GKS Result Timeline: When Each Round Comes Out and What to Do Next

GKS runs two separate competitions on two separate calendars. GKS-U (undergraduate) is decided over the autumn and winter, and GKS-G (graduate) is decided over the spring. Here is how the 2026 cycle actually played out, based on official notices from NIIED and Korean embassies.

GKS-U (undergraduate, for March 2026 entry):

• September 2025: applications submitted to embassies or Korean universities (the NIIED notice set submission for September 15 to 30, 2025, with exact deadlines varying by embassy)
• October 2025: 1st round results, announced by each embassy or university (embassies published document screening results and nominee lists in early to mid October)
• Late November 2025: 2nd round (NIIED) results posted on studyinkorea.go.kr
• December 26, 2025: embassy track 3rd round results (university admission outcomes) posted by NIIED, with final university choice due January 2, 2026
• Early January 2026: final successful candidates announced on studyinkorea.go.kr (the 2026 list was posted through January 9, 2026)

GKS-G (graduate, for Fall 2026 entry):

• February 2026: applications submitted (embassy track online submission closed February 25, 2026 at 18:00 KST in most countries, with some variation by embassy)
• March to April 2026: 1st round results, announced by each embassy or university (many embassies published document screening results in early March and nominee lists later that month)
• May 4, 2026: embassy track 2nd round (NIIED) results posted on studyinkorea.go.kr
• June 11, 2026: university track 2nd round (NIIED) results posted on studyinkorea.go.kr
• June 5, 2026: embassy track candidates notified to make their final choice of university
• July 1, 2026: 2026 GKS-G final result announcement posted on studyinkorea.go.kr

Future cycles are not guaranteed to repeat these exact dates, but NIIED has kept this general rhythm for years. If you are applying in the 2027 cycle, expect the same months give or take a week or two.

If you are still deciding whether to apply at all, start with our full GKS overview, which covers coverage, eligibility, and the two tracks in detail.

The three rounds are not repeats of the same evaluation. Each one is run by a different body and screens for different things.

1st round: embassy or university screening. If you applied through the embassy track, the Korean embassy in your country reviews documents, usually interviews shortlisted applicants, and recommends a limited number of nominees to NIIED. If you applied through the university track, the Korean university you applied to does this screening instead. This round is where most applicants are eliminated, because each embassy and university can only forward a fixed number of candidates.

2nd round: NIIED selection committee. The National Institute for International Education in Korea reviews everyone recommended from the 1st round. This is a document based evaluation by the government committee that actually awards the scholarship. Passing the 2nd round is the biggest single hurdle after the 1st round, and for university track applicants it is effectively the decisive round, since their university admission was already assessed in round one.

3rd round: university admission review (embassy track only). Embassy track candidates who pass the 2nd round are sent to the up to three universities they listed. Each university decides whether to admit them. Candidates admitted by more than one university then choose where to enroll. In the 2026 GKS-U cycle this round was announced on December 26, 2025, and for GKS-G the final choice of university step ran in June 2026.

The final result is simply the confirmed list of scholars after all rounds and document verification. For GKS-U 2026 it came in early January 2026, and for GKS-G 2026 on July 1, 2026.

The 2026 GKS-U cycle (for students starting in Korea in 2026) followed this verified sequence:

• 1st round: announced by individual embassies and universities in October 2025. For example, several embassies published document screening results in the first week of October and final nominee lists around mid October. Each embassy posts on its own website, so dates differ by a few days from country to country.
• 2nd round: NIIED results in late November 2025, posted on studyinkorea.go.kr.
• 3rd round (embassy track): posted December 26, 2025 on the Study in Korea notice board. Successful candidates had to submit final graduation documents and any TOPIK 5 or 6 certificates by December 31, 2025, and confirm their university choice by January 2, 2026.
• Final result: announced in early January 2026, with the list of successful candidates posted through January 9, 2026.

Notice how compressed the end of the timeline is. Between the 3rd round result and the document deadline there were only five days, some of them holidays. If you reach the late rounds, have your graduation certificate, transcripts, and TOPIK certificate ready in advance rather than waiting for the announcement.

Based on the 2026 cycle, applicants in the next cycle should expect 1st round results in October, NIIED results in late November, and the final list in early January.

