Welcome to Songdo

Welcome to Mason Korea!

On behalf of the Office of University Life, I congratulate you on your decision to become a part of our community.

As you make your way in this community, I urge you to look for opportunities to listen, to spend time, and, ideally, to even collaborate with people who don’t think like you. I urge you to seek the different, to be curious, to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, to seek out knowledge, wisdom, and understanding for your own growth, and not just for an “A” or a high GPA. I urge you to realize that college is not just four years of learning, but the beginning of your journey as a lifelong learner.

Your journey with us will challenge you to appreciate that learning does not just occur in the classroom, but in every aspect of your time on our campus, and as a member of our community. From the student organizations you will participate in, to the events you will attend, to the casual exchanges you will have with our staff, faculty, and your fellow students, and even in your experiences in our residential halls, opportunities to learn and grow will be all around you, but you must want them and seek them out at every turn. Challenge yourself to take in every opportunity that this experience will have to offer here in Korea, and when you go to our main campus in Fairfax.

Realize that you join our community of learners as just that—a learner—and that learning requires that you step out of your comfort zone, take risks, do things you’ve never done before, and do old things in ways you’ve never done before. Accept that this means you may make mistakes along the way, but that growth will result from these mistakes, and a better you will come out of your journey as a learner.

Understand that knowledge will not always be delivered, and that you have a responsibility to seek it out to forge the person that you will become one day—to refine the young professional you aspire to become.

As learners, I want you to think of yourselves as more than just students. You are aspiring professionals beginning your path towards the career of your dreams. Realize that a job is easy to obtain, but a career is built and forged over time and through continuous growth and learning. As you join our community of learners, your journey, your path towards adulthood, is yours to trace, but know that you do not have to go at it alone. Your professors, our staff, your peers, and all of the members of the Mason community here and in Fairfax will be at your side and ready to help you on your journey from convocation to the day you graduate, and well beyond your four years with Mason.

Best wishes, and welcome to the Mason Nation!

Yorgun Marcel
Associate Dean of University Life