MY EXPERIENCES ABOUT KGSP (GKS) AND TIPS

I studied Interior Architecture and Environmental Design and graduated in 2017. Applied to KGSP a.k.a GKS for master's degree twice and both by university track.  I couldn’t get KGSP but I’m still going to study my master in Korea, I will also write about it later : ) Firstly I would like to share my experiences about KGSP.

What I had in my first try:

➢TOPIK 2

➢ No IELTS

➢ GPA 3.1/4.0

➢ 1 year Exchange student in Poland

 ➢ 2 months internship in Italy

➢ Internship in Korea (not related with my major)

➢ A recommendation letter from professor from the university that I applied

I chose Kookmin University for my first try. At that time I was in Korea for an internship. I had already contacted with professors in that university and there were 2 professor who accepted to give me recommendation letter. When  I arrived to Korea, one of them didnt reply my mails so I got the recommendation letter from the other one. Interview day has arrived and I turned on Skype, the professor who didnt reply my mails was sitting in front of me :D There were 2 professors, they started to interview in Korean and I said I prefer to do it in English but they didnt accept it. I think they wanted to test my Korean cuz I was writing in Korean in mails with that professor and he was knowing I wasn’t 2 level. But I  heard that we could choose the language that’s why I prepared everyting in English. Firstly, they asked me to introduce myself and what am I doing in Korea. After that they wanted me to introduce my portfolio in Korean, and I messed up everything in here :D I was maybe level 3 at that time and it was impossible for me to talk about design and use the terms about my major in Korean…  They said they wish I had atleast TOPIK 4 and they hoped I would prepare in this way for next year and I got that I failed.

I lived in Korea for 9 months after the interview, I studied TOPIK exam a lot and I got 5 level. After I return to Turkey I studied to IELTS and got 6.5. I applied again this year, to the Sookmyung Women’s University. I applied to this university because of a professor. I was sending emails to professors in the universities that I was consedering to apply and there was some of them helping me. But this professor in Sookmyung helped me a lot and she had a little Skype interview with me when I wanted recommendation letter from her. I visited her when I went to Korea and gave some gifts from Turkey :) Since Kookmin was in the top 3 universities in design field, I wanted to apply there most and she also encouraged me to apply there.

The things that changed when I applied in second time:

➢ TOPIK 5

➢ IELTS 6.5

The other things were same. I got recommendation letter from that profesor from Sookmyung also. This time Sookmyung annouced the language of interview for everybody and mine was in Korean obviously. I wrote every questions that they can ask me and answers, and practiced them everyday. There were that professor and another one in interview. They asked me to introduced myself and why I want to study in Sookmyung etc. It went very well and I passed the first round. But they said they won’t announce the first round results and  they told us to wait for 2nd round. But we knew that they chose everyone who selected for interview because the same happened in other universities and they said they chose everyone. Then, finally 16th May has arrived and I was not on the list… There were 3 quota out of 5** that I was able to get in.  Also, I think I got eleminated because of my major but ofcourse there can be other reasons too. Unfortunately, I think art or design students don’t have many chances for KGSP. There is another scholarship for this, AMA+ Scholarship, I applied also that and I will write about it also.

**Now, I will give you an important tip that not many people know:

It’s about what am I meaning when I say 3 quota out of 5. There is Regional Quota in KGSP, and ONLY Natural Science and Engineering students can get into this quota if they apply to the a Regional University. Any other major students NEVER can get into this special quota. For Turkey, there were 5 quota in 2018 but only 4 people had been chosen. That 1 quota left empty because probably any appropriate student applied for that special quota. NIIED didn’t give that quota to other majors also, it just left empty.

THIS SPECIAL QUOTA IS ONLY FOR UNIVERSITY TRACK, NOT FOR EMBASSY TRACK. So for Turkey we can say that Embassy Track have 6 quota and University Track has 3+2.

OTHER IMPORTANT TIPS:

➤ Get the highest TOPIK that you can get. If you don’t have a great academic success like good thesis, high gpa, awards or interesting work experiences in your major, you will need atleast TOPIK 4. But if you have a great academic success, they don’t care about Korean in that case.

➤ Take the IELTS or TOEFL. There isn’t any spesific level you need but generally Korean universities want atleast 5.5 so get the highest as much as you can. I think IELTS is important because some universities take English more important than Korean. Because sometimes professors prefer to speak English rather than Korean with students so they check IELTS first. 

➤ Write down all expected questions and their answers, memorize all them and practice every day. If you have a high TOPIK do it in Korean, if not in English.

➤ A recommendation letter from a professor from the university that you are going to apply can be helpful (like my last application) or not (like my first application). But I always agree to talk with professors by e mails because they can show you different scholarships. Specially, if you have a major that you work in labs there are many professor scholarships. You can ask them if can you work in their labs and be their asistants and get some scholarships for master.

➤ What I heard from people who applied to Kookmin this year, whoever had TOPIK 4 they passed. Also from my experience, they really care TOPIK a lot and want atleast TOPIK 4.

➤What I heard from a friend is if you wanna study psycology, it’s better to apply other majors which are close to pyschology (like women studies) rather than applying directly to this major. Unfortunetly this major also have less chance too :(

➤ If you have a major that hard to competive with Natural Science and Engineering, it’s better to choose a university that not good in Natural Science and Engineering. It will help you to pass 1st round but still NIIED will prefer Natural Science and Engineering students (if they have a similar application with you) in 2nd round. But your documents will arrive to NIIED and believe me even this is such a big success. You will be in last round and you will know NIIED looked your documents and didn’t choose you so you can move on.

➤Universities make a list and line up students after your document elevation and interview, NIIED take care about it also.

➤ Join the KGSP Groups in Facebook. Read what others asks and talk with people. Specially this one:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/218840618574476/

➤ Generally, universities look GPA and Language Certfication when they do first check.

➤ If you wanna apply to SKY Universities it’s better to apply by embassy track. It’s risky for university track since you have only one chance.

➤ Recommendation Letter that you get from professor from university that you are going to apply is a plus document. Don’t count it with the other 2 recommendation letters that you need to get from your previous university. And when you get recommendation letter from your previous university, ask to professors who is more higher status than others or  maybe even head of department. If you can’t find nobody then go and ask to Associate Professor.

➤You need to explain the relation between your major/your research topic and Korea very well in your Study Plan. You need to convience them you will be useful for Korea.

➤Read the guideline again and again. Atleast 5 times and then ask to people because generally everything you ask write in there :) Search for last years results and look how many people the university you wanna apply chose last years, which majors they chose more, did they get more people from embassy track or university track, is there anyone who got scholarship from your major then find them on Facebook and ask kindly their help and experiences. Every people you talk will give you different and new information! 

If you have questions to me, find me on instagram and ask cuz I check there more often. I will try to help you as much as I can :) ⏩ _iameda_

I couldn’t get KGSP but 1 week later after 2nd round results, I had another chance :) I will write about it also, wait for it! :D