[2020 National Assembly Audit] More Than Half of Medical Students Entered Without 'Personality and Aptitude Assessment'

Final Admission Based Solely on Internal and CSAT Scores
Education Universities Conduct 96.5% Aptitude Tests in Contrast
Kang Min-jung "Evaluation Needed During Admission Process"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] It has been found that more than half of the students admitted to medical schools do not undergo a separate 'aptitude and personality assessment.'

On the 12th, Kang Min-jung, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Open Democratic Party, analyzed the 2021 nationwide medical school admission status. Among the 3,029 quota for pre-medical courses, 1,527 students (50.4%) were finally admitted based solely on their school records or College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) scores. Looking at the ratio by admission type, the CSAT-based admission accounted for the largest portion at 37.4% (1,133 students), followed by comprehensive student record screening at 31.5% (953 students), student record screening by curriculum at 26.4% (799 students), and essay screening at 4.7% (144 students).

When classified according to whether aptitude and personality assessments were conducted, only 49.6% of the admissions included such assessments. Excluding the quota for comprehensive student record screening, where aptitude and personality assessments are naturally included as part of the admission elements, 73.6% of other admission types did not operate aptitude and personality assessments. This contrasts sharply with teacher training college admissions, where regardless of admission type, 96.5% of the total quota undergo aptitude and personality assessments.

Kang Min-jung, Open Democratic Party member (Photo by Kang Min-jung's office)

Among medical schools, only five out of 38 schools?Seoul National University, Yonsei University (Seoul), Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, and Dong-A University?selected all admitted students through aptitude and personality assessments. Among national universities, 7 out of 10 schools had less than 50% implementation of aptitude and personality assessments in their admission processes.

Assembly member Kang suggested, "Since there is no opportunity to assess aptitude and personality as a doctor before obtaining a medical license, it is necessary to improve the admission process by introducing such elements."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.