months
- OR “tourist visa” if you plan on getting a tourist visa
- Here is my blog that talks about the pros and cons of getting a D-4 vs a tourist visa
- This will let them know how long you plan on staying.
- For Alien Registration Card Number: You won’t get this until you get to Korea so you can just leave it blank.
- Obviously you don’t have a visa yet so select “no visa” and in the “memo” line, write “I will get a X visa.”
- “Attachment”:
- Again, you won’t have your Alien Registration Card until you get it in Korea so you don’t have to upload anything in that section.
- For “Certificate of Bank Balances” I literally took a screenshot of my mobile banking page and uploaded it.
- “Registration Completed”:
- When you get here, you have to wait for them to approve your application. You will get a short email that will tell you if you got accepted.
- “Payment Guide”:
- So, congratulations! You pretty much got in. Now you have to pay the price.
- For this part, you need to do a wire transfer. You need to go to your bank and tell them that you need to do a wire transfer, and they’ll have someone help you. Make sure you show them all the information at the bottom of the Payment Guide page in the section that says “Woori Bank” and such. (I took a picture with my phone.) IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOUR BANKER SPELLED THE BANK ADDRESS CORRECTLY. In the two wires that I did initially, both times with two separate bankers they misspelled the roads.
- If you’re getting a D-4 visa, you need to pay for two sessions’ worth of tuition instead of just one. They’ll tell you this later, but if you go ahead and wire two sessions’ worth now, it’ll save you a second wire transfer fee.
- My bank was PNC, and they charged me $45 per wire transfer.
- If you are getting a tourist visa, then you only pay for one session at a time, so you don’t have to worry.
- Now, the Payment Guide section will tell you how much you need to pay for the application fee and 1 session of tuition so: application fee + 1 session tuition (+ 1 more session tuition if you’re getting a D-4 visa) = what you should wire. Go ahead and google a quick “won to whatever currency” to find out about how much you should send in that wire.
- You can only pay in Korean won or the equivalent in US dollars, Japanese yen, or euros.
- Make sure you pay just a little bit over just to make sure that you don’t underpay and have to do another wire.
- When you pay for future sessions, if you have someone attached to your bank account, that person can go to the bank in your country and do the transfer for you while you are in Korea. If not, you can also pay while you’re at the school using a credit card. You do not need a Korean bank account to do this.
- [I also have to find out if you can pay with a debit card rather than a credit card. If you can’t, you will have to make sure that your credit card has a high enough limit to allow you to pay for a semester. Also, keep in mind that you will probably be charged an international fee if you do that option regardless. The debit card I have with PNC charges an international fee of 3% of whatever I purchase. Comparatively, that broke down to be about as much as a wire transfer.]
- After I did the wire transfer, it registered in Korea after only a few days. I never had to do anything with the “Request for Payment Check” button. After the wire registered with Sogang, it automatically let me move on to the next section.
- “Admission Letter”:
- This is where they tell you that if you are from North America, Europe, or Australia and you want to get a 6-month student visa you have to pay for two sessions’ worth of tuition in advance, so if you followed my advice, you should be ahead of the game.
- If you are staying for two sessions, shoot a quick email to the email address for your area listed at the bottom. The emails are divided into groups:
- USA/Canada/Europe
- China/Taiwan
- Japan
- Africa/Middle East/the rest of Asia
- In the email, let them know that you are aiming for a D-4 visa and would like to sign up for a second session. Also be sure to let them know that you already paid that second session of tuition. (If you are getting a tourist visa, you don’t need to do this.)
- From what little experience I have from being in Korea previously, Koreans are super big into customer service and so are extremely prompt on emails, so I didn’t have to wait more than a day for a response on this. However, it did take just a little while for the changes to be registered into the website, so don’t panic if nothing has changed immediately when you get that email reply.
- You should be able to go back to your “Choose Term” section of the application to see that it has now listed that second session in there as well as when you first sign into the website to work on your application. You should also be able to see the updates in your “Payment” section.
- My acceptance letter came in almost exactly 1 week. Included in the packet you should receive are your Certificate of Admission, Certificate of Enrollment, and Official Receipt.
The Brave, Little Ninja 
I am so excited for you! You are indeed one brave little ninja!
