Something that I've felt from the first day at Seoul National University is how crazy smart everyone at this school must be.
If you aren't familiar with how college applications work in Korea, basically there's this one test that you study for your entire high school career, called soo-neung (수능). It's kind of like the SATs in the US, except far more difficult and important since it's literally only given once a year so if you don't do well and want to re-take it, you have to wait an entire year. I've looked at the practice tests for the English portion, and honestly I don't even know what they're talking about. Additionally, unlike the US where nearly every school boasts about their holistic approach to scanning applicants, Korean universities rely heavily solely on the soo-neung score.
This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot recently, since this year's soo-neung was supposed to be last Thursday and all the convenience stores had huge gift selections to I guess either celebrate or console the kids that just took it. Unfortunately, there was an earthquake in the southern part of Korea the day before so in an unprecedented fashion, soo-neung was pushed to this week; this actually presents a greater problem because I've heard many high schoolers book legendary trips for after taking probably one of the most important tests of their lifetime but now they probably have to pay $100s to reschedule their flights and hotels...
But back to SNU. Talking with the Korean friends I've made there, they all speak so nonchalantly about high school and this exam that really is life-defining. Being the top of their class in high school is a given, and so is being in the top degree of soo-neung scores (top 4% in the nation). And nearly every single Korean friend that I've made here tutor high schoolers to prepare for the exam, even if their majors are something like history that doesn't come up on the exam.
Maybe it's engrained into them to be really good at studying and figuring out ways to study such as strategies and know-hows, or maybe it's just me enjoying the life of an exchange student, but something I've noticed is how dedicated these students are to whatever they're doing. For example, during midterm season, I basically didn't see these friends and whenever you talked to them they'd be like, "When are your exams over? My are done *insert date here*. Let's hang out then!" And in one of my classes, we have lab for 2 hours Monday night, so after all my other classes, by 8:30 PM on a Monday, I'm pretty ready to go home. But then the TAs say that they'll stay until 9 PM to answer any questions and I kid you not, at least 50% of the 100+ people class stays and asks questions.
Things like these among many other small experiences just kind of make me think, "Ah, classic SNU." Their drive and ambition are really admirable and impressionable, and something I hope I'll be able to take a part of back in the US.