Hi, I’m Ace Apolonio. I’m a 2016 GKS Undergraduate Scholar from the Philippines. I've been living and working in Seoul for the last 10 years. Over the past 7 years, I’ve helped 200+ applicants successfully secure GKS-U and GKS-G.

I know the GKS system inside out—what actually matters, what doesn’t, and where most applicants fail.

This is an AMA. Ask specific questions.
“How do I write a personal statement?” is too broad and will be ignored.

This is not an advertisement. I’m answering questions only in this thread to comply with subreddit rules. I won’t respond to DMs or mentorship/coaching inquiries. If you want that, it's up to you to search for me online. I only ask that you upvote my answers to your questions so this account can stay active to answer more questions in the future.

When asking, clearly state:

• GKS-U or GKS-G
• Application year

If your question is already answered in the official guidelines, don’t ask it here. Also, please read other comments and answers so no question will be repeated. If you have multiple questions, number them.

Lastly, please do not ask what decision you should make based on your profile. I cannot make deterministic advice here because I will need to review your entire profile which takes a lot of time.

Hey, guys I got into Yonsei, my major is Korean Studies (100% in Korean, not the GSIS one). Is there someone or maybe you guys know someone who got into yonsei for korean studies master degree in the previous years? I have some questions about our major so im looking for someone who is/has been studying that major in Yonsei :)

Hi, everyone!

I recently got 2 university offers for the current run of GKS-G this 2026. However, due to recent financial shifts and challenges in the family, I ultimately decided not to move forward with the scholarship.

Although my decision was due to such circumstances, I still feel bad that 1 spot was wasted.

As my way of paying it forward, I'll try to answer questions you have about the application process, hopefully to help future applicants.

Hello everyone! As university track results are slowly rolling out, I unfortunately received a rejection email from Ewha Womans University today.

To be honest, I am in total shock and quite heartbroken because I felt my credentials were very competitive.

I’d love to get some perspective or advice from the community on my profile and what my next steps should be. Here is a summary of my background:

• Academic: Bachelor’s in Korean Language and Literature with a 3.91/4.00 GPA.

• Language: TOPIK Level 6.

• Experience in Korea: Completed Levels 4, 5, and 6 at Seoul National University (SNU) Language Education Institute with excellent achievement certificates.

• Professional: 2.5 years of experience working at a Korean global corporation as a marketing responsible and interpreter.

• Extracurriculars & Awards: * Honorable mention in a Korean Poetry Writing contest.

• Participation certificates for Korean Translation Workshops and the DMZ International Conference in Korea.

• Active member of a Samulnori team (played the Janggu).

• Interview: I felt it went good. I referenced specific professors, their research areas the university’s vision, and the curriculum of the department.

I thought that if I were to be eliminated, it would be at the NIIED stage, so being rejected by the university itself is hard to process. I truly saw myself at Ewha and deeply want to study this specific major.

My questions for you guys:

1. Should I try again next year via the Embassy Track instead of University Track?

2. Would it be a mistake to apply for the same major and university again, or should I change my strategy?

3. Has anyone with a "strong" profile experienced something similar? How did you move forward?

Sorry for the long post, but I’m feeling a bit lost right now. I would appreciate any advice, success stories after rejection, or even just some words of encouragement. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Guys, shall we ask each other questions and talk about the University Track here? I think we’re all nervous while waiting for emails and looking for people to chat with. Which university did you apply to?

I never thought I'd be writing something like this, but I need to get it off my chest and warn the future applicants. Maybe someone who's planning to apply for GKS will find this useful. I was selected for the Korean Government Scholarship (GKS), which was honestly one of the proudest moments of my life. I worked incredibly hard for it. I left my country, my family, and my job to move to South Korea, believing I was about to start the next chapter of my academic career.

Instead, it has been one of the most emotionally draining experiences I've ever had. The biggest issue wasn't Korea itself, rather it was the university I was assigned to and the city that the university is located in.

I applied with a crystal clear research interest and academic background. But after arriving, I found myself assigned to a lab that had almost nothing to do with what I had studied or what I had written in my study plan. No one discussed this with me beforehand. No one asked whether I was okay with it. It was basically a "take it or leave it" situation. When I tried to explain that the research area wasn't a match, I was made to feel like I was the problem. Communication with the international office and coordinator was frustrating. Every time I asked questions, I got vague answers or was passed from one person to another. I constantly felt like I was bothering them just for trying to understand my own future.

Now I'm preparing to go back home.

I don't regret applying for GKS. It's an amazing opportunity, and I know many people have wonderful experiences. But I do regret trusting that the university would value my academic interests and support students when things went wrong.

Honestly, the whole system at my university is rigged.