The 2026 GKS-G cycle (for graduate students starting in Fall 2026) produced these verified announcements, all posted on the Study in Korea notice board unless noted:

• 1st round: announced by embassies and universities in March and April 2026. Embassy track document screening results appeared in early March in many countries (several embassies published them around March 6), followed by interviews and nominee announcements.
• 2nd round, embassy track: May 4, 2026.
• 2nd round, university track: June 11, 2026 (this notice was later revised, which is common and usually means corrections to the candidate list or attachments).
• Final choice of university (embassy track): notice posted June 5, 2026.
• Final result: July 1, 2026, in the notice titled "2026 GKS-G Final Result Announcement".
• After the final result: NIIED posted a revised schedule for issuing invitation letters on July 10, 2026. Invitation letters are what you need to apply for the D-2 student visa.

Two practical takeaways. First, embassy track and university track results do not come out together, and the university track 2nd round lands more than a month later. Do not panic if your track has not been announced yet while the other one has. Second, the gap between the embassy track 2nd round (early May) and the final result (July) is filled by the university admission review, so silence during those weeks is normal.

There are two official places to check, depending on the round.

1st round results are announced by whoever screened you. Embassy track applicants should watch the website of the Korean embassy in their country. These are usually posted on the embassy's notice or announcement board on mofa.go.kr country pages. University track applicants hear from the university directly, by email or on the university's admissions page.

2nd round and final results are posted by NIIED on the GKS notice board of studyinkorea.go.kr. Go to Scholarships, then the GKS Notice section. Result notices follow a recognizable naming pattern, for example "[Embassy Track-2nd Round Result] 2026 GKS Graduate Degree Program" or "2026 GKS-G Final Result Announcement".

The notice itself is a short post with a PDF attachment. The PDF lists successful candidates by application number, not by full name, so keep the application or receipt number you were issued when you applied. Open the PDF, search for your number, and read the body of the notice carefully because it contains deadlines for the next step, which are often only days away.

A few warnings:

• The site can slow down or become temporarily unreachable in the hours after a major announcement. Wait and retry rather than assuming the notice was taken down.
• Result lists are sometimes revised. The 2026 GKS-G university track 2nd round notice was reposted as a revised version. Always check for a newer notice with REVISED in the title.
• No one from NIIED will email or message you asking for money to release a result. Results are free and public. Anything else is a scam.

No. GKS has no entrance exam, and there is no "GKS exam date" to prepare for. If you searched for one, what you are probably looking for is one of these:

• The embassy interview. Most embassies interview shortlisted applicants during the 1st round. In the 2026 GKS-U cycle these interviews happened in October 2025, and in the 2026 GKS-G cycle in March 2026. It is an interview about your goals, study plan, and background, not a written test.
• TOPIK, the Test of Proficiency in Korean. This is a separate standardized test with its own worldwide test dates, run independently of GKS. You do not need TOPIK to apply, but a valid TOPIK score strengthens your application and TOPIK level 5 or 6 can earn a scholarship top up and let degree scholars skip the language year. GKS-U finalists in the 2026 cycle who wanted the language year waiver had to submit TOPIK 5 or 6 certificates by December 31, 2025.
• The NIIED Korean language program test. After you arrive in Korea, scholars in the language year take level tests at their language institution. That happens after selection, not before.

So the dates that actually matter are application deadlines and result dates, not an exam date. For what the application involves and how the language requirement works, see the full GKS overview.

Honest answer: NIIED does not publish per country application numbers or round by round pass rates, so anyone quoting an exact global acceptance rate is estimating. Here is what is actually knowable from official sources.

• Quotas are public. Each cycle's application guidelines on studyinkorea.go.kr include a table of how many scholars each country can send through each track. That is the hard ceiling for your country, and it is the single most useful number in the whole process.
• The 1st round is the steepest cut. Embassies and universities can only recommend a limited number of nominees to NIIED, typically some multiple of the country quota as set in that year's guidelines. In large applicant countries, hundreds of people can be competing for a handful of nominations. In small quota countries the math is different, and occasionally less competitive.
• The 2nd round cuts recommended candidates down to the quota. Since everyone in the 2nd round was already vetted once, the pass rate here is much higher than in round one, but it is not a formality. NIIED ranks all recommended candidates and eliminates the surplus.
• The 3rd round rarely eliminates embassy track candidates outright, because they listed up to three universities and only need one admission. It mostly determines where you study rather than whether you get the scholarship, though a candidate rejected by all three choices would fail here.

