Stars who become ‘mascots’ of universities they attended (ft. Kim Tae Hee, Yoo Jae Suk, Song Joong Ki and more)
There are celebrities whose alma matters come to our mind as soon as we hear their names.
“Queen of Cannes” Jeon Do Yeon recently appeared on tvN’s “You Quiz the Block” and shared stories about Seoul Institute of the Arts, the school she attended with Yoo Jae Suk. Amid the heat of the university festival season, netizens have gathered the names of celebrities who are considered the most famous alumni of their schools.
1. Kim Tae Hee (Seoul National University)
Kim Tae Hee’s photos taken during her college days became a hot topic even before her debut.
Once named “most beautiful woman of Ulsan”, Kim Tae Hee attended the most prestigious university in Korea – Seoul National University (SNU), and became famous as “SNU’s TOP 3 beauties” together with Lee Ha Nee and Oh Jeong Yeon.
During her time in college, she was also active in the skiing club. In 2013, she visited her alma mater to give job advice to her juniors. At that time, the actress shared, “It’s my first time coming back to the school after I graduated. I’m very happy to see the juniors. This scene reminds me of my college days”, adding, “I only slept for five hours within the past two days because of a drama filming, but seeing the juniors gives me a healing time”.
2. Yoo Jae Suk (Seoul Institute of the Arts)
Among the graduates of Seoul Institute of the Arts, the most famous person is definitely Yoo Jae Suk.
In fact, Yoo Jae Suk passed the comedian audition as soon as he entered the school. He only studied as a freshman for 4 years and eventually dropped out of school. Later, he did visit the Ansan campus when filming for a program. Revealing that he went to the broadcasting station more often than his school, Yoo Jae Suk also regretted that he didn’t get to experience college life properly because he had prepared to become a comedian since his first year.
What’s even more surprising is that his GPA at the time was only 0.63. However, as he became a real ‘National MC’, the Seoul Institute of the Arts treats him as an “honorary alumnus” and mentions his name on their official SNS.
3. Kim Woo Bin (Daekyung University → Jeonju University)
Before his debut, Kim Woo Bin made headlines as DaeKyung University’s model and his posts on bulletin boards the school’s bulletin board. When he was studying at the school, Kim Woo Bin had already developed the dream of becoming a model so he left messages about admission applications, schedules, camps, and more on Daekyung University’s modeling website, attracting attention from netizens.
Later, he transferred to the Performance and Entertainment Department of Jeonju University and graduated there. In 2013, he was appointed as the “honorary ambassador” of Jeonju University. DaeKyung University’s Modeling Department also honored Kim Woo Bin as the mascot of the department and featured his photos as well as career history on their website.
4. Song Joong Ki (Sungkyunkwan University)
Song Joong Ki is often mentioned together with Sungkyunkwan University.
Song Joong Ki worked as a model for the cover of Sungkyunkwan University’s entrance exam guidebook “KINGO” from 2008 to 2012. Despite being a student of the class of 2005, in 2014, Sungkyunkwan University showed their enthusiasm for the actor by using his photo as the main decoration on the university’s website.
Apart from making notice boards in the corridors of the university with Song Joong Ki’s photos, the school also hung banners with slogans such as “Let’s study well and become Song Joong Ki’s fellow student”, “Let’s enter Sungkyunkwan University and make a ‘scandal’ with Song Joong Ki”, etc., around.
Moreover, the university even used his name as an example on assignment submissions and various application forms, such as replacing “Hong Gil Dong” with “Song Joong Ki”.
5. Park Jae Beom (Dankook University)
Although many people may not know this information, Park Jae Beom (Jay Park) actually studied Business at Dankook University.
Appearing in a promotional video for the university, he said, “Dankook University is a university I attended a long time ago”, with a shy expression. Perhaps it’s because he has a “painful” story of being expelled from Dankook University during his second year.
However, he does not miss any annual festival at Dankook University and always receives loud cheers from his fellow students. In addition, he also delivers congratulatory messages to freshmen.
Source: Wikitree
