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HOUSING & DORMSPosted by Ok-Turnip-4471 🇵🇱 Poland · 1 month ago
What actually IS a goshiwon? every photo looks like a prison cell
keep seeing it recommended for students but the photos are a bed, a desk, and about 40cm of floor. is that really it or are the listings just badly photographed
also why is it so much cheaper than everything else. what's the trade
also why is it so much cheaper than everything else. what's the trade
9 comments
OFFICIAL ANSWER
MinjiALLO TEAM
Korea local tips · Seoul
The photos are accurate. That is genuinely it — and it works for more students than you would expect.
What a goshiwon is: a building of small private rooms along a corridor, originally built for people cramming for civil service exams (고시 = exam, 원 = house). Rooms run 4 to 9 square metres. Bed, desk, wardrobe, sometimes a tiny fridge and a private shower-toilet cubicle. Kitchen and laundry are shared.
Why it is cheap, and this is the real answer to your second question — you are not paying for space, and you are not paying key money. In the normal Korean rental system a one-room needs a 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 won deposit before you get the keys. A goshiwon needs none. For a student arriving from abroad with no Korean bank account and no credit history, that difference is not a nice-to-have; it is the difference between being able to arrive and not.
What is included in the 400,000 to 600,000 won: rent, electricity, gas, water, wifi, and usually rice, kimchi, eggs and ramyeon in the shared kitchen. No contract in the Western sense, no agency fee, and you can leave with a month's notice.
What you give up: floor space, the ability to have people over, and control over noise. That is the trade, stated plainly.
Who it suits: a first semester while you learn the city and figure out which neighbourhood you actually want. Who it does not: anyone who needs to cook properly, host friends, or have silence to function.
The pattern we see most often is one term in a goshiwon, then a one-room or share house from term two once you have an ARC, a bank account, and a sense of where you want to live. Committing to a two-year lease from abroad before you have seen the city is the mistake, not the goshiwon.
What a goshiwon is: a building of small private rooms along a corridor, originally built for people cramming for civil service exams (고시 = exam, 원 = house). Rooms run 4 to 9 square metres. Bed, desk, wardrobe, sometimes a tiny fridge and a private shower-toilet cubicle. Kitchen and laundry are shared.
Why it is cheap, and this is the real answer to your second question — you are not paying for space, and you are not paying key money. In the normal Korean rental system a one-room needs a 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 won deposit before you get the keys. A goshiwon needs none. For a student arriving from abroad with no Korean bank account and no credit history, that difference is not a nice-to-have; it is the difference between being able to arrive and not.
What is included in the 400,000 to 600,000 won: rent, electricity, gas, water, wifi, and usually rice, kimchi, eggs and ramyeon in the shared kitchen. No contract in the Western sense, no agency fee, and you can leave with a month's notice.
What you give up: floor space, the ability to have people over, and control over noise. That is the trade, stated plainly.
Who it suits: a first semester while you learn the city and figure out which neighbourhood you actually want. Who it does not: anyone who needs to cook properly, host friends, or have silence to function.
The pattern we see most often is one term in a goshiwon, then a one-room or share house from term two once you have an ARC, a bank account, and a sense of where you want to live. Committing to a two-year lease from abroad before you have seen the city is the mistake, not the goshiwon.
Was this helpful?Updated 1 month ago
9 comments
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You can still post anonymously after signing in.the photos are real and it's still fine. i did 6 months. you're in the room to sleep and study, you live in the city. that reframe is the whole thing
21
seoul is built for this. cafes, PC bangs, libraries, everything is open late. nobody hangs out in their room here
9
"you live in the city" — ok that actually helps a lot, thanks
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the no-deposit thing is the actual point and people gloss over it. i had 2000 usd total when i landed. a one room was mathematically impossible.
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same. goshiwon is what makes arriving possible for a lot of us
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고시 means exam. they were built for people studying for civil service tests for years on end. that's why they're designed for one person and total silence
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mine had a window, private bathroom, 8㎡, 560k in mapo. genuinely comfortable. the horror stories are usually the 380k interior rooms
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the price band matters more than the concept. 380k and 560k are different products with the same name
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commenting to find this later, arriving in september and this thread is the most useful thing i've read
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