Among Seoul National University Regular Admission Successful Applicants, 1 in 5 Was a 'Samsusaeng' (Third-Year Retaker)

The Number of Repeat Examinees Continues to Rise

One in five successful applicants to Seoul National University (SNU) through the regular admission process this year were examinees who took the exam three or more times. Half of the successful applicants were from Seoul.

According to the ‘2025 SNU Regular Admission Successful Applicant Analysis’ by Jongno Academy on the 7th, the proportion of successful applicants who took the exam three or more times was 21%, the highest figure in the past 10 years.

Seoul National University campus in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

The proportion of successful applicants who took the exam three or more times among SNU regular admission candidates was ▲9.6% in 2016 ▲8.5% in 2017 ▲11.5% in 2018 ▲15.3% in 2019 ▲15.5% in 2020 ▲16.6% in 2021 ▲20.5% in 2022 ▲17.6% in 2023 ▲19.3% in 2024.

In the admissions industry, it is analyzed that the increase in the number of students retaking the exam while attending university after the expansion of medical school quotas has influenced the rise in the proportion of applicants who took the exam three or more times and were admitted to SNU through regular admissions.

The proportion of repeat examinees who took the exam twice was 36.4%, down 8.5 percentage points from 40.4% the previous year. The combined proportion of repeat examinees who took the exam two or more times, called ‘N-su students,’ was 57.4%, down 2.3 percentage points from 59.7% the previous year. On the other hand, the proportion of successful applicants who were current high school students increased to 40.3% from 38.1% the previous year.

It is analyzed that the score gap between third-year high school students and repeat examinees narrowed as the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was easier than the previous year. Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, stated, “With the significant expansion of the early admission regional talent selection, it is possible that students with excellent school grades among repeat examinees moved to that track.”

By school type, students from general high schools accounted for 999 people, or 63.6%, similar to last year’s 986 people (63.8%). The number of successful applicants from specialized high schools and autonomous private high schools was 432 (27.5%) this year, showing little difference from last year’s 427 (27.6%).

The proportion of successful applicants from Seoul was 46.8%, slightly up from 44.7% last year. The proportion of successful applicants from metropolitan cities was 11.8%, down from 14.5% last year. It is also analyzed that many top-tier students from provincial areas were admitted through early admission regional talent selection, which increased the number of successful applicants from Seoul.