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Thank you! I really appreciate that! 🙂
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hi,
I want to go to south Korea to study computer science, but I’ll have to do this course first. (what i don’t mind) but I still live with my parents, so they are going to pay, soooo…. they decide the rules. they want me to do the Korean course as well only if that will guarantee that i will go do a undergraduate studies there. so my question exact:
do Korean universities look much at academic background because this year will be a solid one with good grades but the years past that where pretty bad (due to covid-19 and laziness).
and will doing this prescribed course higher my chances at getting to study computer science and engineering or make it a 100% because Sogang univ has a high acceptance rate?
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Do they(sogang) respond to email fast? Cause i encountered some problems and emailed them but it’s been a few days
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I’ve emailed them only a few times, and they’ve responded within a few days.
Have those few days been during business days? Because if you sent it during the weekend, then they probably haven’t been in the office.
Is it a personal question or is it something I could maybe help you with?
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Its a problem with my application. So i think it could only be solved by sogang. But thank you :))
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Hi !
How long did it take for you to get a response from Sogang? Because I have been waiting 7 months for a reply to an email I sent them (I sent two others in the meantime with two different email addresses in case) but they never replied. And again, I signed up for fall session a week ago and I have no answer, it worries me… Thank you !
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I’m not sure what is up with them replying to your emails. They are usually pretty prompt.
But, as for getting a response on applying for the fall session, I assume this is after you’ve completed the whole application process and you’re now waiting to see if you got in? If that’s the case, I wouldn’t worry yet. Graduation for the spring session is happening today actually, so the office could be a little crazy now. So if you give them another week and they haven’t given you an answer, then I would start to get concerned. I don’t know what to tell you other than to just send them another email. I’m sorry that I’m not much help. I hope your problem gets solved soon.
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Oh okay, this could explain their delay in responding to my application… I will waiting so.
Thanks a lot for your answer !
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Hi, it’s me again.
I’ve been waiting a month and a half for a response from Sogang to my registration. My Korean friend’s mother called them (1 or 2 weeks ago?) to find out why it was taking so much time, and they just said to wait longer and that they received my money (over $3000). I am very upset because I leave my country to go to Korea in three weeks and I still have not exceeded the payment guide step on my account on their website so I don’t think I receive the letter before a very long time. Because of them, I can not make my visa (especially since I live very far away from the capital of my country so it would have taken me a lot of time and money to go and get my visa and now I do not have enough time to do it).
I was just wondering if you have any information about this long delay from Sogang. A computer bug? Too many registrations to manage? I don’t know, they do not tell us anything concrete on the phone.
And how long before receiving your letter did it take for you?
I’m really worried about arriving in Korea without a visa or any proof of my registration in Sogang. Without their letter, I can do nothing (no visa, no alien card, no phone, …). I am very upset with them.
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Hello again. I’m really sorry to hear that they haven’t gotten back to you. That’s so frustrating. I waited about a week to receive my admission letter, so I don’t know what would be going on for them to have delayed you so long. I’m really sorry about that.
Since they have confirmed that they have received your payment, If you haven’t applied for your D-4 student visa yet (I assume that’s the one you are trying to get, right?), then I would recommend coming on just a tourist visa (if it is possible to do so without proof of registration).
If you are able to come on a tourist visa, you have two options after you get to Korea:
1. Stay with a tourist visa but go to another country (Japan or Hong Kong or something close) during the break between sessions and then come back for the second session. This will renew your tourist visa for another 90 days, and is what many of the students here do. However, you will not be able to get an alien card using this method.
2. You can change your tourist visa to a D-4 student visa while in Korea. You will have to get an alien card if you do this.
Any documents from Sogang that you need (admission letter, etc.) you can ask for them to print on the 7th floor office at Sogang when you get here.
As for getting a phone, if you are just looking to rent a SIM card, you don’t have to have an alien card if you do it through EG SIM http://www.egsimcard.co.kr/. (I know it says something different on my post about getting a SIM card, but EG SIM is much better than the company I recommended on there. I just want to try it for a month or so before changing my blog post.)
If you really do need a whole phone, not just a SIM card, then you can do it with the Arrival Store without an alien card (though their website is terrible right now). If their site is not working, then I would look at KT or SK or other Korean phone service providers to see if they provide phone rentals to foreigners without alien cards. I really think that there should be ways to get one without an alien card.
