South Korea

• Yonsei's Underwood International College is a genuine full-English liberal-arts college inside a major research university: 16 majors across three divisions, roughly 3,000 students from more than 70 countries.
• The international admissions track is document-and-interview based, which suits an IB student who writes well, and it is separate from the brutal domestic Suneung competition.
• KAIST exempts scholarship holders from tuition for eight semesters and pays a monthly living allowance, decided from the admission application with no separate form to fill in.
• KAIST teaches essentially all of its undergraduate programme in English, across science, engineering and business.
• Seoul is genuinely affordable compared with Tokyo, Singapore or Hong Kong once you are out of the central districts, and student dormitories are cheap and widely available.

• The Korean academic year starts in March, and the March intake is the main one. For a May 2027 IB candidate it is not an option — you cannot matriculate in March 2027 with a diploma you sit exams for in May. The two real choices are September 2027, the smaller Fall intake, or March 2028 with results in hand.
• "2027 entry" does not mean one thing in Korea, so do not read it off the top of the page and stop. Elsewhere on this site it means a European autumn start; here every date belongs to one of three different intakes — September 2027, March 2027 (already gone) and March 2028 — and the intake is named on each deadline rather than assumed. KAIST muddies even the Fall one: its own calendar calls the round the Fall Track and then says the academic year begins at the end of August 2027. Check the intake named beside a date before you plan around the date.
• Every deadline that matters falls before 6 July 2027. KAIST's regular round for September 2027 closes on 14 January 2027 and decides on 25 March; Yonsei UIC's second round runs in March 2027 and decides in June. Predicted grades do all the work, and what each university does with a conditional place when results arrive is set institution by institution and is not established here.
• No May 2027 IB candidate can use the 2027 Global Korea Scholarship, on either track: the round needs a graduation certificate by 31 December 2026. Plan for 2028. The Embassy Track then depends on your nationality — the 2027 list of 74 countries included the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine but not Denmark, Germany or Norway — and the University Track's UIC Program is open to every nationality, but it is science and engineering at thirteen named universities, none of them Yonsei, KAIST, Seoul National or Korea University.
• The 2028 round is expected to open around September 2027. Check the new country list for your nationality when it is published.
• Check very carefully what 'English-taught' means at each university. Korea University and Sungkyunkwan advertise high English-medium course percentages, but that is a university-wide average, not a guarantee that your specific major runs in English for four years.
• Yonsei UIC now requires proof of English from every applicant from the 2027 intake. An IB English A result counts, and so does a Medium of Instruction certificate from a school that teaches entirely in English; English B is not on the list. Other universities set their own rules — ask each one in writing.
• The only official Korean tuition figure quoted here is KAIST's, and its page carries no price year. Ask each other university for its costs.
• If you can claim Danish SU, it works differently for a full degree outside the EU/EEA. Confirm with su.dk before budgeting. If you cannot claim it, check whether your own country's student finance covers a degree outside Europe.

Accepted

Yes

Subjects and levels

There is no national rule. Each university reads the IB transcript inside its own international admission track, and the category that matters is the one for applicants who completed the entire curriculum outside Korea — Seoul National University calls it 글로벌인재특별전형 II, 'those who completed the entire curriculum overseas'. None of the university pages linked from this page publishes a minimum IB point score.

Score conversion

No national conversion. Each university reads the IB transcript directly within its international admissions track. The Global Korea Scholarship publishes its own thresholds — 80 per cent on a 100-point scale, or the top 20 per cent of the class, or a CGPA at or above 2.64/4.0, 2.80/4.3, 2.91/4.5 or 3.23/5.0 — but says nothing about how an IB transcript is read against them.

• The relevant Korean category is the '12-year education completed entirely outside Korea' route, which an IB Diploma from a Danish gymnasium satisfies. This is the track that removes the Suneung from the equation.
• Some universities accept the IB as proof of English, others insist on IELTS or TOEFL. Yonsei UIC lists IB DP English A (Language and Literature, or Literature) among its accepted proofs, with no minimum score.
• Minimum and typical IB scores are not published on any university page linked from this page. Anything you see quoted on an agent site should be treated as unverified.
• A Korean-language requirement (TOPIK) usually applies only to Korean-taught programmes, but a few English-taught degrees ask for a TOPIK level by graduation. Check the small print.

