Preparation

            There are a lot of little yet necessary things to do in preparation for studying abroad.  There are information meetings on studying abroad that generally explain what countries you can go to that other students have gone to in the past and generally what to expect.  After that is the process of finding a program that is best suited for you.  There can be a lot of factors that go into making a decision such as the food there, what educational programs the sister universities provide, the language, etc.  Once you have decided, the next step is applying for the program and writing your nomination statement,  I don't know if all universities offer this but mine did and basically a nomination statement is an essay you write and submit to your university's international office explaining why you should be able to go to another country and study there for a quarter, semester, year, etc.  A lot of universities (both domestic and abroad) offer scholarship opportunities for studying abroad.  From here on out I will keep this more personal to my experiences, where I chose to go to school, my experiences, and more.
            In America I attend San Francisco State University.  In order to study abroad, I had to attend at least one info meeting in order to apply to study abroad.  That was at least one semester before applying to study abroad.  In my case, I already knew where I wanted to go so I skipped the research portion and immediately searched the school's database on sister universities in South Korea.  Each university has a set of criteria so it is important to make sure you meet their standards in order to qualify for an application.  It is also wise to have a second choice university abroad in case something goes wrong and you can't get into your first choice.  I risked it and kept it to one choice.  The criteria for the university I chose (Chung Ang University) was fairly reasonable.  2.5 GPA was all that they asked for.
           Next came the application.  The application was very long.  It asked for a lot of information but it was all relevant and important.  However, the time consumption was no joke so it is way better to start on the application as soon as possible.  After the application was finished, I waited to hear back for a nomination or rejection and I was nominated.  This whole process began in September 2015 for me.  In December of 2015 the bulk of everything (applications and required documentation collection) began and ended around May 2016 (I came to Korea in August 2016).  I worked a part time job and practically took a month off work so that I could work on my nomination application, go to class, do homework and sleep.  In my case, once I was nominated i was accepted.  After being nominated there was mandatory nominee meeting, award ceremony and there were mandatory health check ups.  The application for Chung Ang University was very simple.  It required a name, passport number, copy of your passport, proof of finances ($13,000+ in the bank or proof of financial aid) and social security number and that is basically it.  It also what I was majoring in but every college application has that question.  All the paperwork was in English by the way and not everybody who is studying here speaks Korean/reads.