I currently have a student visa (though I am going to try to switch to a tourist visa) so I’m not sure of the process about coming here on a tourist visa. So I am not 100% sure about if it is still possible for you to come. But, this is my best advice for you.
I hope I was able to help you out a little. Please let me know if it works out for you and if you have any other questions.
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Can you tell me exactly where they ask for at least 2 sessions for Europeans, North Americans and Australians? Because I haven’t found that information anywhere and I’m from Europe. Nor did they tell me that it was a mandatory multiple sessions applications during my applicaiton.
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I apologize. I went back and reread this blog post, and I realized how my wording would have really confused people. I went back and fixed it now, so hopefully it’s more clear now. Thank you for drawing my attention to it.
You don’t have to sign up for more than one session if you don’t want to. My blog is just geared toward people who want to go for more than one session. If you only want to attend for one session, then you can come on a 3-month tourist visa and pay for only one session.
If you want to go for more than one session on a 6-month student visa, Sogang asks that you pay for two sessions in advance. It asks this in step 8 (the admission letter section) of the application process online. I took a screenshot of it here: http://bit.ly/2qPjaNN
However, many of the Europeans who intended to come for more than one session came on 3-month tourist visas and just went to another country (most went to Japan) after the session was over and then returned to Korea again before the next session started. This is a sort of loophole that renewed their 3-month visa. But I’m not completely sure of the details and what sort of paperwork that entails. You should research thoroughly on your own, and make certain that you know what you’re doing before choosing to go that route.
Again, I apologize for my unclear wording and any confusion it may have caused you.
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Thank you for your reply !
No problem, I was already in the process of paying when I posted this. But I was a little confused about this information. I wish I had found your blog before it would have helped me in the process (going to the Fall 2017 session), the application process can be a bit confusing at times.
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Thanks for being understanding.
I completely agree that the application process is a little confusing. That’s why I decided to make a blog, so hopefully I can help people out who had some of the same questions I did.
I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you. If you have any other questions or see anything else on my blog that is a little confusing, please let me know. I will help as best I can.
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Hi there! Thank you so much for all the useful information for your application process!
How long did it take from the day your filed your application (“Registration Completed” stage) to the day you received your acceptance letters? You wrote one week, but did that mean one week after paying your tuition? I’m assuming there was some wait time between the “Registration Completed” stage and the “Payment Guide” stage as well?
I just wanted to make sure I’ll have enough time to apply for my visa and whatnot. Thank you for your help!
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Hello! I’m glad that my blog has been helpful.
To answer your questions, you receive your acceptance letters after you pay tuition, and yes, I got my acceptance letters about a week after paying it. And yes, there was a little bit of time between the “Registration Completed” and “Payment Guide.” I don’t remember exactly how long, but I don’t think it was very long. Maybe a week? I’m sorry about that.
I think you’re right on track for applying, so good job! If you have any other questions or need advice, I’ll help if I can! Thanks again for reading!
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Hello, so I have reached the Payment Guide tab. It told me to pay, wire info, and how much. I have already wired my money to their bank. Am I supposed to also fax/mail them the receipt of the wire transfer for them to check and approve my payment? It’s been about more than a week since I sent it but I have not moved on from the Payment Guide tab. Was it alright to just wire the money over, not do anything, and wait for them to naturally and automatically approve my payment?
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Hello! When I did my wire transfer, I didn’t have to do anything but the wire. Since it’s only been a week, I would wait just a little longer before you start to get too worried. However there is that “request payment check” button on the payment page. If it gets to be another week or so and you haven’t been moved on to the next page, I would try that button. I hope that helps. If you have any other questions, let me know, and I’ll try to help you out. Thanks for reading!
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Hello Alecia, Thanks for all the info most of it was where I was getting stuck on. One question though is : IN the document section there is also a reference required upload section which is mandatory. How did you get around this while applying ? Or is it something I need to get before hand. Thanks for info. I am applying for March 2018 term.
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Hello Jasper, in the fourth part of the application in the “attachments” section, the only documents that are required to upload are a copy of your passport, a copy of your diploma or transcript, and the certificate of your bank balances (I just used a screen-shot of my online banking webpage for the last one). There wasn’t anything that had to do with a reference, but maybe they changed something since when I first applied. Is this the section you are talking about?
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Thanks Alecia. Yes the “attachments” section is where they have added one more requirement ie: References.
