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The Seoul National University (SNU) is on the 4th place according to the QS university ranking (in Asia 2014). The faculty of chemistry is placed on 16th rank of the QS World Universities. Thus, there are so many Koreans having the desire to end up at the particular university due to his high reputation. On 2nd Thursday in November (every year) people can take an university entrance exam called 수학능력시험 which is often compared as the SAT in the USA. On that day all exams will be written at the same time nationwide.
However, for an exchange it is much easier to get into this university.
I did not take the 수학능력시험, but I followed the application procedure on the OIA-website (http://oia.snu.ac.kr/03study_snu/0302_01.html). So first I applied in Hamburg for an nomination of my home university " University of Hamburg". If you have question regarding the nomination, you can always contact the international Office of you home university. I was lucky to get to know exchange students from the previous years and that Prof. Theato offered a programme for student with the major in science. I have to admit that Prof. Theato helped me a lot in getting to SNU.
The next step is to fill in the online-application according to OIA (Office of International Affairs, at SNU) and to send all required documents via post. Please don't forget that it takes time for the post to arrive.
If your home university does not offer nomination, you can apply for the visiting programme, in which you have to pay tuition fees. However I'm not quiet sure how the application progress works. I recommend you to look it up at http://oia.snu.ac.kr/03study_snu/0303.html.
After all the paperwork was done, I waited for the answer. Ms. Song from the Office of International Affairs wrote me an email to inform me that I was accepted on 23rd June 2014 and I received the acceptance package in the middle of July. Ms. Song has been very kind and helpful. This package consist of a letter of notification with a specific student ID,a small handy book called Seoul Survivor and the certificate of admission (for applying for a visa in your home country).
After I received the acceptance package, I applied for a D-2-visa for students, since it usually takes time. I had to hand in a application with a colored photo, valid passport, my German ID (and birth certificate), a printed page of my bank balance (at least 3000 Euro for 4 month!!!), a printed page of an email stating where I would stay in Seoul, my certificate of enrollment of the University of Hamburg, the certificate of admission from the SNU-package and a letter from the "Handelskammer in Hamburg". The lady of the consulate was very friendly. She told me that it would take two weeks. However, after 3 working days they gave me call that I could pick up my passport because at that time there were not so many people applying for a visa. For more information visit : http://deu-hamburg.mofa.go.kr/worldlanguage/europe/deu-hamburg/main/index.jsp.
