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By Kang Shin-who Staff Reporter A growing number of Korean students studying in the United States are returning home to attend domestic colleges and universities. Many "returnees" say they come back because of their failure to fully prepare for their new surroundings, including U.S. schools' academic programs. They add that there are a lot more on the "waiting lists," biding their time before returning home. However, these days they are having a hard time getting back into the Korean school system. This news comes at a time when a greater number of students are heading for U.S. schools with some of them being accepted thanks to falsified documents created by paid consultants. The number of transfer applicants from overseas universities at Dongguk University in Seoul was 25 in 2006 and 30 in 2007, but the figure has more than doubled this year to 72. One of the hopefuls said "I had a hard time to adapt to school life (in the U.S.) after I finished my army service and it was very stressful." Konkuk University has also seen a steady rise in transfer numbers. This year, the school had more than 100 applicants from those who quit studying abroad, up from 72 in 2008, 50 in 2007 and 45 in 2006. Korea University had a total of 174 applicants, but only 16 students gained admission. The same trend was found at Yonsei University - 170 overseas transfer applicants in 2010 compared to 156 last year. A student, a Hur, who studied at Ohio State University, said there were a huge number of Korean students trying to transfer to universities in their homeland, as she did. Another student, Kwon, who was at Michigan State, said she decided to come back to Korea due to financial difficulties. "I spent $60,000 on yearly tuition and living costs there." "I witnessed a lot of Korean students having difficulties in studying there as it is much easier to gain academic credits in Korea," she added. Cho, who transferred from Pennsylvania State University to Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, also said he saw many Korean friends who were forced to return to Korea due to their poor academic achievements. Sungkyunkwan admitted 38 returning students out of a total of 528 applicants, while Ewha Womans University accepted nine out of 307. Another transfer student, Min, said "Korean employers prefer graduates from domestic universities to those from overseas schools, although my previous school is well-known there." According to a paper in 2008 by Samuel S. Kim at Columbia University, 56 percent of Korean students at prestigious American universities gained degrees, while the rest gave up their studies halfway through. The dropout rate was much higher than the 34 percent for American, 25 percent for Chinese and 21 percent for Indian students. Kim tracked 1,400 Korean students at 14 top American universities between 1985 and 2007 for the paper. A counselor from a foreign school here said "Korean parents tend to push ahead with their children to gain admission at top American schools but this is not necessarily good for them." "The best university is where their children can land well and gain academic accomplishments," he added. "A lot of Korean students who chose overseas schools based on their reputation fail. Korean media need to report more on this dark side of studying abroad," said Kim Hyun-jin, an education professor at Kookmin University in Seoul. kswho@koreatimes.co.kr

The language is the problem. Unless they're forced to use it on a daily basis, they're at a major disadvantage.