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Hm. Interesting. If it says it is a required section, then it seems that you have to do it and there is no way to get around it. If you have specific questions about it, you can either email Sogang about it. If they’re being super slow about responding, I can ask in the main office about it for you.
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Hello Jasper and Alecia, I’m from indonesia. I want to apply for fall 2018. Could you guys help me to tell what’s reference required that Jasper told about “it’s a mandatory”?
Coz I would only prepare for photo, passport, certificate of graduation, bank certificate of deposit balance.
If there’s another document I have to upload. I want to be prepare before I have to register for application this fall 2018. Or if they need more document. They would email us/inform us for that, right?
Coz I’m afraid the class would be full :”(
Thankyou for your attention!
Best regards,
Conny
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Hello Conny, if the application says something is mandatory, then you have to do it. I can only view the version of the application that I filled out when I applied last year, so unfortunately I can’t see that new reference section Sogang added to the application to give you more help with the details.
However, you seem to be very proactive about applying, and I don’t think you need to worry about the class filling up immediately. When you are able to start applying, you can just look at the references section for yourself and get the references as you need. Think you will be fine.
I’m sorry that I wasn’t much help. If you have any other questions, please let me know, and I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for reading!
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Hello Conny, Apologies very late reply. I didn’t attach a reference document. But I came in person to collect the documents that I need for my VISA after paying the fees. Best is to call them and check or ask help for someone to go in person and ask about it, but do email them first and try the other options parallel if you are running out of time.
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Hello
Thanks for all these informations! Did you gave your diploma copy in English? I was wondering if I could submit a transcript in English instead of Korean since it’s easier to get.
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Yes. I submitted my university diploma in English.
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Gonna be easier then! Thanks for your answer 🙂
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Hey Alecia! I’m currently applying for the Summer + Fall 2018 terms, and will be needing a D4 visa. After “Payment Guide” and before “Admission Letter,” there is a now “Level Test” section for you to basically reserve a time slot for the level test.
Do you remember after submitting your address and phone number in the “Admission Letter” section, if it went straight to “Completion”? For some reason it keeps bouncing back to “Level Test” after I saved my info in the “Admission Letter.” I’m trying to make sure they mail my documents in time so I can get my visa asap, but not sure if they are even getting my mailing address info in this step..
Sidenote they actually have not been very quick with responding to my emails, so I’m reluctant to send them another email. Hope you can help, thank you!
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Hello, Tiffany. So I tried to check on Sogang’s website to see if I could still look at my own application, but it seems like the entire site is down. So without double-checking, I don’t quite remember if it jumped straight to completion immediately following that or not, but I do understand your concern.
Since you are applying for 2 terms and therefore a D-4 visa, have you emailed them to let them know you would like to sign up for that second semester? And if you have, have you paid for that second semester yet? It might be that they haven’t received your wire transfer for the second semester yet. They won’t send your documents out to you until they have received it.
If you have, my second guess might be that there is something incomplete on the Level Test section, and that’s why it keeps sending you back. I would check really well to make sure there was nothing on that page that you might have forgotten to fill out.
Or considering that the KLEC website is down, it could very well be that the glitch you are experiencing will go away after they get the site back up and running.
If the website comes back up and it’s none of those things I mentioned before, it would seem you have no choice but to email or call them. After all the comments and emails I’ve received while running this blog, I’ve realized that my application process must have been a fluke because they were very prompt on responding to emails that I sent, but that was over a year ago, so I guess things have changed in the office since then.
As I’m not attending Sogang anymore, I can’t go into the office and ask personally for you, so I’m sorry that I can’t help you anymore than this. I hope that everything smoothes out for you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
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Thank you so so much for your detailed response! I guess I’ll just have to wait and see after the website is back up.. There doesn’t seem to be anything else I can do on the “Level Test” section since it literally just gives me one date and timeslot to choose. But if nothing is fixed I shall call them again.
By the way, because I read your blog I did get ahead of the game and applied & paid for the 2 terms together, so thanks alot with that info! Unfortunately I scheduled leaving the USA too soon thinking this app process would have been quicker. If I don’t get my admission documents in time I guess I will just have to apply for the D4 once I’m in Seoul ah..
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This was super helpful! Thanks so much for posting about the application process!
However I have a question. This was the email I received from them after applying:
Greetings from Sogang KLEC!
