Personally, the first reason why I chose to study in Korea was kaist. I liked all benefits it offered – full tuition, monthly scholarships, other facilities. There are many different student clubs, some activities and festivals. However, if you should not expect too much if you are a foreigner who doesn’t speak Korean. You will luck social experience, since in most cases all those activities are conducted in national language.
So if your first priority is uni ranking and studies and you don’t mind spending most of your time in library, then kaist is a great choice.

Studying at KAIST is very hard and challenging, especially if you want to maintain a high GPA. Yet, I believe KAIST is the best place if you want to learn a lot, get ready for an adult life, but still have some fun during university years.

Curriculums are overloaded, I believe it would be more efficient if they were a little easier, because no one in the class can understand everything taught in the lectures. Due to too many materials to cover in the lectures, professors are required to go very fast through the presentations. In addition to not having the best English of professors (most of their English is enough to comfortably teach and talk, yet not perfect), understanding lectures become unachievable.

So studying at KAIST is definitely self-study most of the time. You would need to spend hours in the library to understand the materials. But I think that’s normal for all universities. You are learning to study on your own, you are learning to work hard, you are gaining a lot of knowledge. I hope no one expects a middle school staff again, at least those who got admitted to KAIST.

Considering hard studying here, some students find student life dissatisfying here. But I liked it quite a lot. University campus is wonderful – big territory, beautiful nature, innovative buildings, sport facilities and more. Dormitories are not the best, but not that bad. International community here is small and the majority of the students (like 90%), but that makes it quite friendly. You know everyone from your batch and hopefully find your soulmates.

There are a lot of student events on campus, unfortunately, most of them are held in Korean (as most of the students are Koreans who don’t really want to communicate in English). Yet, there are organizations and student clubs for international people, with a lot of events too. And one big plus about student life here at KAIST – there is a scholarship of around 270$ for every international student. That’s around the minimum amount to survive, but still a very good amount (relatively to most universities worldwide).

Speaking of Korea in general, I really liked this country. Very conscious population, order everywhere, security and developed technologies. Language is a big barrier for those who don’t want to learn Korean, and culture (food, traditions) may not be liked by everyone. But the country itself is very developed.
That also provides some good career opportunities. For me, as a software engineer, there were a lot of technology companies looking for a specialist of my type and conditions are quite good most of the time.

Summarizing all, KAIST is a place where you can get stressed very easily, but if you learn how to handle it well, you would get so many benefits of studying here.

In terms of giving you opportunities, the university is great with world class education. However, professors are not good at teaching (even though they are one of the best in their research field). Moreover, international students feel excluded from everything that is happening at university because of language barrier. But almost all important classes are taught in English.

Pros:
– Tuition free monthly stipend (for undergraduates)
– Overall a good quality of education
– Good opportunities to do top notch research
– School is very well regarded in Korea (if you are planning to stay)
– Not a bad option to stay for undergraduate and then go to US/Europe to do Master’s or PhD, provided that you maintain a good GPA (which is hard here!) and have research experience

Cons:
– Social life is bad due to language barrier (Korean students do not speak English well)
– You can learn Korean, which will be a huge boost to your quality of life, but from my anecdotal experience people usually leave Korea after graduation, sooner or later, so Korean language skills become useless
– Food in KAIST is so-so, but there are many good cafes nearby including international cuisines (Korean food in general is very specific, so many people who are not used to this taste will not like it)
– Competition based education, students tend to not collaborate but compete with each other (this might be a pro actually depending on what you prefer)
– KAIST is not known outside of Korea

The institution is considered #1 in Technology in South Korea. By having education on your resume you would impress recruiters and local people. Prestige and full scholarship for international students are what I liked the most about the institution. Moreover, my country community, Kazakhstan, is pretty big and it was extremely helpful for me to adjust to foreign environment.
KAIST also opens doors to many opportunities abroad. One such program is exchange program. You will have a chance to visit your dream country or cool (it’s up to you how to interpret) university.
Furthermore, if you hustle well, you can find light loaded part-time jobs such as being student assistant in some office and being Teaching Assistant (TA) for some class.
If we go into academic life, then I think it depends on what major you are in. I am CS major and I should say that classes are tough and students are nerds. As a foreigner, I would like to interact with Koreans and study together, but due to language barrier Korean students are shy. Hence, study-life balance is a dream for me. I think the pandemic affected my point of view a lot since I felt isolated most of the time. I hope my opinion will change after I try in-person classes.
I have personally taken classes from EE department and I should note that EE department is the highest ranked department at KAIST and they provide high quality classes despite being challenging.

The professors are really great in terms of expertise. They are very knowledgeable. However, often, they don’t care about teaching. I wish they put more effort to deliver the lectures and made them more clear.
Also, Korean students really interact with international ones, but it’s more of a cultural thing.

First off, although the classes are in English, you need to be decent at Korean to take a full advantage of all the opportunities available. The language requirements is a bit more flexible for Computer Science majors when looking for internships and labs, however, for most other majors knowing Korean will open many more doors for you. Nonetheless, KAIST has become progressively better at supporting its international community over the years, so I think it is a good place to study.

Overall, KAIST is a good place if you have good friends there since sometimes you get lonely. The academic here is quite difficult and challenging but you need to be ready for anything. I was not a top student but I tried my best and I am proud that I graduated from this university which is famous for its competition. The campus life and student life are quite good with your friends. So, in terms of perspectives, KAIST is the best for me since I got my first Software Engineering job thanks to KAIST.

As we all know studying is like a culture in Korea. In my university there are a lot of smart and talented students. The education in KAIST is on high level and our professors are professionals in their fields. Actually, the education part is the important strength of my university. However, I do not think that it is the only thing you need for your happy college life. I think it is better to know Korean language when you came to Korea to study. In KAIST, almost all class in English, but sometimes you really need Korean. The noticeable weakness of KAIST is related to social life. It is not only because of my university, Koreans overall are very shy. Without proficient Korean language you will fail to find Korean friend (it is possible actually, but very difficult). Despite the social life in KAIST (which is not existing in KAIST), the academic part is outstanding. After graduating KAIST, there will be a lot of opportunities and in KAIST you will professional in studying 24/7 without any sleep. Good Luck!