Approximately 78.7% of applicants who passed the UOS entrance exam registered during the first registration period in 1999. This percentage of registration in 2000 fell to 56%. The most important reason is that interviews and essay examinations have been abolished from the 2000 entrance requirements. The UOS selects now new students only from College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) scores and high school performance records. This change must have lightened the burden of applicants, and the UOS could now be a preferred university for applicants when compared with any other universities.
However, I wonder if more qualified students are now entering the UOS when compared to students who entered the UOS before these changes? Probably not. The present low registration rate shows that when a successful applicant to the UOS gets a notice of success from other universities, the possibility of changing schools is high. With no interviews and essay exams, there is no real measure to evaluate the students’ ability, other than the CSAT scores and high school performance records. I think this is not enough. Especially, since this year`s CSAT was too easy. How can we accurately estimate applicant’s ability? This new system runs contrary to most other universities that continue to have interviews and increase the difficulty of essay exams in order to select highly qualified students.
#2 Graduation
It is too hard to get a job this year. Major companies, public enterprises and banks have cut down their hiring. Venture companies are also hesitating to recruit for lack of funds. Most universities record around a 30% of employment rate after graduation. There are many students who stay out of school temporarily waiting for Korea`s return to prosperity. They use these breaks for studying abroad and passing civil service exams. But Oh Se-in, the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine-
What do the UOS students get from the UOS after finishing school? Is it the profession in their major, or the weapons to get a job, or the civil qualities as a member of society? But it is our portrait: a graduation thesis by cutting and pasting from others, passable English and computer skills, no volunteer experience, and passion with ambition which was lost the other day.
Winter comes and surely there are some people waiting for spring and preparing for new world. By seeing applicants who will come into new world and graduates who will go into new world, we can collect helpful information from this magazine: volunteer activities, how to get a job in foreign companies, Linux, how to be a successful English learner, etc. I hope this magazine will help students draw their futures.
The UOS Times
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