73% Early Admission Enrollment Dropout Rate at 9 Medical Schools Nationwide... Is 'Regular Admission Carryover Restriction' Possible?

Ministry of Education "Difficult to Change Due to Promulgated Law"
Surge in Examinees Giving Up Initial Medical School Admission
Last-Minute Tug-of-War Ahead of Regular Admission Quota Announcement

Amid ongoing conflicts between the medical community and the government over the recruitment of new medical school students for the 2025 academic year, each university will finalize and announce the number of regular admission slots reflecting the unfilled early admission quotas this week. As the increase in medical school quotas leads to a surge in early admission medical school applicants withdrawing their enrollment, the medical community is also demanding restrictions on the transfer of unfilled early admission slots to regular admissions until the regular admission numbers are finalized.

According to the Korea Council for University Education on the 24th, universities will confirm and announce the number of regular admission slots, including the transfer of unfilled early admission slots, between the 28th and 30th of this month. Although additional successful candidates for unregistered slots have been announced since the 19th, residents and medical students continue to demand a halt to the increase in medical school quotas for next year.

In response, some in the medical community have proposed not transferring unfilled early admission slots to regular admissions as an alternative. This aims to minimize the increase in quotas by preventing additional transfers to regular admissions.

Yonhap News

However, the Ministry of Education holds the position that restricting the transfer to regular admissions is legally difficult. At a regular briefing the previous day, Ministry of Education spokesperson Koo Yeon-hee stated, "We are proceeding according to already announced laws and regulations, so it is difficult to change what has been announced."

According to the Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Act and its Enforcement Decree stipulate a 'prior notice system for university admissions policies,' requiring admission policies to be announced four years in advance. Accordingly, the deadline to revise the university admission implementation plan was last May, which is 1 year and 10 months before the next year's admission process.

Examinees have already formulated their admission strategies considering the increase in medical school quotas. In fact, with the medical school quotas set to increase significantly from next year, the number of additional early admission acceptances and transfers to regular admissions is also expected to rise sharply.

According to analysis data from Jongno Academy on the day, as of the previous day, the medical school enrollment withdrawal rate among nine universities nationwide that officially announced additional early admission acceptances was 73.1%. This is a 55.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Among these, the enrollment withdrawal rate at five Seoul-area universities (Hanyang University, Korea University, Yonsei University, Catholic University, Ewha Womans University) was 74.4%. The withdrawal rate was 71.8% at four regional universities (Chungbuk National University, Jeju National University, Pusan National University, Yonsei University).

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, analyzed, "The number of enrollment withdrawals due to additional early admissions at medical schools in both Seoul and regional areas is clearly increasing compared to last year. Currently, additional early admissions between medical schools are occurring more frequently than last year, suggesting that the scale of early admission transfers may also increase."