Kdrama Stars Who Juggle School And Acting

Balancing a career and school is not easy but a few kdrama actors keep working on their grades despite having little time for homework.

For example, when Kim Hyun Joong, the SS501 singer and star of "Boys Over Flowers" and "Playful Kiss," was in high school, he did not take his studies too seriously. Playing bass guitar in a band, he dropped out of school to become a singer. But he never gave up on getting an education.

After SS501 debuted, he returned to high school and graduated. Two years ago, he enrolled in Chungwoon University to study stage production management. The next year he enrolled at Kongju Communication Arts to study applied music.

Hopefully his studies will fit into the filming schedule for his next drama, "Inspiring Generation."

Moon Geun Young has attended Sungkyunkwan University since 2006 but has yet to graduate as her acting schedule is so demanding. She majors in Korean Language and Literature.

 "I completed all of my credits but my English class grades are a bit low," she said. "To graduate, I need a certification for a computer class and good English marks. I already completed my thesis so I will graduate when I want to."

She needs three credits to graduate and will try to fit them in between finishing her drama "Goddess of Fire" and her next project.

Park Shin Hye is also serious about her schoolwork. She has maintained a grade point average of 3.0 since she entered Chungang University in 2008, but it's not easy.

"Since I work so hard not to miss my classes, my agency hates it," said Park. As a result she doesn't sleep much to make her conflicting schedules work.

To make her agency happy, this spring she took a leave of absence for the semester and wound up playing a high school student in the upcoming drama, "The Heirs."

It's not her first leave of absence as she left school in 2009 to film "You're Beautiful." She also left in late 2010 to appear in the film, "Cyrano Agency" and the drama "Heartstrings."

While she could fit in a few classes between filming, she wants to have the full school experience. And she still has to write her thesis.
 " I'm very attached to my studies," said Park. "I want to graduate properly."

Song Joong Ki may never have become an actor if his parents had not wanted him to have more social skills in college. He scored 380 points out of 400 on his college entrance exams and was admitted to Sungkyunkwan University. His parents thought the business major was too timid so they sent him to acting classes. The rest is history.