About Half of Yonsei and Korea University Early Admission Successful Applicants Did Not Register... Due to 'Medical School Expansion'?

Impact of Medical School Expansion, Increase in Overlapping Admission Dropouts Compared to Last Year
Among 4,854 Early Admission Passers, 2,236 Students Declined Enrollment

Nearly 46% of the early admission successful candidates at Korea University and Yonsei University, which are highly preferred by students and parents, did not enroll. This is analyzed as a phenomenon of moving to medical schools affiliated with 'Big 5 hospitals' due to the increase in medical school quotas. On the 19th, Yonhap News reported on the analysis results of the 2025 university early admission by Jongro Academy.

On the 19th, the '2025 College Admission Information Fair' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was crowded with examinees and parents seeking college admission counseling.

According to Jongro Academy's analysis, the total number of initial early admission successful candidates at Korea University and Yonsei University is 4,854. Among them, 2,236 did not enroll, accounting for 46.1%. This is about a 16% increase compared to last year. By school, 44.9% of Korea University and 47.5% of Yonsei University candidates did not enroll. Last year's non-enrollment rates were 44.1% and 36.4%, respectively. Both Korea University and Yonsei University saw 47.7% non-enrollment in the humanities field, while in the natural sciences field, Yonsei University had 48.6% and Korea University 43.6% non-enrollment.

By department, Yonsei University had high non-enrollment rates in the Department of Mathematics at 72.7%, the School of Advanced Computing at 71.6%, and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at 69.8%. At Korea University, the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering had 65.2%, the Department of Physics 64.5%, and both the Department of Semiconductor Engineering and the Department of Next-Generation Communications each had 60%. Jongro Academy believes that students who were admitted to multiple medical schools affiliated with 'Big 5 hospitals' likely moved to those medical schools. The medical schools affiliated with Big 5 hospitals are Seoul National University (Seoul National University Hospital), Yonsei University (Severance Hospital), Catholic University (St. Mary's Hospital), Sungkyunkwan University (Samsung Medical Center), and University of Ulsan (Asan Medical Center). In fact, 41.3% of the initial successful candidates in Yonsei University’s Pre-Medical program and 55.2% in Korea University’s Pre-Medical program did not enroll. Additionally, 47.1% of Yonsei University’s Dental School candidates did not enroll, which is a significant increase of 32.4 percentage points compared to last year’s 14.7%. In terms of numbers, this rose from 5 last year to 16 this year.

According to the analysis by Jongno Academy, the initial number of early admission successful candidates for Korea University and Yonsei University is 4,854. Among them, 2,236 people did not enroll, accounting for 46.1%. Compared to last year, this has increased by about 16%. Yonhap News

Jongro Academy stated, "It has been initially confirmed that the expansion of medical school quotas at both Korea University and Yonsei University has caused non-enrollment due to multiple admissions even among top-tier universities," adding, "There will also be multiple admissions from dental, pharmacy, and Korean medicine schools to medical schools." Considering the non-enrollment situation of initial early admission successful candidates at Korea University and Yonsei University, it is expected that a significant number of additional admissions will occur this year overall. Jongro Academy said, "Universities are expected to increase the number of additional early admission offers and take a more proactive approach such as phone notifications to prepare for the large-scale dropout caused by multiple admissions," and warned, "If you miss the call for additional admission, you will be considered rejected, so please be careful."