First-day-of-school Blues

The fall semester at KU has officially started and it's already off to a bumpy start. (I apologize in advance for this negative post.) First of all, I am really disappointed with the way this school has set up course registration for international students. In short, it's a nightmare that I'm glad I only have to face once. So far, I have only been able to register for two classes (both of which are not anywhere near my top choices). I mainly wanted to take business courses here (hopefully a couple that can transfer back to UH to fulfill my required courses) but I have come to find out that the demand for business courses here are so high that many students are not able to get the classes they want.

However, that is not my main issue here. At KU, exchange students are required to do their course registration in person at the International One Stop Center. This "paper" method creates a huge inconvenience for exchange students because we need to turn in a new form every time we want to add or drop a course. In addition, since there are so many exchange students registering during the same time frame, there is constantly a long wait at the One Stop Center. And when I say long wait I mean hours! Many students have to try again the next day!

In my personal experience, I had attempted to register on the second day but the wait was so long that I had to come back on the third day. On the third day, I went there not long after they opened and there was already lots of people there. I ended up waiting about two hours before it was my turn! Once it was my turn, the woman told me that all students registering for business courses would have to be put on the waiting list. Even the economics courses that I had chosen as a back-up plan were all full already! Furthermore, they don't tell you alternative measures that you can take (because they don't seem to know themselves). I strongly feel that they should allow exchange students to register online. It is already the first week of school and I still have no idea what classes I'm going to be taking. I've tried talking to professors in person and emailing them but most of them say that there is nothing they can do at the moment. I have also talked to many exchange students who are in a similar situation as me and we are all very frustrated with this process. I have heard so many great things about Korea University (and its business school), but I had no idea course registration would be this difficult! It really is upsetting and creates a lot of unnecessary stress. I really hope that Korea University will improve their registration process in the future and that none of you are discouraged in coming to KU.

Also, to add to all this bad luck, Korea is expecting a typhoon to hit tomorrow!!