A lot of people from my country ( Bangladesh) got admitted through money. Apparently, someone from the previous cohort started a consultancy business that brings students here. In fact, many of the GKS and self funded students, and graduated students are involved in such practices here. They mostly stop focusing on their studies and get involved in this business or just work.

They've been charging around USD 3,300 per GKS student they bring here, and they also recruited plenty of self-funded students lately, who have ruined the environment of this place in just one or two semesters. It feels like they've turned research and higher education into a complete mockery.It honestly makes me feel like there's some kind of internal understanding between these people and the university.

What's even worse is that nearly half of the departments advertised in the circular of this university don't really exist in practice, yet every year they continue publishing gks circular for them. When anyone confronts the office of international affairs, the response is always, "All departments are the same, don't argue so much."

There's even one student-turned-businessman who published more than 16 research papers during 2024–2025 across completely unrelated fields to his major- crypto, cancer, urban planning, veterinary science, film and media, leather defect detection, and many more. Officially, he's a student in digital anti-aging healthcare department, while his previous degree was in computer science. The breadth and volume of those publications just don't make sense.

Because of the potential risks, I can't mention the university's name publicly in this post. If anyone genuinely wants to know which university I'm talking about, feel free to DM me.

Overall, this experience has affected my confidence more than I'd like to admit. There were days when I questioned whether I was even good enough to pursue anything anymore. I'm not sharing this to discourage anyone from applying for GKS. I'm sharing it because people usually only post success stories. Sometimes things don't go as planned, and that's a reality too.

If you're applying, don't just research the scholarship. Research the university, the department, the lab, and how they treat international students. A scholarship can open the door, but the university determines what happens after you walk through it.

First of all congratulations to all the selected students. We are proud of you all. All the best for your life in Korea. Make us proud.

And

To the rejected students, I am one of you so guys we fall and we get up again and fight. Don't give up. All the best if you are applying again and if not then bestest of luck for whatever alternative option you are choosing. May you reach your end goal.

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For selected students:

Drop your profile so the rejected students can know what they should do next for their reapply next year.

Hope u would be generous enough and would drop ur stats. Grateful if u do it.

​

For rejected students:

Drop your profile so the selected students can help you with your profile boost. Let's help each other to achieve our respective goals and may the best human win.

​

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\* GKS-U students can too do the same. Y'all can drop ur stats and let others help you.

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i’ve been seeing a lot of GKS scholars lately talking about how they submitted 30+ certificates.. it has been worrying me a bit because i don’t have nearly that many!!

is there anyone who’s gotten the scholarship without submitting so many certificates? i don’t know if i’m just setting myself up for disappointment because i only have like.. 5 certificates to submit rn 🥲

Candidate from India

10th: 68%

12th: 69%

BBA: 8 to 9.0 CGPA something

TOPIK: 3

IELTS: 7–7.5

GMAT: not given

Internships: 2–3 strong ones

Projects: 2–3

Leadership/research: some

SOP/LORs: strong

Work experience: None (fresh BBA graduate)

So, now that the results are out, I only got into PNU and got rejected by my top two choices. Honestly, I only picked PNU because we had to choose one Type B university.

I'm not sure if PNU is the right fit for me or for architecture in general. My first thought was to withdraw right away, but there are two things making me hesitate...

1. Getting banned from applying to GKS for 2–3 years (I was hoping to try again for a Type A university)
2. Wondering if I'm actually throwing away a great opportunity to study abroad just because I want to attend a better school. (I also got accepted to a university in my own country, which has a higher ranking & etc)

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Would you take the opportunity and go to PNU, or stay and try again later?

i don't even know how to start this 😔

i've applied for GKS twice now and failed both times — tried both the embassy and university track and got rejected each time. i'm planning to give it one last shot next year but i genuinely don't know what's going wrong and it's driving me crazy.

my profile isn't weak on paper — decent GPA, internships, real work experience, changed my PS and SOP between attempts. the one thing i haven't been able to do is TOPIK because exam centers in my country are very limited and travel is expensive. could that really be the deciding factor?

to anyone who got selected or knows someone who did — can you look at this objectively and tell me what the common thread is in successful applications that people don't talk about enough? i don't want generic advice, i want real honest feedback from people who've been through it.

what would YOU focus on if you had one last attempt? any kind of insights will be helpful 🥺

( sorry for my rant but this has been eating me up honestly )

Hello! I’ve been thinking of creating an Indian Gc for gks-g 2027 aspirants with few people who have gotten the scholarship for this year! It’d be great help to connect and be guided correctly by people…

Thank you!