Your application process has moved to the next step. Please check your status on ‘MYPAGE’. Thank you.
Sogang Korean Language Education Center: https://klec.sogang.ac.kr
It’s not an acceptance but my application is on the payment guide now? I’m really confused with what’s happening because everyone else has said you must get accepted first in to pay the tuition!
Thanks so much in advance!
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Hello! If you application has been moved on to the “payment guide” section, that means you were accepted. I got my actual acceptance letter and other official documents in the mail about a week after I completed the “admission letter” section, so you should be fine.
Glad my blog was able to help you out! Thanks for reading!
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Hi, I have the exact same problem as Joo (I think that’s her username) I’ve completed my registration and I got to the payment guide step, I went to my bank and did the transfer, I showed them a picture of the informations of where to send the money and my bank consultant did it for me, the money was debited from my account just the day after i did the transfer, i even received a letter from MY bank confieming me the money was transfered etc etc, but its been 2 weeks and still no response from Sogang univ even after requesting multiple time for a payment check, I emailed them twice telling them I was worried about where my money was since I got no respinse from them (I’m still at payment guide and it still says “tuition unpaid”) I think I even paid them about 30 000 KRW more than I should have but whatever. I need to apply for my isa but I can’t do it without my admission letter, I’m really stressed out and worried since applying for a visa take up to 1 month and i only have roughly 2 months left before leaving to korea!
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Thank you for this blog! I have a few questions as I’m very interested in doing this same program.
1. Can you only take courses in learning Korean or can you take Korean as well as major oriented classes?
2. If the answer to the above question is no, what can you do in the end (as in working) with your Korean knowledge?
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Hello! You can only learn Korean at the Sogang Korean Language Program. The SKLP is more like a program sponsored by Sogang rather than actually Sogang itself. In other words, when you attend the program, you’re not actually attending Sogang University. So no, you cannot take other classes.
To answer your second question, once you acquire Korean language, you can of course try to get a job in Korea. The easiest job to get in Korea as a foreigner is an english teacher. Although knowing Korean is not required to get the job, it will make living in Korea and building relationships with your colleagues easier. Another opportunity if you get really good at Korean is to teach Korean in your home country. Or you could become a translator/subtitler or tour guide in your home country. However, those opportunities will probably require other training too.
I hope that helps you!
Thank you for reading!
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Thank you for this blog! I have a few questions as I’m very interested in doing this same program.
1. Can you only take courses in learning Korean or can you take Korean as well as major oriented classes?
2. If the answer to the above question is no, what can you do in the end (as in working) with your Korean knowledge?
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Hello !
I registered this morning on Sogang (KGP200) for the winter semester. However, I wanted to register for the winter and spring for the D-4 visa.
On the site we can not go back.
Do you know how I can sign up for winter and spring please?
Thank you.
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Hello. I think you need to email them and ask them what to do.
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Hello,
I would like to ask: how many days did you need to wait from you completed the registration until you got an email of acceptance from them? I am currently waiting for an acceptance letter from them. I am so anxious about it. Thank you^^ have a good day!
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Hello,
I apologize, but as it has been a year ago, don’t remember how long it took for me to get the acceptance email. I’m sorry that I’m not able to help you. I hope you get accepted soon!
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Hello dear, can you tell me how was study at Sogang? Is it hard or it’s fun to learn? Because I want to make sure that I choose a great school.
I’m a bit confuse for another korean language program. Some of them said, Kyunghee university, ewha, SNU they are too much grammar and in Sogang there will be not much for grammar and focus on speaking.
Tell me your review ^^ thankyou!
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Sogang is known for focusing on speaking rather than grammar. It had a fun atmosphere, and it was a good experience for me overall. As for Sogang’s reputation, Sogang’s Korean language program textbooks are used most frequently by professors who teach Korean as a foreign language. I hope that helps you.
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Hello,
I applied to Sogang University 1 week ago however i have not received an acceptance email, but i am on the payment guide page. Does that mean i was accepted even though i did not receive an email?
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Hey, I’m applying to Sogang university for their Korean language program for their winter and spring terms of 2021/2022. However, I’m having some problems with the application, mainly for the pictures of the required documents like passport picture, photo of myself and picture of my high school diploma. I was wondering how any of you went about taking and downloading the pictures for the application? I hope I’m not the only one having this problem…any help for this matter would be much appreciated!!
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