My Top Tips for Preparing to Study Abroad in South Korea

I have been waiting for this moment since I first came across IES Abroad’s website and South Korea programs in the fall of 2023. I remember laying in my college dorm’s lofted twin bed as a freshman, obsessively scrolling through both Yonsei and Korea University’s program pages for hours. Ever since I was introduced to Korean music and culture in 2021, I knew that was where I wanted to study abroad. After making sure IES Abroad was legitimate, I decided I wanted to go abroad with them in the fall of 2024. I didn’t discover until a few days later that I fell short of the age requirement, not yet a second-semester sophomore, and was immensely disappointed.

In hindsight, it was a good thing. I was still committed to studying abroad and set my mind on the fall of 2025. This gap has given me a large amount of time to prepare, get my passport, talk to my advisors, learn more Korean, and make an unnecessarily long, yet helpful, page of study abroad notes on my phone. For the rest of this blog post, I’m going to talk about my experience with preparing to study abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

• Flight: I’m from St. Louis, Missouri, where direct flights to Incheon are both long and expensive, roughly 18 hours and $1900. Fortunately, my parents are frequent flyers with Southwest, a US domestic airline, and I was able to book a flight from STL to LAX using their saved up points. From LAX, I’m taking a direct flight to Incheon, which is about 13 hours long. I’ve booked through Delta, but will be flying Korean Air through them, and my ticket was $1460. When booking connecting flights like this, I made sure to have a long layover (6 hours) for any potential delays or issues. I plan on bringing two large suitcases (one empty for souvenirs) to check, one smaller carry-on suitcase, and my backpack as my personal item.

   

• Passport: I was able to grab an application from a study abroad fair my college had in the fall of 2023. I applied for my passport in July of 2024 and was able to receive it shortly after. Overall, I came into the appointment prepared with the necessary documents and had no issues. As soon as you know you may want to study abroad, apply for your passport. Even if you don’t end up committing to a program, it’ll still be useful for any international travel in the next 10 years.

   

• D-2 Visa: The day after I received my Certificate of Admission and Certificate of Business Registration, I mailed them, along with other visa application materials, to the Korean Consulate in Chicago. I made sure I had all the required documents, and was able to receive my visa two days after my application had arrived at the consulate. I was shocked at how smooth the process was, as I had been stressing about getting my visa issued on time before I departed.

   

• Scholarships: When I decided to study abroad, I knew I would need scholarships to afford it. I looked at what my home university offered, IES Abroad’s aid application, and outside scholarships. My advice is to apply for everything. When applying to study abroad, and for different scholarships, make a master document with copies of your responses to application questions. After a while, you’ll realize you’re being asked the same questions in different formats, and can pull from your previous responses while tweaking them to fit the new prompts. After receiving your home university aid award letter for your study abroad term, you can send it to IES Abroad along with an aid disbursement schedule. They’ll hold off on charging you the amount you’re due to receive in scholarships at a later date. This is only applicable if you are paying IES Abroad directly for your program.

   

• Financial Planning: Currently, I have a Google Sheet I’m using for budgeting the rest of my year. I have July and August-September broken out into each day of the month. I have estimated expenses written as negative numbers. These are groceries, gas, rent, IES Abroad payments, and miscellaneous costs. My positive numbers are paychecks from my summer internship. Off to the side, I have current amounts in my bank accounts. By using the sum function and updating this regularly, I’m able to make sure I’ll have enough money for when I leave in August. I’m planning on having $7,500 set aside to spend on food, transportation, in-country travel, and other activities.

   

• Money and Phones: My usual debit card had a 3% international fee. Therefore, I’ve opened a new bank account and acquired a debit card with no international fees to save money. I went with Charles Schwab, and it was fairly simple to open an account. I’d recommend checking in with your bank to see what fees your card may have before you plan to study abroad. Also, make sure your phone is “unlocked.” This means your phone is able to use an e-sim, which you will need in Korea if you’d like to use data instead of just Wi-Fi. Beware, it’s likely your carrier will not “unlock” your phone until it is fully paid off. 

   

• Items to buy: So far, I’ve bought plug adapters and a portable charger. South Korea has different shaped plugs and their outlets are 220 V compared to the USA’s 120 V. If you are bringing devices that aren’t labeled ‘input: 100 - 240 V,’ you will likely need to bring a voltage converter. Additionally, I’ve bought some new “staple” wardrobe items before I head over. These include jeans, shoes, and other clothing items that will work with multiple outfits. My goal is to pack as light as possible. 

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I hope reading about my experience with preparing to study abroad was helpful to you!