EAST ASIA · SOUTH KOREA
Students in South Korea finish school in different ways: with a Korean high school diploma and the CSAT (수능), the IB Diploma, an American diploma with AP courses, or A Levels. Yours shapes where you can apply and what each university will ask of you.
For 2027 entry
START WITH YOUR QUALIFICATION
At a Korean high school, you apply to Korean universities in two rounds: an early round (수시), based on your school record or a university’s own tests, and a regular round (정시), based mainly on your CSAT results. With the IB, an American diploma, or A Levels, universities abroad look at your results, your school’s grading, and your subjects.
KOREAN CURRICULUM
You finish a Korean high school with your school record (학생부), and you sit the College Scholastic Ability Test in November of your final year.
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
You take six subjects, three or four at Higher Level, plus the core. Your teachers predict your grades before the final exams in May.
AMERICAN CURRICULUM
Your school’s diploma and GPA, usually with Advanced Placement (AP) courses and exams.
BRITISH CURRICULUM
You usually take three or four A Levels in your last two years, with an exam board such as Cambridge International or Pearson Edexcel.
Letrado’s adviceAsk your counselor for your school profile early. It explains your curriculum and grading, and U.S. colleges read it alongside your transcript. At a Korean high school, ask how your school issues your record in English.
The exam: The 2027 CSAT is on Thursday, November 19, 2026. It covers Korean, mathematics, English, Korean history (required for everyone), inquiry subjects in social studies, science, or vocational fields, and a second foreign language or Chinese characters.
Results: Results arrive on Friday, December 11, 2026. Each area shows a standard score, percentile, and grade, except English, Korean history, and the second foreign language or Chinese characters, which show a grade only.
The early round (수시), from September: You apply before the CSAT and can make up to six applications in total. Two tracks at the same university count as two. For 2027 entry, universities took applications between September 7 and 11, 2026, and announce results by December 18. In this round, the CSAT can count only as a minimum grade requirement.
If you get an early-round offer: You can’t apply in the regular round that year, even if you don’t register. This includes offers from a waiting list.
The regular round (정시), after results: You apply between January 4 and 7, 2027, once in each of three groups (가, 나, and 다). Universities announce results by February 5.
Oxford and Cambridge: Oxford doesn’t accept the diploma. Cambridge’s suitable options include A Levels, the IB, or at least five AP exams at grade 5 with an overall 수 (90%) in your diploma.
Applying in Korea: Yonsei’s Underwood International College (UIC), for example, has separate tracks. Korean students, including overseas Koreans, start in March.
UIC’s international track: It’s open only if neither you nor either of your parents holds Korean citizenship, including as a dual citizen.
What that track asks for: Documents in English and an interview if you’re shortlisted. SAT, ACT, A Level, IB, or AP results aren’t required, but UIC strongly recommends them. You can start in March or September.
Testing for U.S. colleges: Harvard requires the SAT or ACT for fall 2027 entry, so check test dates and centers early.
COMPARE THE SYSTEMS
You can apply to all three in the same year, and we help with all three. Each has its own application, deadlines, and idea of a strong applicant, so give each one its own plan.
UNITED STATES
Selective colleges look at your grades in the context of your school, alongside your essays, activities, teacher and counselor letters, and test scores where they ask for them. You apply to each college separately, often through the Common App.
Letrado’s adviceMake sure your school profile and counselor letter explain your curriculum. Then use your essays for what only you can say.
UNITED KINGDOM
You apply through UCAS to up to five courses, with one personal statement for all of them. Universities look closely at your subjects and predicted grades, and some courses add an admissions test or interview.
Letrado’s adviceChoose a subject you’d enjoy studying for three years, then check each course’s subject requirements before anything else.
SOUTH KOREA
In the early round (수시), you make up to six applications in September, and universities look at your school record or set their own tests. In the regular round (정시), you apply in January with your CSAT results, once in each of three groups. An early-round offer rules you out of the regular round, and you can register at only one university.
Letrado’s adviceApply in the early round only where you’d be glad to go, because any offer, even from a waiting list, rules out the regular round that year.
EducationUSA Korea is the U.S. government’s official study-advising center in Korea, and it says its advising and seminars are free.