Some embassies voluntarily publish how many applications they received in a given year, so it is worth searching your own embassy's notices for local numbers. But treat any site claiming a precise overall GKS acceptance rate with skepticism. The honest picture is: your real competition is inside your own country's quota, in the 1st round.

Congratulations, but the calendar stays busy. Based on the 2026 cycle, here is the sequence after the final result:

• Read the final result notice fully. It contains instructions and deadlines, and for GKS-U 2026 the window between announcements and document deadlines was under a week at some steps.
• Invitation letter and certificate of admission. NIIED and your university issue the documents you need for the visa. In the 2026 GKS-G cycle, NIIED posted a revised invitation letter schedule on July 10, 2026, shortly after the July 1 final result, so watch the notice board even after you have passed.
• D-2 visa application. Apply at the Korean embassy or consulate in your country with the invitation letter and admission documents. Start gathering passport, photos, and any required health documents before the letter arrives.
• Tuberculosis test and health checks. Applicants from countries on Korea's designated list need a TB certificate for the visa. Check your embassy's current requirements early, because clinic appointments can take weeks.
• Flight and arrival. NIIED provides an airfare allowance and sets an arrival window. GKS-U scholars typically arrive in late February for the March semester, and GKS-G scholars in late August for the fall semester. Do not book nonrefundable flights before the official arrival guidance arrives.
• Language institution placement. Unless you have TOPIK 5 or 6 and applied the waiver, you start with the Korean language year at an assigned institution, which may be in a different city from your degree university.

The scholarship can be revoked before arrival if final document verification fails, so make sure every certificate you submitted matches the originals you carry to Korea.

First, figure out where you were cut, because it changes the advice.

• Rejected in the 1st round: this is usually about competition within your country quota, not a verdict on you. Fixable levers include a sharper personal statement and study plan, a TOPIK score (even level 3 or 4 signals commitment), and choosing the track more strategically. If your embassy pool is brutal, the university track lets you compete in a university's own pool instead, and vice versa. The full GKS overview covers common application mistakes worth fixing before you reapply.
• Rejected in the 2nd round: you were good enough for a national recommendation, which means a reapplication next cycle has a genuinely strong chance. Ask for feedback if your embassy provides it, strengthen research fit and recommendation letters, and apply again.

Second, use the calendar to your advantage. A GKS rejection does not close the year, because other major scholarships run on later cycles:

• CSC (Chinese Government Scholarship). China's cycle opens around October to December for most routes, with deadlines running into early spring. A GKS-G applicant rejected in May or July 2026 still has the entire upcoming CSC window, and a GKS-U applicant rejected in January can apply to CSC within weeks. Start with our CSC overview and see the GKS vs CSC comparison to judge the fit.
• Türkiye Bursları. Turkey's flagship scholarship usually opens applications in January and February. A GKS-U rejection in January lands exactly in that window. See the Türkiye Bursları guide.
• Stipendium Hungaricum. Hungary's program typically opens in November with a mid January deadline, another workable target after an autumn or winter GKS rejection. See the Stipendium Hungaricum guide.

Third, remember that GKS allows reapplication. Plenty of scholars got in on the second attempt. Rejected GKS-G candidates in July can rebuild their file over the autumn, apply to CSC or Stipendium Hungaricum in the winter, and still reapply to GKS in February. Running two or three of these in parallel is the single best hedge against any one committee's decision.

Nothing is guaranteed until NIIED publishes each cycle's guidelines, but the schedule has been stable for years, and the 2026 cycle is the best available template.

Based on the 2026 cycle, a 2027 applicant should plan around this:

• GKS-U 2027: application around September 2026, 1st round results in October, NIIED 2nd round in late November, 3rd round in late December, final result in early January 2027.
• GKS-G 2027: application around February to March 2027, 1st round results in March and April, NIIED 2nd round in May (embassy track) and June (university track), final result around late June or early July 2027.

Treat these as planning estimates, not promises. Individual embassies also shift their internal 1st round dates by days or weeks, so your country's exact deadlines can differ from the global notice.

How to stay ahead of announcements:

• Bookmark the GKS notice board on studyinkorea.go.kr and check it weekly during result season
• Follow your local Korean embassy's notice page, since 1st round dates and interview schedules are published only there
• Have your next step documents ready before each result, because post announcement deadlines in the 2026 cycle were as short as five days

And if you are weighing GKS against alternatives while you wait, the GKS vs CSC comparison breaks down how the timelines, funding, and competition differ.