Hanyoung Foreign Language High School

Academics

Students study 13-15 subjects every year, with one to four hours of classes in each subject weekly. Subjects offered include Korean, English, Chinese classics, modern languages (Chinese, German, French, Japanese, and Spanish), ethics, Korean history, world history, government and politics, economic geography, music, art, physical education, computer science, mathematic, and science. Grades are determined by written examinations. The primary language of instruction is Korean.

Admissions

The school draws its student from Seoul and areas which do not have a foreign language high school. Most students gain admission by a process called "Regular Decision". Students apply online and offline, turning in their essays and transcripts to the school usually around November. Then, the school evaluates the students based on their middle school English grades and makes the first cuts. Once making the cut, students undergo an interview through which the school selects its final population. A handful of full scholarship students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as foreigners, are selected every year.

Foreign-language education

All students must choose a major to study during their years at the school prior to applying. Those offered are Mandarin Chinese, German, French, Japanese, Spanish and English. Nearly one third of all instructional hours are spent on foreign-language instruction, in accordance with Korean Ministry of Education guidelines.

In addition to the main language classes, which generally emphasize reading and grammar, students practice conversation in small groups with faculty who are native speakers of each language.

Overseas Study Program (OSP)

Hanyoung Foreign Language High School has a specialized program for gifted and talented students preparing for matriculation at overseas universities. Students who enroll in the Overseas Study Program take additional courses to prepare for college admissions abroad. This programme has its own faculty and offers SAT and Advanced Placement classes, as well as critical reading, debate, and philosophy courses. It also offers other subjects provided that more than five students are interested in each.

The Advanced Placement programs offered in the 2010-2012 school year are:

AP Biology
Cell Biology
Multi variable Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Physics B & C
AP English Literature
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP U.S. Government and Politics
AP Chinese Language and Culture
AP Japanese Language and Culture
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Psychology
AP U.S. History
AP World History
AP Music Theory
AP Calculus
AP Statistics
AP Art History

Schedule

The average school day runs from 7:40am to 10pm, with seven to nine hours of classes during the day and three to five hours of study hall in the evenings. Classes last 50 minutes, and are followed by fifteen minutes of break.

Hanyoung starts its school year in March and its second semester in September. The school year ends in February, as for most schools in Korea.

Extracurricular activities

There are more than 30 student clubs at Hanyoung, including:

Unlike most academic high schools in Korea, Hanyoung Foreign Language High School does have varsity sports teams for sports including softball, baseball and lacrosse, although they are limited to students of OSP. Other students can participate in intramural teams during the annual sports festival, which includes volleyball, soccer, softball, and basketball.

College admission

Among the six foreign-language high schools in Seoul, in 2005 Hanyoung had the highest percentage of graduates going on to the most prestigious universities in South Korea: Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Ewha Womans University, Sogang University and Hanyang University.

Matriculation of Overseas Study Program students

According to the OSP's Matriculation Data for the grads of 2009, more than a quarter of OSP students matriculated at Ivy League schools, MIT or Stanford. In addition, a large number of students head to other prestigious institutions of higher education such as Vanderbilt University, Duke, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins and UC Berkeley.