Last Year, 206 Students Dropped Out or Left Midway from Pharmacy Schools Nationwide
First Year of 6-Year Undergraduate Admission... Estimated Medical School Retakers
Midway Dropouts Increased by 43% at 4 Major Science and Technology Institutes
Last year, it was identified that more than 200 students dropped out from pharmacy schools nationwide. Analysis suggests that not only students in science and engineering but also pharmacy students are turning their attention to medical schools.
On the 5th, Jongno Academy analyzed the university information disclosure and found that a total of 206 mid-term dropouts occurred last year across 37 pharmacy schools nationwide. Mid-term dropout refers to withdrawal, non-registration, non-enrollment, academic probation, etc., with withdrawal usually having the highest rate. By university, the numbers were highest at Chung-Ang University with 17, Chonnam National University 15, Sookmyung Women’s University 13, Chosun University 11, and Ewha Womans University 10.
Starting from the 2022 academic year admissions, pharmacy schools nationwide switched to an integrated 6-year undergraduate selection system, admitting about 2,000 students across 37 universities. Previously, transfer admissions were conducted through the Pharmacy Education Eligibility Test (PEET). According to the admissions industry, despite it being the first year of undergraduate selection, it is highly likely that pharmacy students entered medical schools through re-taking the entrance exam.
On the other hand, the total number of mid-term dropouts from medical, dental, Korean medicine, and veterinary schools nationwide, excluding pharmacy schools, was 380, about 17% less than the previous year (457). Regarding this, Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, explained, “While the overall preference for medical-related fields remains high, mid-term dropouts in medical, dental, Korean medicine, and veterinary schools decreased, whereas pharmacy schools showed a relatively significant increase.”
This mid-term dropout phenomenon was also prominently observed in science and engineering specialized universities. Last year, mid-term dropouts totaled 268, with 125 at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 66 at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 48 at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), and 29 at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST). This represents a 43.3% increase from the previous year (187), with KAIST’s figure accounting for about 15% of its admission quota.
CEO Lim stated, “While some students may have transferred to other science and engineering universities, it is presumed that most students moved to medical and pharmaceutical fields.”
Meanwhile, in the 2023 academic year regular admissions for natural sciences, the top 20 departments were completely dominated by medical, dental, and pre-medical courses, with no presence of science and engineering fields. In the early admissions for the 2024 academic year, which closed on the 15th of last month, the average competition rate for major medical schools rose to 45.59 to 1 compared to the previous year.
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