By Jane Han



NEW YORK ― Sleepless nights have become common for Lee Ji-young, who is counting down to getting her master's degree from the State University of New York in less than two months.



Anxiety, not excitement, is what's keeping the 26-year-old up all night.



Lee hates to admit it, but says she keeps finding herself going back to the same question: What if I just stayed in Korea?



''Trust me, I don't want to be asking myself this. Especially not now with graduation so close,'' said Lee, who came to the U.S. for graduate school three years ago.



But with no job in sight in the United States and no solid network of connections in Korea to go back to, Lee feels like she may have ''dug up the wrong well.''



Unfortunately, she is among the late ones to come to this realization.



According to a fast-growing number of students, recruiters and education experts, for some, studying in the U.S. may actually do more harm than good.



Other than exceptional students and individuals studying in rare fields, having a degree from the U.S. simply may not carry enough merit anymore, they claim.



''Why do you think so many highly qualified people with degrees from reputable four-year American universities end up teaching at hagwon in Korea?'' asked Kim Jin-hong, a campus recruiter of a large-cap firm, who didn't want to disclose his employer's name. ''Now, you need more than English skills, more than a U.S. degree to get accepted and welcomed by top companies.''



Recent data shows more and more Korean students are grasping this shift in the long-rooted belief that those who study abroad beat locals in the job competition.



According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), the number of Korean students studying in the U.S. stood at 98,471 as of December 2012, down 6.2 percent from 104,948 in October 2012.



It was the first time the number of Korean students fell below the 100,000-mark since 2007.



Koreans still account for the second-largest group of foreign students in the U.S., followed by China with currently 244,359 active students in America. But the number of Korean students has continued to post a steady decline in recent years.



At first, the weak economy and tough personal finances were blamed for the fall in figures, but other underlying factors are starting to become more apparent.



''Speaking English is no longer an asset. It's a given,'' said Kim, who just finished a two-week job fair tour at major northeast campuses. ''When we look at candidates, we make sure that he or she has a good understanding of the Korean work culture and will be able to blend in well with other local colleagues.''



Many recruiters say education at top notch universities gives a surefire edge to job seekers, but a degree from an average school probably isn't going to serve as a big plus factor.



This is one of the reasons more average students are choosing to stay in Korea.



''Networking is important in any job market these days, but more so in Korea,'' said Yoon Tae-young, 27, who recently landed a marketing job at a Korean cosmetics firm with the help of her graduate school alumni network. ''I passed up my opportunity to study abroad in the U.S. mainly because I needed reliable local connections.''



American colleges and universities with a large Korean student enrollment have alumni associations in Korea, but their size and influence are considered significantly smaller than that of local institutions.



''The U.S. is still definitely a global powerhouse of education. There's no doubt about that,'' said Robert Kim, who runs an education consultancy in New Jersey. ''But Koreans just seem to be reassessing the benefits. Let's just say it's sort of a correction period.''



