well, God help me, I've applied

As I look at my dwindling cash, sifting away like sand in an hourglass, I've decided to bite the bullet and apply to Soonchunhyang University (abbreviated SCH). I suspect I might even make it to the final round of applicants since the uni's requirements don't seem that strict, but I sincerely hope that other universities, inside Seoul, will be putting out ads soon so that I can apply to those places as well. If my only choices are UNIST in Ulsan (which pays well for a university) and SCH in Asan, way at the ass-end of Line 1, I'm going to have to move either way, and that's going to suck. It'll also be awkward and complicated for my rental office, which prefers to have a three-month warning about moving. They're going to complain, and they're going to penalize me somehow for breaking my rental contract. But what else can I do? The timing sucks, but it is what it is.

If worse comes to worst, though, and my situation gets desperate, I can theoretically take the job at SCH (which I know is not a guaranteed thing) and commute there every day. That'll take almost six hours out of my day, though, and it'll be expensive to boot. I can do that for maybe a semester, then move to Asan during vacation. And I'll be pooped by the end. 2.5-hour commutes when I was younger were one thing; these days, I don't think I have the endurance.

However, SCH comes with a few advantages. For the next phase of the hiring process, it doesn't seem that they're requiring sealed copies of my college transcripts; I can therefore just send what I have. Also, for criminal background checks, they only want a Korean one, not FBI, which means I can go to my local police station and get that document printed out easily now that I have a better idea of what to do and how to do it (one background report per university, and specifically sent to that university). SCH is also known as a university that started out as a medical facility, and it's still got a nice teaching hospital, so should I conk out from another stroke or heart attack, I at least know I'll be in good hands as long as I get ferried to the hospital in time. And even if we don't consider the possibility of a health crash, I can transfer my records from Samsung Hospital to SCH Hospital and keep getting my meds and my checkups right there instead of shuttling back from Asan to my old neighborhood, which would be a royal pain in the ass.

Right. Well. The essential for today is: I've applied to SCH. If I make it to the second round of the process, I'll have to provide a criminal background check, passport photos, and my old transcripts. Assuming they don't want sealed transcripts, I'll just send them the electronic copies I already have. Keep your fingers crossed for better unis inside Seoul.