I'm going to jot a quick scattered post. Even with the benefit of handsight, my time at MES are very difficult months to summarize.

Let me say that it would be a mistake to consider this. Even if the management has changed (and I know at least one person has) it would be a foolish move.

Everything about this place was truly bizarre, and at times it felt like our lives were being televized for an upcoming reality tv series - it often made more sense that this was the case since the way the business was being run made absolutely zero sense [someone seemingly got fired at the end of every month, so it did seem set up like a reality show, for realz]. The owner/head dude is exceptionally hands-on. Naturally, everything looks good about the place (Koreans are exceptional at design) but the content within the teaching was very, very unconvincing. This, and the prices of the courses, led to a very high turnover rate, which the owner would blame on teaching performance. The owner has an exceptionally fragile ego, and suffice to say that he was/is very disinclined to accept blame for the shortcomings of the business.

This is a man who - with no business experience of his own to speak of - says, in earnest: "Do you watch 'The Apprentice'? Watching that show is better than getting an MBA." Or, a grown man who still has fantasies of becoming a movie producer (he himself is a failed actor with a rich father - who presumably invested in MES). He is very keen on "you know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger-type movies." He is the most materialistic, shallow person I have ever met, and I tend to employ hyperbole only cautiously.

Because the apartments and teaching center are very glitzy, they will continue to attract top teachers who are skeptical about what they read on the internet (In Korea there is an idiom "a rice cake that looks good also tastes good"). However, there are plenty of other places out there which would offer a much more satisfying experience. If, however, you must proceed, then please do so with a heaping dose of caution.