In the Past 4 Years, 8 out of 10 Medical School Regular Admission Successful Applicants Were 'N-Susaeng'

Severe Regional Concentration... Seoul 37% · Gyeonggi 19%

Operating room scene. Not related to the content of the article [Asia Economy DB]

Over the past four years, 77.8% of medical school regular admission successful applicants were so-called 'N-su students,' who retook the college entrance exam once or multiple times. There was also a notable regional concentration among successful applicants, with more than half coming from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

According to Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, among 5,144 new medical school students admitted through regular admissions nationwide from the 2020 to 2023 academic years, 3,984 (77.5%) were N-su students. Among them, 2,171 (42.2%) were second-time takers, 1,123 (21.8%) were third-time takers, and 690 (13.4%) had taken the exam four or more times. Only 1,096 (21.3%) of the medical school successful applicants over the past four years were high school seniors, confirming the dominance of N-su students in the regular admission process, which primarily selects based on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) scores.

Representative Kang stated that he obtained the medical school admission results from the Ministry of Education and commissioned the policy research organization 'Education Lab Gonggongjang' to analyze the data, which led to these findings.

The regional concentration phenomenon was also striking. The high school regions of medical school regular admission successful applicants were 36.7% from Seoul and 19.1% from Gyeonggi, meaning that more than half (55.8%) of the successful applicants were from Seoul and Gyeonggi. Considering that the proportion of high school seniors in Seoul is 16.7% nationwide, this means that more than twice as many students relative to their population entered medical schools.

Following Seoul and Gyeonggi were Jeonbuk (7.3%), Busan (7.0%), and Daegu (6.9%). Jeonbuk (1.7 times) and Daegu (1.68 times) also had a higher number of students entering medical schools relative to their student populations.

There were regions where not a single high school senior entered medical school through regular admissions. In the 2023 academic year, no high school seniors from Incheon and Chungbuk were admitted to medical schools through regular admissions.

Due to the revision of the 'Enforcement Decree of the Act on Local Universities and Regional Talent Development,' from the 2023 academic year, local medical departments must select at least 40% of their total admissions from regional talents (20% for Gangwon and Jeju).

Regarding these results, Representative Kang pointed out, "Regions producing many regular admission medical school successful applicants are metropolitan areas with well-established private education systems and regions with nationwide autonomous private high schools. It is necessary to reconsider whether regular admissions based on the CSAT are truly fair, and the government must establish drastic policies addressing the reality that Korean talents aspire solely to medical schools."