PLAN YOUR YEAR
U.S., UK, and Korean deadlines, results, and offers fall at different times. Seeing them together shows where you may need to decide before every result is in.
UK Oct 15
18:00 UK time.
U.S. Nov 1
Other U.S. colleges set their own early dates.
South Korea Nov 19
Exam results Dec 11
U.S. Mid-December
South Korea By Dec 18
South Korea Dec 21–23
Offers from waiting lists follow until December 29.
U.S. Jan 1–2
Harvard’s and Columbia’s are January 1, and Yale’s is January 2.
South Korea Jan 4–7
Once in each group: 가, 나, and 다.
UK Jan 13
18:00 UK time.
South Korea By Feb 5
South Korea Feb 10–12
Weeks before U.S. regular decisions arrive.
U.S. Late March
Harvard’s come by the end of March, and Yale’s and Columbia’s in late March.
U.S. May 1
The usual U.S. reply date, including at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.
Exam results Early July
In 2026 they came out on July 6.
U.S. dates vary by college, so check each college’s own page. Each Korean university sets its own days within these national windows, in its admissions guide (모집요강).
TRY THIS WITH EACH UNIVERSITY ON YOUR LIST
Open each university’s own pages and note an answer for every row. Bring the gaps and questions to our conversation, or work through them with your counselor.
| What to check | What to note for each university |
|---|---|
| Your qualification | Does it accept the Korean diploma or the certificate you’ll finish with, for direct entry? |
| Subjects and tests | Which subjects, grades, English tests, or admissions tests does the course need? |
| Dates | When is the deadline, when will you hear back, and when must you reply or register? |
| Full cost in won | Tuition, housing, flights, insurance, and visas for the whole degree, and again with a weaker won. |
| Would you go? | If this were your only offer, would you be glad to go? |
PLAN THE COST
A U.S. bachelor’s degree usually takes four years, and many UK degrees take three. Exchange rates can change over that time, so plan for the full degree, not just the first year.
YOUR YEARLY BUDGET
Letrado’s adviceRun your budget twice: once at today’s exchange rate and once with the won 10% weaker. Keep at least one option that still works.
UK Student visa: You can apply up to six months before your course starts, and a decision usually takes about three weeks. You pay the health surcharge for every year of your visa when you apply.
U.S. student (F-1) visa: You apply once your college has sent your I-20 form. If you’re a U.S. citizen, you don’t need one.
From 18: On January 1 of the year you turn 18, you’re listed as preparing for military service (병역준비역). The Military Manpower Administration (MMA) counts your age as the current year minus your birth year.
Permission to be abroad: If you haven’t yet served, from the year you turn 25 you need the MMA’s permission to travel or stay abroad. If you’re already abroad, apply by January 15 of that year.
If you’re studying abroad: Permission for study can run from six months before your course starts to six months after you’re due to graduate. While you’re enrolled, it can’t go beyond the MMA’s age limit for your level of study plus one year. You can apply at a regional MMA office, online, or at the Korean embassy or consulate for where you live.
Postponing enlistment: If you’re at a university abroad, you apply to your regional MMA office yourself to postpone enlistment.
Your own situation: Call the MMA’s helpline, 1588-9090, with questions about your own dates.
A STUDENT FROM SEOUL · H.J.
H.J. is a Korean student who went to an international school in Seoul. She loved literature, translation, and statistics, and she applied to Oxford for English and to U.S. universities in the same year.
She wrote a focused academic statement and chose written work that showed how she reads a text closely.
Her essay was about a school performance where the actor couldn’t deliver her most literal translation naturally. Revising it meant balancing accuracy, rhythm, and audience.
Her early drafts tried to sound like a published critic. Reading them aloud, she dropped the ornate lines and kept her own dry humor.
Different systems can ask for different evidence without asking you to become someone else.
HER OFFERS
HER CHOICE: YALEYale University · Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Cropped.
Oxford offered the most concentrated literary training, and Columbia a strong core in New York. Yale let her take on demanding humanities work while keeping statistics open before committing to a fixed combination. Her parents supported the choice after reviewing the curriculum and financial package.
WHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.
