This study is an attempt to investigate Korean EFL university students’ needs in a general English program, adopting a multi-angle perspective of necessities, wants and lacks. A questionnaire survey was administered with 159 first-year students from the Engineering and Business Administration departments; the participants responded to each item on the five-point Likert scale for the three dimensions of needs for the four skills. Among many, only the participants’ self-perceived proficiency level created a significant difference in their attitudes toward GE, and speaking was consistently considered as the most important skill. While the job-oriented tendency was pervasive even among the first graders, students’ desire for entertainment-related or authentic communication activities was equally noticeable. The results suggest that the seeming inconsistencies in the response be a reflection of the reality the students are facing and the subsequent complexity of their needs. The necessity for GE curricula to be faithful to the basics of language learning, despite the recent trend focusing on practical purposes, was addressed. Limitations and implications of the study were also discussed.