1. From September 2026, check each target university's 'Admission for International Students' or 'Overseas Korean and Foreigner Special Admission' page — this is a different page from the domestic admissions site, and often a different subdomain.

2. Confirm whether your intended major genuinely runs in English for all four years, in writing, from the department rather than the marketing page.

3. Decide between September 2027 and March 2028. March 2027 is not available to you: it is Korea's main intake, but its rounds closed in the summer and early autumn of 2026 and it starts before you have sat your exams.

4. Prepare the standard international pack: IB transcript and predicted grades, a self-introduction essay, a study plan, references, proof of your and your parents' nationality, and financial evidence.

5. If you want the Global Korea Scholarship, plan for the 2028 round: no May 2027 IB candidate can use 2027's. Read the invited-country list first — the Embassy Track depends on your nationality, while the University Track's UIC Program is open to every nationality but covers only science and engineering at thirteen named universities. Applying on more than one track voids the application.

6. Once admitted, the university issues a Certificate of Admission; you apply for a D-2 student visa at the Korean embassy and register for an Alien Registration Card within 90 days of arrival.

Selection in the international track is holistic: transcript, essays, references and usually an online interview. The international track is a separate pool from the domestic route. UIC, KAIST and SNU are selective.

• 14 January 2027, 18:00 KST

  KAIST Regular Admissions, Fall 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The live round for anyone finishing the IB Diploma in May 2027; KAIST says the academic year for this round begins at the end of August 2027. Decided on predicted grades and a recommendation letter before results exist. KAIST's Early Admissions round (22 September to 22 October 2026) leads to a start at the end of February 2027 and is not for this cohort.

  KAIST's own timeline says this round's "Academic Year Begins: End of August, 2027". Opens 10 November 2026. The recommendation letter has a later deadline of its own, 21 January 2027. Decision 25 March 2027, before IB results on 6 July 2027. KAIST's other round, Early Admissions (22 September to 22 October 2026), leads to a start at the end of February 2027 and cannot be used by a May 2027 candidate.

  Source

• 21 January 2027, 18:00 KST

  KAIST recommendation letter due (Regular Admissions)

  Hard deadline Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A week after the application itself closes. Sending the application in on time does not finish the job, and this is the part most often missed — ask your referee in November, not in January.

• 3 March 2027

  KAIST interview (Regular Admissions)

  Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  KAIST states that interviews are conditional and that applicants are contacted individually if one is required.

• 1 May 2027
  Spring 2028

  Start watching each university's international admission page

  Your own plan Via Korean university for the March 2028 intake, with results in hand

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not a published date and not anyone's deadline. It is set here because the earliest 2027-cycle window opened in early July and Korean universities publish four to six months ahead, so a student who starts looking in the summer has already missed the first one.

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released

  Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  Every Korean decision above is made before this date. What each university does with a conditional place once the diploma arrives is set institution by institution and is not established here — ask, in writing, at the point of accepting an offer.

• 6 July 2027
  Spring 2028

  IB results released

  Via Korean university for the March 2028 intake, with results in hand

  Details

  The whole argument for this route. It is the only Korean intake a May 2027 IB candidate can apply to holding an actual diploma rather than a prediction, which changes both what can be submitted and how an offer is read.

• Not yet announced for this intake

  Yonsei UIC 2nd Round, Fall 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  UIC publishes this round only as "March, 2027" for application and documents, with the interview and admission notification in June 2027. No day has been set, so none is shown here. Application fee KRW 150,000 (USD 150 through the Common App). Check the UIC admission page from January 2027.

  UIC states "International students can matriculate either in March or in September"; its 2nd Round is the Fall 2027 entry term and is published only as "March, 2027" for application and documents, with interview and notification in June 2027. The 1st Round (Spring 2027 entry) closed on 22 September 2026. Application fee KRW 150,000, or USD 150 through the Common App.

