GG Resource Guide Korea

Mason Korea Campus

Songdo, South Korea

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Enrollment

  • None needed. Branch campus of GMU.

Course registration

  • Students will register after they receive their Mason Korea (MK) time ticket in PatriotWeb. Students will register in late November, and only after Global Education Office has directed Office of Registrar to change Gateway campus registration code to MK. Those students will then have their campus code changed back to FFX in time for the following Fall course registration. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the late finish of MK spring semester it is not possible to enroll in summer courses at the Fairfax campus.
  • 3 MK credits = 3 Mason credits
  • Additionally, students are welcome enroll in any courses on the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) listed as part of the course sharing agreement between Mason, Utah Asia Campus, Ghent Univ Global Campus, and SUNY Korea. For more information regarding available courses and registration email mkaa@gmu.edu

Student Arrival

  • TBD this Fall

Student Departure

  • June 19, 2025

Semester Length

Housing and Meal Plan

  • Mid-January is the housing application period. The link will be sent to each student from Soo Jin Park (spark268@gmu.edu). The application link will also be available at Mason Korea's On-Campus Housing Website. Housing requires that every student receive a TB x-ray exam prior to departing the United States. You will provide a copy of official written results stating you tested negative for TB at the time of Housing check-in. The test results should not be older than 3 months prior to your scheduled check-in (meaning tests should not be taken before the middle of November). 
    • The following steps are what most students should expect in order to get a TB x-ray exam (Korean Ministry of Health will only allow Housing to accept the x-ray test results).The TB test result should be a printed/physical copy that includes the students' full name and test summary. Results coming from any other form of TB test will be rejected. Different physicians may have a variation of these steps but the following information provides a general idea of what to expect. The cost associated with this test will vary depending on an individual’s family health insurance plan:
      • Schedule an appointment with your primary care physician (PCP). This appointment will most likely include taking of a baseline TB test and receiving a referral to a specialist to get a TB x-ray exam.
      • Complete the TB x-ray exam and have those results sent your PCP.
      • Student has a scheduled follow up with their PCP who has compared the results of the baseline test with the results of the X-ray exam to determine the TB status of the student. 
      • Student is then given the negative results to provide to IGC Housing so they are eligible to move-in to campus housing upon arrival.
  •  You will be asked to submit confirmation of payment for housing. You will need to attach the GEO letter of support as “confirmation of payment.” GEO will provide this letter for you to attach.
    • Students will live in Mason Korea on-campus residence halls through IGC housing
      • All Gateway students live in single bedroom dorms, unless notified of high housing demand due to increasing campus enrollment, at which time students may be told they have to enroll in double occupancy rooms.
      • Mason Korea does not offer a meal plan for their students, but there is a cafeteria with inexpensive “pay as you go” options. There are also a number and variety of restaurants and grocery stores in the neighborhood. Each floor of the residence halls also has common area shared kitchens.
      • Students will have to budget and prepare their own food.
  • Students who live on campus in Fairfax will need to apply for the housing release form in mid-November through their housing portal.
  • Transgender and Non-binary Housing
    • Students will work with Mason Korea Student Affairs Office (mkul@gmu.edu) to secure housing that meets the needs of each student to the best of their ability. Please be aware residential buildings are divided by gender (male/female).
    • Due to Korean government laws, one's gender for the purpose of housing assignments is based on the gender listed on a student's passport or other government-recognized ID, and not based on the gender identity of the student, if that identity is different than what is listed in official government documents. Please contact mkul@gmu.edu directly if you will need assistance securing accomodations that provide you the comfort and peace of mind you are seeking regarding this topic.

Visa Process

If a student is studying at GMU on an international passport, they must contact the Korean consulate for visa requirements they have to follow to study at the host country. Also, note the directions as listed below are specific to the Korean consulate located in Washington DC. If you will be using a Korean consulate located in another part of the country, please visit their local website to see if there are any variations in the process as listed below. Please use the following link to locate the Korea consulate you will use in January to schedule your visa application appointment. https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/us-houston-en/brd/m_5573/view.do?seq=723686 

Requirements Checklist

Documents MUST be placed in this exact order:

  • The D-2-8 visa application with your passport photo taped on the application
  • Print out copy of the passport biographical page
  • The 3 documents from MK
    • Certificate of Admission* – needs to be signed at the bottom by you,
    • Business Registration form – this is the one in Korean,
    • and Letter of Admission
      • Hanjung Kim will guide students through this process. You will be using the following website so you can receive the three documents from MK as listed in the previous bullet point.( https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=VXKFnlffR0ygwAVGRgOAy_JS_4DGH75GlyZXApa1oUtURFBTRTM2VFZRMjBOSkdaMTNUUTBaTUpIWS4u ) to complete a Certificate of Admissions (COA) survey and upload the following documents to that survey: Copy of passport and GMU Financial Aid support letter (signed by Dan Frank), high school transcript, and official GMU transcript. Your high school transcript only needs to be certified if it is from a school not located in the United States, or another OECD country (Ask Hanjung Kim if your country is considered to be OECD). If the country of your high school is not on the OECD list your high school transcript MUST include that country’s official seal, which in the US is known as an Apostille, but may go by another name in your country.  The Dan Frank financial aid letter will be uploaded to your Mason Abroad account for you to access.
  • Unofficial transcript from Mason if going to DC Consulate. If you are using a Korean Consulate in another part of the country you must submit an official Mason transcript. The DC Korean Consulate is only available to residents of DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, unless you are able to schedule your visa appointment prior to moving out of FFX campus housing, to show that you are living in Virginia.
  • GEO letter of support
  • Letter of financial support from Dan Frank (provided by GEO) located in your Mason Abroad profile)
  • Proof of study abroad health insurance from GEO located in your Mason Abroad profile
  • Flight Itinerary (arrival and departure dates) print out
  • Application fee ($45 cash or money order)
  • Valid Passport 
    • Must be valid for more than 6 months at time of application
  • Recent 3 months of Bank Statements (to show access to additional funds)

Grace Lee will be visiting class to go over how to fill out the visa application, and has a PowerPoint to assist. Students will apply for their Korean visa in mid-January or early February. A Korean consulate will not accept a visa application more than 30 days prior to scheduled departure from the US.

Health and Accommodations

Medication

  • Students need to contact Mason Korea University Life (MKUL) during Fall semester and they will find out if that medication is available in Korea. Recommended that families consult with airlines due to restrictions of direct flights verses layover.

Health Insurance

  • Korea requires foreigners to purchase their National Health Insurance ($60 USD per month), but Global Gateway insurance allows students to be waived from having to make this purchase if one chooses to do so.
    • National Health Insurance is required of foreigners, so Gateway students must actively opt out with a waiver, which can be provided by the MKUL Office by Hanjung Kim
    • The insurance policy and its limits, which is automatically provided to students as part of being enrolled in Global Gateway, satisfy the requirements of the waiver in all respects
    • MK, in their orientation, might recommend having the National Insurance, but again, it’s not a requirement of this program.
    • You must complete an opt-out form provided by MK if you do not want to purchase the Korean National Insurance plan.

Learning Accommodations

ODS Fairfax supports the MK students. Students will need to notify ODS they will be studying at MK and coordinate with the MKUL Office for accommodations.

Flights

  • Flights can be booked as soon as Mason Korea provides the date required for arrival to check-in to the resident halls.
    • If your flight arrives later than 2 pm at Incheon International Airport you will not make it to camps housing before they close. Those students will need to book a hotel room for one night and then complete housing check-in at the start of the next business day. Students traveling on the same flight are more than welcome to share hotel rooms to bring down the cost. Strict Korean labor laws prevent housing staff from offering extended hours to accommodate late afternoon/evening flight arrivals
    • Mason Korea has partnerships with multiple hotels near campus that will provide a discount with proof of Mason ID. Please visit the following link for a list of hotels
    • Mason Korea Discount Program
    • When consulting the list of recommned hotels, look for information stating whether or not a hotel allows for students under 19 to have a reservation without a supervised family member, if the student is not sharing a room with a reservation being made under the name of another student age 19 or older.

Korean Heritage

  • IMPORTANT NOTE FOR STUDENTS OF KOREAN HERITAGE:
    • Students with Korean heritage (parent or grandparent who have or had Korean citizenship), MUST contact the Korean Consulate as early as October to determine their process for applying for a visa as the process may require different or additional steps, such as, but not limited to, entering Korea with a Korean passport or renouncing their Korean citizenship. These students may still be considered Korean citizens, in which case the consulate will refuse to issue a student visa, and males could be subject to mandatory military service upon entering the country
    • As these cases are specific to a student’s individual circumstances, students of Korean heritage should discuss with their families and the Korean Embassy/consulate prior to committing to the program.