If you are reading this, I'm pretty much sure that I have secured myself a plane ticket to South Korea to further my Master's studies. I am writing this blog to pen down my experience in applying to 2019 Global Korea Scholarship (previously known as KGSP - Korean Government Scholarship Programme).
Studying in South Korea has always been my dream. It has been a dream of mine for so long and this thought came to my mind not too long ago, that if I do nothing about it, it will only stay a dream forever. So, I've decided to apply for the 2019 KGSP Graduate program (Embassy track). KGSP is the Korean Government Scholarship Program that offers a scholarship to students who wants to further their studies in South Korea's universities. Check it out here : http://www.studyinkorea.go.kr/
Every year, there are more than 60+ universities in South Korea that are listed in the KGSP list, which means those are the universities that you can choose from. Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University (SKY) are in the list for the past few years fyi.
There are two ways to apply for the scholarship. You can either apply it through the embassy track or university track. Through the embassy track, you are eligible to choose 3 different universities and 3 different majors (nope, you cannot choose the same university with different majors, you have to choose different universities). On the other hand, if you apply through university track, you can only choose one university of your choice. There are pros and cons for both options, you just have to choose the one that you have the most confidence in. You cannot apply through both the embassy and university track. So make a wise decision!
So there are 6 quotas for Malaysia through the embassy track and 11 quotas for Malaysia through university track.
My experience
So I am going to write down my experience in applying for this scholarship. Though I don't know what the outcome will be, it is a way of me trying to express my nervousness and also to boost my confidence.
I have applied through the Embassy track. I have chosen Yonsei University as my first choice, Sungkyunkwan University as my second and Dongguk University as my third choice. The reason is that I have studied the Korean Language at Yonsei University 2 years ago and I have lots of great memories there. I would love to create more memories at Yonsei University and I just love the spirit of the school.
I have started preparing for my application documents since December 2018. The application normally starts around February every year for Graduate program. I have prepared 2 months ahead because there are a lot of documents that you have to prepare. Plus choosing a university and a major is a tedious process too (for me, personally). The documents that you have to submit are also very important. Make sure you have read through all of the important guidelines in the KGSP Application Guideline before submitting them.
I have a valid Level 5 TOPIK certificate at the time of application, but I didn't have any English proficiency test certificate (other than the MUET exam I took during my undergraduate). The embassy said that MUET is not considered as an official English proficiency test for this scholarship (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC etc are) so I immediately registered myself to take the TOEFL test. I only noticed that TOEFL ITP is not recognised by NIIED as a valid English proficiency test after I have sat for it, then only I registered for TOEIC within the same month.
Although I had a valid TOPIK certificate, my certificate is expiring in May 2019. So, I have registered to re-take the exam in April 2019 just in case when my application goes through to the last stage and they need a valid TOPIK certificate at that time. If you have passed TOPIK Level 5 and above upon application, you can be excused from the one year Korean Language course that is compulsory for scholars who did not have a TOPIK Level 5 and above certificate. But it is optional to submit both Korean and English Test proficiency. You don't have to submit them if you don't have and don't plan to take. It is not compulsory. However, if you do, you should submit them.
After all my application documents are ready to be notarised, I've compiled them and went to a firm that provides notarisation service, recommended by a KGSP scholar. Getting my documents notarised is definitely a tedious process for me. Kid you not, the price for a single stamp can go up to RM 50 per copy. Different documents might also have a different price. It might be expensive but according to the embassy, it is more secure. So in order to be on the safe side, I choose to notarise all my documents with the Notary Public.
For me, the hardest part was to get recommendations letters from my lecturer/professor. I have graduated from my university 2 years ago and most of them either left the university or are not working as lecturers anymore. I have manage to find one lecturer of mine who was kind enough to meet me up in person so that she can prepare the letters accordingly to the rules given by KGSP (It is quite tedious I would say).
And the other recommendation letter was written by my language teacher when I was studying at Yonsei University. She stays in Korea, so she had to courier the letters back to Malaysia for me to submit to the embassy. It was my last piece of puzzle.
I submitted my documents to the embassy a week before the deadline. After triple checking everything, I bid farewell to my documents at the guardhouse of the embassy. I took a half day off from work to pass my documents by hand.
So this is the general timeline for the whole scholarship. Yes it is a long process and a lot of waiting time.
There will be more information and the process of how I applied, coming up soon! Stay tuned!
Check out Part 2 here!
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