  Source

• Date not published

  Yonsei UIC 2nd Round opens for Fall 2027

  Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  Published only as "March, 2027". The online application, the deadline and the document deadline are all given as that month and nothing more. UIC's 1st Round, for the March 2027 intake, ran 26 August to 22 September 2026 — an IB candidate sitting exams in May 2027 could not have used it.

• Date not published

  Yonsei UIC 2nd Round interview and result

  Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  Both given as "June, 2027". That lands after the IB examination session and before results, which is the ordinary shape of a Korean international offer: conditional on the diploma you have not yet received.

• Not yet announced for this intake

  Korea University Fall 2027 application

  Hard deadline Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Marked TBA on Korea University's international admission guide in September 2026. Its Spring 2027 equivalent ran 3 to 31 August 2026, so the Fall round is expected to be announced in the spring of 2027. Applications are submitted through Uwayapply, not through the university's own site.

  Korea University's international admission guide lists Spring 2027 and Fall 2027 side by side and gives every Fall 2027 row — online application, materials submission, result release, registration — as "(TBA)". Korea University admits internationals twice a year and announces the September round late: its Spring 2027 equivalent ran 3 to 31 August 2026, about seven months ahead of the March start. Submitted through Uwayapply, not the university's own site, which is where people lose the deadline. This was the position on 23 September 2026.

  Source

• Date not published

  D-2 student visa, once the Certificate of Admission is issued

  Your own plan Via Korean university for the September 2027 intake

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not a published deadline. The university issues a Certificate of Admission after you register; you take it to the Korean embassy in Copenhagen. Allow for a criminal-record check and a tuberculosis test, and for an Alien Registration Card within 90 days of arrival — without which there is no bank account and no phone contract.

• Not yet announced for this intake
  Spring 2028

  First international round for the March 2028 intake

  Hard deadline Via Korean university for the March 2028 intake, with results in hand

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Not yet published anywhere. What the 2027 cycle looked like, for shape only: Seoul National University took applications 6 to 9 July 2026, Korea University 3 to 31 August 2026, and Yonsei UIC 26 August to 22 September 2026, all for a March 2027 start. A Korean round is set afresh each year, so do not plan on last year's dates.

  The alternative to September 2027, and the only Korean intake a May 2027 IB candidate can apply to holding an actual diploma. Nothing is published yet: as of 23 September 2026 the only guideline on SNU's international admissions page is "Admissions for Undergraduate, Spring 2027", with no Spring 2028 document and no "to be announced" placeholder beside it. In the 2027 cycle the equivalent rounds ran 6–9 July 2026 at Seoul National, 3–31 August 2026 at Korea University and 26 August–22 September 2026 at Yonsei UIC; those dates are not a guide to 2028's. SNU's dates are in the guideline PDF linked from its page, which is in Korean apart from the cover.

  Source

• Not open to you

  Global Korea Scholarship, Embassy Track

  The 2027 round needs a graduation certificate by 31 December 2026, which a May 2027 IB candidate cannot supply, whatever their passport.

  Source

• Not open to you

  Global Korea Scholarship, University Track (UIC Program)

  The 2027 round needs a graduation certificate by 31 December 2026, which a May 2027 IB candidate cannot supply, whatever their passport.

  Source

English-taught bachelors

Concentrated rather than widespread. Yonsei UIC (16 majors), KAIST, POSTECH (a fully English-taught curriculum for international undergraduates since Fall 2026), UNIST and GIST, and selected divisions at Korea University, Sungkyunkwan, Ewha and Kyung Hee. No national total is given here.

Proving your English

Set per university. Yonsei UIC requires proof of English from every applicant from the 2027 intake, and accepts an IB DP English A (Language and Literature, or Literature) result with no minimum score, a TOEFL, IELTS or CEFR certificate, or a Medium of Instruction certificate for a school curriculum taught entirely in English. UNIST asks for an English test report. Elsewhere, ask each admissions office.

Local language needed?

