Admissions Blog: Building bridges to South Korea

Prof. Josh Harris and admissions counselor Savanna Klein


One of my favorite things about being an admissions counselor is getting to travel to new places and talk about Sweet Briar. I was ecstatic when I was given the opportunity to travel to Seoul, South Korea, to attend the American International Education Foundation Spring 2018 Education Fair on Feb. 10 and 11.

The two-day event hosted organizations from all over the world. Sweet Briar was lucky enough to not need to rely on randomly chosen translators because one of our very own music professors, Joshua Harris, and eight students from Yonsei University in Seoul, were there to help. Thanks to a connection between President Woo and Yonsei University professor Jun Yoo, these students have been working with Sweet Briar to promote us through online media in Korea. They also helped design recruiting material geared towards the Korean market and communicate with prospective students and parents in Korean.


Our South Korean Sweet Briar team


Their insights into what aspects of Sweet Briar are important to Korean students — such as single-gender education, high employment rates after graduation, and a safe campus close enough to cities like Washington, D.C. — made our time in Korea even more productive. I was thrilled to see that these students were so invested in the success of Sweet Briar and were genuinely enthusiastic about helping us to recruit. Many, many thanks to them.

I am excited to see where these relationships we’re building in South Korea end up, and hopefully welcome more students from South Korea into our Sweet Briar family. After all, another great part about traveling for Sweet Briar is that when I get back, I’m even more thankful to be part of such a wonderful community and to call such a beautiful part of the world home.

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Savanna Klein graduated from Sweet Briar in 2016 with a major in environmental studies and a minor in economics. As a student, she was a representative on the Honors Program Student Council, a Common Ground mentor, a tutor in the Academic Resource Center, a violist in the orchestra, a horseback rider, a member of Tau Phi and an avid Outdoor Program participant. As an admissions counselor, she covers California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — and sometimes South Korea.