KAIST Admission 2027: Deadlines, Requirements, Fees for International Students

Admission at a glance

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is a national science and engineering research university in Daejeon that teaches its degree programmes entirely in English. International undergraduate admission does not use Korea's national exam and instead reviews documents only, covering secondary school records, a personal statement, recommendation letters and an English proficiency score, with no separate quota by major or nationality since KAIST admits undergraduates without a declared major and lets them choose one after their first year. For the March 2027 intake, KAIST ran an Early round closing 22 October 2026 and a Regular round closing 14 January 2027, both at 18:00 Korea time; this review found no confirmed September intake for undergraduates, so KAIST's international undergraduate admission appears to run once a year, for March entry.

Graduate admission follows a different, twice-yearly pattern: the Spring 2027 international graduate window ran from 18 August to 1 September 2026, and Fall admission typically runs an Early round in December and a Regular round in March of the intake year, though exact Fall 2027 dates were not published at the time of this review. Both undergraduate and graduate applicants submit one of TOEFL iBT 83 (4.5 on the redesigned scale used from 21 January 2026), IELTS Academic 6.5, TOEIC 720, or TEPS 326, taken within two years of the deadline, unless they qualify for a waiver by nationality, prior English-medium education, or current enrolment at KAIST.

KAIST's defining feature for admitted students is funding: nearly every international undergraduate KAIST admits receives the KAIST Undergraduate Scholarship, covering tuition for up to eight semesters plus a monthly stipend and health insurance, and roughly 94% of international graduate students receive a comparable full-tuition-and-stipend package. KAIST's own nominal tuition, before any scholarship, is KRW 3,433,000 a semester for undergraduates and KRW 9,559,000 a semester for graduate students, both unchanged from the prior year at the time of this review. The undergraduate and graduate application fee is KRW 80,000, or USD 80 for applicants paying by international transfer.

Requirements

Bachelor

Applicants must hold or be expected to hold a certificate equivalent to completion of secondary education, and neither the applicant nor their parents may hold Korean citizenship; dual Korean and foreign citizenship is not eligible for the international track. Admission is by document review, with no fixed quota per department.

Master's and PhD

Applicants need a bachelor's degree (or a master's degree for doctoral applicants) recognised as equivalent to a KAIST degree, from a four-year programme or an equivalent three-year Bologna-compliant degree; individual departments may add their own research-fit expectations.

Full requirements and documents