Not for English-taught programmes

• You do not need Korean to be admitted to an English-taught programme, but you will need it to live well, to work part-time and to do internships.
• Most universities run free or heavily subsidised Korean language classes for their own international students.
• The Global Korea Scholarship includes a full year of Korean language training before the degree begins — one of the reasons it is worth more than its cash value.

Tuition, EU/EEA

Korea does not differentiate by nationality — international students pay the same published tuition as Korean students at most universities.

Application fee

Charged by each university: Yonsei UIC KRW 150,000 (USD 150 through the Common App) and Seoul National University KRW 70,000 for the 2027 cycle. Check the others on each university's page.

• KAIST publishes tuition of 3,433,000 KRW a semester, national health insurance at 458,340 KRW and on-campus housing at 664,000 KRW, all per semester. Its page states no academic year, and these figures do not apply to any other university.
• The structure to expect: tuition is charged per semester and varies sharply by faculty, with medicine and engineering highest and humanities lowest. Private universities (Yonsei, Korea, Sungkyunkwan, Ewha, Hanyang) charge considerably more than the national universities.
• Most universities award an automatic partial tuition scholarship to admitted international students, often tied to grades — ask what the standing award is before comparing sticker prices.
• Dormitory places are cheap and usually available to first-year international students. Off-campus renting in Korea involves a large jeonse or wolse key deposit that is difficult to raise from abroad — take the dormitory.

Funding you could actually get

• Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), run by NIIED — the Korean government's scholarship for undergraduate degrees, and smaller than it looks from Denmark. The 2027 round covers tuition of up to 5m KRW a semester, a Korean language year costing 5.2m KRW, airfare, and an allowance of 13.56m KRW in the language year and 14.4m KRW a year during the degree, over five to seven years. No May 2027 IB graduate can use the 2027 round, on either track, because it requires a graduation certificate by 31 December 2026 — plan for 2028. Then the Embassy Track depends on your nationality (the 2027 list of 74 countries left out Denmark), and the University Track's UIC Program, science and engineering at thirteen named universities, is open to every nationality.
• University international-student scholarships: most Korean universities award an automatic tuition reduction to admitted international students, frequently renewable on GPA. Ask each admissions office for the standing rate, since it changes the real price materially.
• The KAIST Scholarship exempts an admitted international undergraduate from tuition for eight semesters and pays 350,000 KRW a month plus medical insurance. There is no separate application — you tick a box on the admission form — and it is held on a GPA above 2.7 out of 4.3 after the first year.
• Yonsei, Korea University and SNU all operate named merit awards for high-performing international entrants. Ask each for the terms.
• Danish SU can follow you here if you can claim it (Danish citizens, or EU/EEA citizens with equal status under EU rules) and meet the ties-to-Denmark requirement. A full degree outside the EU/EEA follows separate rules, with its own ties-to-Denmark form: check su.dk before budgeting. If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.
• Part-time work is permitted on a D-2 visa with permission from the immigration office, but the hour limits and the requirement for a TOPIK level vary — confirm with Korea Immigration Service.

Residency

EU citizenship gives no shortcut. You need a D-2 student visa, applied for at the Korean embassy in Copenhagen with the Certificate of Admission issued by your university, proof of funds, and a criminal-record and tuberculosis check. Within 90 days of arrival you register for an Alien Registration Card at the local immigration office — you cannot open a bank account or get a phone contract without it.

Working

Students on a D-2 visa may work part-time only after obtaining permission from the immigration office, with hour limits that in recent years have been tied to Korean language proficiency (TOPIK level) and academic standing. Confirm the current limits with the Korea Immigration Service before relying on part-time earnings.

Housing

University dormitories are the standard and by far the easiest route for a first-year international student: cheap, on campus, and allocated with the admission. The private market in Seoul requires a large up-front deposit (jeonse or wolse) that is impractical to arrange from Denmark. Apply for the dormitory the moment your offer arrives — places at Yonsei and Korea University are oversubscribed.

Healthcare

International students staying more than six months are enrolled in Korea's National Health Insurance Service, with a monthly premium deducted or billed. It is compulsory and it is good — Korean healthcare is fast and inexpensive at the point of use. Your EHIC does not apply.