Beyond Rational Choice: Identity-Based Motivation, Educational Prestige, and Korean Students’ Pursuit of U.S. Higher Education

International education research often emphasizes economic, academic, or structural factors shaping student mobility, yet such approaches insufficiently capture the psychological meanings students attach to prestigious foreign institutions. This qualitative study examines how Korean undergraduate and graduate students construct self-concepts and future-oriented identities when deciding to pursue higher education in the United States. Drawing on identity-based motivation theory, self-concept and possible selves, and consumer identity perspectives, the study conceptualizes elite U.S. universities as prestige brands that carry symbolic value beyond academic instruction. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with Korean students enrolled at U.S. universities, thematic analysis reveals that participants understood university choice as a means of enacting aspirational elite or global identities, signaling social status, and securing social recognition and belonging. Seven interrelated themes capture how educational decisions were shaped by relational self-concepts, collective family expectations, prior academic and cross-cultural experiences, perceived career security, desires for autonomy and meaningful learning, negotiations over cost and sacrifice, and the branding power of U.S. institutions as signals of global competence. The findings suggest that international higher education functions as an identity-driven practice embedded in cultural expectations, social comparison, and symbolic hierarchies. This study contributes an integrative perspective that advances understanding of motivation, stratification, and identity in international higher education decision-making.Note: This is a preprint version. The manuscript may be revised before journal submission.