copy shops were SCAMMING grad students for years and karma just hit different 💀

TL;DR — IN KOREAN VIBES

Korean universities have been quietly shifting to online-only thesis submissions, and people are only now realizing the copy shop minimum-order scam is finally dead. The collective catharsis of grad students past and present is sending the post viral.

원래 졸업논문을 출력해서 책으로 만든 다음에, 학교에 제출을 해야 했음.

여기서 대학원생이 졸업하려면 책을 만들어야한다는 걸 악용해서 "최소 책 10권 이상만 출력 가능"이라면서 대학원생들 상대로 장사해왔음.

그래서 쓸 데 없는 졸업논문은 집에서 울며 겨자 먹기로 냄비받이로 쓰는 게 보통이었음.

근데 이제 온라인으로만 제출하면 됨 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

77ㅓ억 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

🗣 KOREAN YOU JUST LEARNED

졸업논문 제본

thesis printouts

In Korean graduate culture, submitting a physically printed and professionally bound thesis book was a mandatory graduation requirement — not just a formality but a real logistical and financial burden for students.

냄비받침

pot holders

Because grad students were forced to print 10+ copies of their thesis, the extras had no real use — so Koreans jokingly (and literally) used the bound thesis books as trivets or pot holders under hot ramen pots at home.

SKY 대학 (서울대·고려대·연세대)

SKY unis

SKY is the acronym for Korea's three most prestigious universities: Seoul National University (S), Korea University (K), and Yonsei University (Y) — the Korean equivalent of the Ivy League, and apparently the last holdouts of physical thesis submission.

후배

lab juniors

Korean academic and workplace culture has a strong senior-junior (sunbae-hoobae) hierarchy; it's a common tradition for graduating grad students to gift a copy of their bound thesis to their junior labmates as a keepsake and farewell gesture.

HOW DID THIS HIT YOU?

🇰🇷 KOREAN REACTIONS 10

translated from the original Korean post

used my ex's thesis as a pot holder for years… current gf saw the name on it and was like 'who is this???' i panicked and said 'just a lab buddy' then threw it out two weeks later to destroy the evidence 💀💀💀

♥ 5

wait why did you throw it out BEFORE she got suspicious that's literally more suspicious 😭

♥ 4

honestly if you're handing them out to your advisor, labmates, and juniors one by one… 10 copies goes fast. not defending the shops but the math does math

♥ 4

as of 2025 SKY unis (Seoul National, Korea, Yonsei) still require physical bound copies btw. and apparently you're supposed to give one to your juniors in the lab when you graduate. the tradition lives on 💀

♥ 1

Seoul National University still accepts grad school applications IN PERSON. in 2025. they will be doing paper thesis submissions in the 22nd century fr fr

♥ 1

the cover binding cost is actually the expensive part — adding more copies after that is cheap. so the real scam was always the setup fee not the copies themselves. source: i have SO many ramen pot holders at home

♥ 0

bro i literally use AI to make my ID photos now. snap a pic at home against a white wall and gemini just… fixes everything. suit and all. the photo studio industry is next 💀

♥ 0

photo studios doing the same thing btw — you need like 1-2 ID photos and they make you buy 12. the whole 'minimum order' scam is everywhere in Korea

♥ 0

the last page personal acknowledgements section is the only part anyone ever reads anyway. then it goes straight to decoration duty forever

♥ 0

10.

this is literally why i didn't go to grad school. i am so serious.

♥ 0

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