Good but very overpriced- I wouldn’t recommend

Even though the other interns I met during the Beyond Program were lovely, the actual program itself was very poorly organised and very much overpriced for what it was. I have separated the issues I encountered both as part of the internship itself and Beyond academy issues below as there aren’t many reviews for Beyond Academy and I think it’s important for aspiring beyond interns to consider before spending that much money.

Beyond Academy:
The pay over time scheme isn’t actually what you’d think as you end up paying 75% if your programme fee a few weeks before you depart.Myself and a few of the other interns only had interviews with companies a a few weeks before we actually flew out.
During the application process you don’t get to pick from a range of companies a new company is only offered if you reject the one presented to you.
You don’t get much CV or interview help, you just get recommended a website (Novoresume) where they give you a template and you fill in your details
Most of the events that were held for the duration of my internship were very repetitive. The ‘welcome’ day for the new interns that arrived every week included 1 paid drink at Hongdae (already covered by the overpriced program fee you pay). So if you were there for 2-3 months chances are you won’t attend all of the events organised by beyond because they’re the same.
Some of the events were actually awful. One of the planned trips was the Hyundai mall, which I know recently has become more of a touristy attraction but as someone who’s internship company was right by it, it didn’t feel like my £5000+ ($6300) was being used efficiently.
If you don’t attend an event you don’t get your budget allocated for that Beyond Academy trip back. For example most of the interns worked regular office hours 9am-6pm (some until 8pm) so could not attend the event, however they couldn’t have their allocated event budget back (which is covered by the initial £5000 you pay them)
For £5000- I would expect the taxi back to the airport covered as well however this wasn’t.
The SIM card they recommended didn’t arrive until the third week and there was not any help on how I could get mine until the 3rd week which meant getting anywhere in Seoul was very difficult.
The two beyond academy leaders we had were lovely and helped us navigate the city and gave us recommendations as well. However when I had issues with my internship, I wasn’t made aware that I could change my internship if I had experienced issues in my first couple weeks until my 4th week- by then I couldn’t switch as many companies understandably wouldn’t want an intern for 4 weeks.

Internship Beyond Academy found for me:
As for my internship, from the second week on I had already finished all of my projects and told my beyond program leaders about this however was not told that finding a different company was an option. So I spent the next 6 weeks sitting by a desk with no work, despite raising this issue with the company I worked at. Someone at Beyond offered to email the company to ask for more work, however I think the issue is Beyond Academy as a company not researching the companies their interns work at properly.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Beyond Academy for aspiring interns. It was my first time abroad by myself, as most students who are contemplating on doing one of these internships, However I was disappointed at the lack of the support given in the first week to settle in and the overall poor planning of the whole internship. I would recommend either a different company or even better researching your own accommodation and making a list of places you would like to see beforehand because myself and the majority of the other interns did not see where the thousands of pounds/ dollars we were spending were going to.

I believe I could’ve seen more of Korea with the money I gave Beyond Academy if I had organised my finances myself or picked a more reputable and affordable company.