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SCHOOLSPosted by Manon 🇫🇷 France · 1 month ago
How do you even choose between all these schools?
they all look the same on paper. same hours, similar price, all say "communicative method".
what actually made the difference for you when you picked? something you only found out after starting
what actually made the difference for you when you picked? something you only found out after starting
9 comments
OFFICIAL ANSWER
KyaALLO TEAM
Founder & Head Consultant · Seoul
You are right that the brochures are interchangeable. The things that actually differ are mostly not on them.
What genuinely varies between schools, in rough order of how much it will affect your year:
1. Location relative to where you will live. You do this commute 200 times. It outweighs almost everything else on this list.
2. Whether they have dormitory space for language students. Some reserve dorms for degree students, some do not. This changes your housing cost by 200,000 to 400,000 won a month and it is a straight yes or no you can ask today.
3. Class time. Morning versus afternoon is fixed at some schools and chosen at others. If you plan to work part-time later, an afternoon program blocks the shifts that pay.
4. Term length and start dates. Most run 10-week terms four times a year, but some run 8 or 12 weeks, and start dates differ by weeks. This decides your visa timeline and your flights.
5. Level availability at the top. If you plan to reach level 5 or 6, check they actually run those levels every term. Smaller programs merge or cancel them.
6. Nationality mix, which affects what language your class speaks at break.
7. Method. Real, but smaller than the internet suggests, and swamped by which teacher you get.
Things students say they only found out after starting: that the campus cafeteria was closed in the term break; that the good dorm was a 20-minute walk from the language building; that the school's certificate mattered for the university they later applied to; that classes were split by ability again after week five.
The practical way to decide: write down your three real constraints — budget, neighbourhood, and whether you need a dorm — and you will usually find only two or three schools actually satisfy all three. The choice makes itself. Agonising over method between two schools that both fit is where people lose weeks.
We put the nine schools side by side for students with the things that actually differ — dorm availability, start dates, term length, level availability — because that comparison does not exist publicly in English anywhere.
What genuinely varies between schools, in rough order of how much it will affect your year:
1. Location relative to where you will live. You do this commute 200 times. It outweighs almost everything else on this list.
2. Whether they have dormitory space for language students. Some reserve dorms for degree students, some do not. This changes your housing cost by 200,000 to 400,000 won a month and it is a straight yes or no you can ask today.
3. Class time. Morning versus afternoon is fixed at some schools and chosen at others. If you plan to work part-time later, an afternoon program blocks the shifts that pay.
4. Term length and start dates. Most run 10-week terms four times a year, but some run 8 or 12 weeks, and start dates differ by weeks. This decides your visa timeline and your flights.
5. Level availability at the top. If you plan to reach level 5 or 6, check they actually run those levels every term. Smaller programs merge or cancel them.
6. Nationality mix, which affects what language your class speaks at break.
7. Method. Real, but smaller than the internet suggests, and swamped by which teacher you get.
Things students say they only found out after starting: that the campus cafeteria was closed in the term break; that the good dorm was a 20-minute walk from the language building; that the school's certificate mattered for the university they later applied to; that classes were split by ability again after week five.
The practical way to decide: write down your three real constraints — budget, neighbourhood, and whether you need a dorm — and you will usually find only two or three schools actually satisfy all three. The choice makes itself. Agonising over method between two schools that both fit is where people lose weeks.
We put the nine schools side by side for students with the things that actually differ — dorm availability, start dates, term length, level availability — because that comparison does not exist publicly in English anywhere.
Was this helpful?Updated 1 month ago
9 comments
Sign in to join the conversation.
You can still post anonymously after signing in.the thing nobody tells you: the commute. i picked a school for its reputation and did 45 min each way for a year. i would trade that reputation for 15 minutes instantly.
23
this keeps coming up in every thread i read. clearly the real answer
8
200 commutes. do that maths before anything else
6
check whether they have dorm space for LANGUAGE students specifically. i assumed dorm = dorm and found out too late it was degree students only
17
same. it's a huge cost difference and it's a one-line email to find out
7
check they actually run level 5 and 6 every term. smaller programs cancel them when enrolment is low and then you're stuck
13
term start dates differ by weeks between schools. that decided it for me in the end, purely because of when my visa would come through
10
boring criteria beat exciting ones for this decision, consistently
4
honestly they're all fine. the difference between the best and worst of the big nine is smaller than the difference between showing up every day and not
9
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