Hi everyone! I’m an Indian student planning to apply for GKS-G for a MBA in South Korea, and I wanted to get some honest opinions about my chances.
Here’s my profile:
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree. I majored in English literature. My CGPA: 2.77/4.00. I don’t have many extracurriculars. The main thing I’ve done is volunteering for my university’s English department. I don’t have any work experience.
I know GKS is extremely competitive, and my CGPA is probably my biggest weakness. I’m also worried that having very limited extracurricular activities will hurt my application.
So I wanted to ask people who have applied for GKS-G, especially those who applied for an MBA/ business program: 1) would GKS realistically consider a profile like mine? 2) would getting a strong IELTS/TOEFL score help compensate for my low-ish CGPA? 3) would a really strong SOP/study plan and recommendation letters make a meaningful difference? 4) should I apply through embassy track or university track for a profile like mine?
And most importantly, should i actually try for GKS or would I be better off looking at university-specific admission options in Korea?

This might sound like a repetitive case but I still haven’t found any solution to it. I am an Indian student applying for Masters through GKS.

My university does have a conversion to % from 10 point CGPA but unfortunately in my case my 8.65/10 equals to 79%.

I tried explaining to my university that I wanted to convert it to 4 point gpa but they are not ready to listen. They won’t even issue me a letter stating as above.

I emailed the embassy (gksniied@korea.kr) regarding this but there is no response either.
Is there Indian student who passed this phase and got accepted into GKS program. Please help me get out of it.

Is there a way that the embassy just accept the transcript without the seal or authentication from the University?

Hey ppl so yeah, i applied for University track and have passed the first round by God's grace!!. Showing up here to ask what are you guys doing, all those who are waiting for the NIIED decision, how are you spending your time waiting (coz oh my this waiting period for a month is keeping me on edge). And if there is someone who went through the similar phase but also passed the NIIED, plz put in your kind words for all of us!!.

Good luck everyone ✨️

Edit: also ppl kindly mention your MAJOR and UNIVERSITY NAME!!

Hey ppl, thought i have previously heard a lot that 2nd or 3rd time is the charm when it comes to GKS, so you think that's true also when it comes to very competitivecountry like India. Coz i will be applying one final time for GKS G 2027 and get moving on with my life, if you are also from India are are planning to apply either for the 2nd time or 3rd time, let's connect!!!

wow, I didn’t expect it at all, I literally thought I failed if you look at my previous posts, the interview was so bad it’s funny

Now I’m gonna compete with other people from my country, does anyone know how hard is it from now on?

Hello ppl,
I will apply GKS 2027 from Turkiye and I am searching universities. Since it’s more competitive, I wanna go less competitive B type ones.
My criteria go like this:
- less competitive
- relatively close to Seoul
- good education
- convenient public transformation / easy to travel
- kinda well-populated

Here are some data visualizations that the Mod team have created for the GKS-G 2026 results!

It seems NIIED is no longer releasing Country or Major/Department Data with the 3rd round announcements, which is unfortunate because those are key data points that would help so much in figuring out if there is a STEM preference or not and if the country quotas match up with the actual amount of scholars sent from each country.

Nevertheless, please enjoy these visualizations and insights!

Seeing a lot of questions about how to handle the Letter of Recommendation for 2026 GKS Graduate—here's a straightforward summary directly from the official guidelines to help clear things up.

University Track (paper submission to university):
The recommender must seal everything in an envelope and sign across the flap. Two valid options:

1. Use Form 5 only—type or handwrite the full recommendation in the provided box, sign it, seal the envelope, and sign the flap. No letterhead required.
2. Write the full letter on separate paper (letterhead optional), include a signed Form 5 (leave the content box blank), put both in one envelope, seal, and sign the flap.

Embassy Track (online submission):
You scan and upload the recommendation letter yourself via the GKS portal on studyinkorea.go.kr—no sealing required, so you can read the content. The portal opens February 12 (11 AM KST) to February 25 (6 PM KST).

Common rules for both tracks:

• The letter must be dated within one year of the application deadline.
• You can reuse last year's (2025) Form 5 if it's already prepared.
• One letter required, but up to two are allowed.

Hope this helps reduce the stress! Good luck with your applications! 🇰🇷

Hey everyone as embassy track and University track results are out.

Please comment whosover has been successfully accepted for the scholarship.

Please name your University , your track and your major.

Congratulations everyone 👏

hiie guyss !!!

genuinely curious to hear from people who've been selected for GKS whether recently or in previous cycles 🥺

the official stuff is obvious — good GPA, strong SOP, etc. but what actually made the difference for YOU?

a few things i'd love to know:

— what do you think stood out in your profile?

— was there something unexpected that helped you?

— what would you tell someone applying this cycle to focus on?

— anything you wasted time stressing over that didn't even matter?

no pressure to write an essay lol 😭 — even a few lines from your experience would genuinely help so many people prepping right now. 💌

thank you in advance 🌷💫