You Get Slightly Less Than What You Pay For, but That's Still a Lot

I had to pay $2000 for everything, equivalent to a month's pay. This includes a TEFL, but a TEFL shouldn't be more than $500. If you're well-off and don't feel like putting in the hard work or are too unsure of yourself to do so, this is the way to go. But there are surely more cost-effective strategies. I'd recommend just getting a recruiter and taking it from there.

Even still, the company is very thorough in getting you in the best position. It will guide you through every step, and there are a lot of steps. The main attraction of CIEE is the orientation weekend, which is the most fun I've had yet in Korea. But it's not $2000 worth.

The TEFL course is very time consuming, but you can bomb the weekly assignments as long as you get solid multiple choice and final exam scores, as I did; they're quite easy. I just got stuck with a cranky tutor, which makes the tutoring sessions unpleasant.