Programs for foreign students at Seoul National Univeristy

You may have a lot of difficulties interacting with Korean students while attending school and writing reports in Korean. Within SNU, college programs, counseling centers and writing centers, international offices and OIA are helping foreign students adapt to college life and classes. In this article, we would like to introduce such programs.

CTL Writing Tutoring

This is a program for foreign students who can receive accurate management of Korean and guidance on how to write for assignments related to class. Tutors do not directly modify the student’s writing, but modify their own writing based on the tutor’s guidance and advice.

For undergraduate students, the amount of guidance they can receive for one consultation is limited to less than 10 pages. For graduate students, guidance on degree papers or articles on pages 5 or more should be used for graduate student counseling. Currently, due to COVID-19, all consultations except e-mail consultations are operated as non-face-to-face zoom video consultations. For the current semester, conseling on the same day is not available, so reservations must be made in advance on the site.

SNU Buddy

SNU Buddy is a voluntary student organization at SNU, that will help you build unforgettable memories during your stay in Korea. Our exchange students from all over the world but also to engage with Korean SNU students who will be more than happy to introduce our culture and campus life. SNU Buddy is officially part of the Office of International Affairs (OIA) but purely voluntary, student-led organization consisting of Korean SNU students who will be helping you adapt to both Korea and campus life. We help with basic facilities starting from dormitory to pre-paid phones but most importantly, we provide priceless opportunities to bond with other people from all around the world and construct a global network. Furthermore, with various activities planned throughout the semester, there will be more than enough chances to make acquaintances with Korean students.

SNU Buddy also offers a personal buddy matching program, which is a great chance to befriend Korean buddies from Seoul National University. In addition, there will be activities such as the International Opening Party, Temple Stay, International Day, SNU Olympics and much more that will focus on mingling with other people and sharing cultures.

Mentoring Program

School-life Mentoring Program

SMP program is an in-school mentoring program at SNU that grows together by helping foreign freshmen as mentees and undergraduate seniors as mentors to help freshman foreign students adapt to their studies, interpersonal relationships, and college life. The mentoring program includes individual mentoring, where one mentor and two mentees meet regularly in one group, group mentoring to interact with mentors from various departments, and picnics and sports competitions for SMP mentor mentees as a whole. You can check the mentee application in the notice board of each department.

Personal and Group Counseling

English counseling service is available for international students in Center of Campus Life & Culture. Counseling can take different forms such as individual counseling or group counseling. Individual counseling entails 1:1 confidential meetings that occur once a week. “Relationships Revisited” group counseling program involves ten 2-hour weekly sessions. During this session, about 4-8 students meet with 1-2 trained counselor(s) to talk about their interpersonal concerns.

This program runs every semester. You can check out your email at the beginning of the semester for more information.

Special Lecture on Employment for International Students

In addition, SNU Career Development Center organizes annually a special lecture for foreign students about occupation in the Korean job market. This lecture provides not only information on the Korean employment and recruitment market, but also how to write a resume in Korean, and employment information for Korean companies.

International Students Integrated Peer Tutoring Program

Finally, we would like to introduce a foreign peer tutoring program co-hosted by SNU Gwanak Residence Halls (Dormitory) and Faculty of Liberal Education. It is a tutoring program launched for foreign undergraduate students living in the dormitory. A total of 50 people, 25 tutors and 25 tutees, were selected to help foreign undergraduate students adapt to their studies and college life.

It was first implemented in the second semester of last year, and no notice has been posted this year, so please refer to it. Tutee can be applied by second-year or higher students living in the dormitory, and it is said that tutoring is conducted once or twice a week.

We hope you find this article helpful. If you have any questions, please leave the comment down below and we will try our best to answer!