The reputation of Dankook University (DKU) is continuously getting worse. The most recent example of Joongang Ilbo evaluation on universities indicates that DKU places on a lower rank than last year. We can make some assumptions about our current status based on these disappointing results. What we have been aware of is that our university is now left behind those universities that were once at the same level with us when the university was located in Hannam-dong. Surely, students at DKU have felt this. How about people outside of the university? Do they feel the same as students at the university?

The College Scholastic Ability Test takes place about a month from now, which means seniors at each high school are the busiest people in Korea. Most of them are applying for universities and preparing for the exam now. While I was looking at the competition rate for entering our university on the website, I was wondering how students think of DKU. So, the Dankook Herald (DKH) visited the High School Attached to the DKU College of Education to interview Hyun-Kyu Song, Chang-Hyun Son, Won-Tae Jung, and Jae-Won Yang about this question.

DKH : Firstly, we would like to know which university you want to go to.

Song I am aiming for Seoul National University Son My goal is to enter Yonsei University.
Jung And my dream is to get accepted at Hanyang University.
Yang And SungKyunKwan University is my dream university.

DKH : Would you like to enter the DKU if you get accepted?

Song Um. I do not think I will because there is no department that I want to go to there. I want to study in the College of Agriculture.

Son I will not enter the university. For me, it is important that DKU is not in Seoul anymore. Most students want to go to universities located in Seoul.

Yang Same here. Since it moved to Jukjeon, it seems too far from my house and I want to keep living in Seoul.

DKH : Then, how do people near you evaluate DKU?

Song Since we live in Gangnam, our parents have higher expectations than parents in other locations. It means that among the parents, DKU is not considered a good choice.

Yang I agree with him. If I enter DKU, people around me would say that I did not study enough.

DKH : Finally, what comes first in your mind when you think of DKU?

Song Well, those celebrities like TOP of Big- Bang come to mind first. I heard that there are many celebrities in that university.
 

Jung Actually, when I think of DKU, I think of the fact that they moved out of Seoul because it is not a usual thing for universities to move to some other cities from Seoul. Also, the College of Dentistry comes to mind because it is one of the most famous colleges in DKU.

Yang I think of famous athletes like Tae-Hwan Park.

Although we selected the students randomly, all four students were looking toward Korea’s most renowned universities. I was afraid even before the interview that the students might not even be thinking of entering DKU because their high
school is located in Gangnam. In fact, my thinking was correct. The university’s evaluation from Joongang Ilbo appeared to have correctly pinpointed our university’s reputation among students. I felt as if those students were interviewing
based on the evaluation of Joongang Newspaper.

We all know that our university is going down since we left the Hannam campus. Moreover, that was the main reason for these high school students unwillingness to enter our university. However, we cannot move the campus back. In other words, we have to find ways to improve our university and get our good reputation back. High school students interviewed mentioned DKU’s gems, such as Tae- Hwan Park, the College of Dentistry, and other celebrities. We should try to be proud students of DKU against all the prejudices against our university and improve ourselves to be suitable for the university’s expectation of ‘Vision 2017.’