Only 3 out of 10 Regional Medical Schools Exceed 60% Local Talent Quota

As the government announced an expansion of medical school admissions by 2,000 students starting from the 2025 academic year, it was revealed that only about 3 out of 10 regional medical schools have a local talent selection rate exceeding 60%.

According to Jongro Academy on the 12th, based on the '2025 Academic Year University Admission Standards' released before the government's announcement of medical school quota expansion, among 26 regional medical schools, only 7 universities (Dong-A University, Pusan National University, Chonnam National University, Gyeongsang National University, Jeonbuk National University, Chosun University, Daegu Catholic University) had a local talent selection rate exceeding 60%, accounting for 27%.

By admission type, 14 universities exceeded a 60% local talent selection rate in early admissions, while only 3 universities did so in regular admissions.

The government aims to notify universities of their respective quotas by mid to late April based on the local talent admission demand survey results scheduled for next month. The initially proposed 2025 academic year admission plan did not reflect the government's policy to expand local talent admissions.

The local talent admission track is a system where only students who have completed their entire high school education in the respective region can apply to medical schools within that region. Typically, the acceptance threshold for local talent admissions is lower than for other admission tracks.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

If the government's expansion policy applies to universities that currently do not have a local talent selection rate exceeding 60%, it is expected that the acceptance thresholds for regional medical schools will decline. The 26 regional universities had planned to select an average of 63.8% through early admission local talent tracks for the 2025 academic year.

By region, Honam had the highest rate at 73.2%, followed by Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) at 73.0%, Daegu-Gyeongbuk at 64.4%, Jeju at 60.0%, Chungcheong at 58.6%, and Gangwon at 38.1%. Regions that did not select 60% or more through local talent admissions were Chungcheong and Gangwon.

By university, Pusan National University (100%), Dong-A University (100%), and Chonnam National University (89.2%) had high local talent selection rates. Yonsei University (Mirae Campus) had the lowest local talent selection rate in early admissions at 31.9%.

In regular admissions, the 26 regional universities selected an average of 33.7% through local talent tracks. The Bu-Ul-Gyeong region had the highest rate at 52.3%, followed by Honam at 45.1%, Jeju at 40.0%, Chungcheong at 30.3%, and Daegu-Gyeongbuk at 18.4%. Gangwon had a 0% local talent admission rate. By university, Gyeongsang National University had the highest rate at 76.9%, followed by Dong-A University (73.7%) and Chungnam National University (66.7%). The region with the highest ratio of local talent admissions relative to the number of high school seniors was Honam (0.7%).

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, analyzed, "The number of students within each region is limited for local talent admissions. If local talent admissions increase in early or regular admissions, it is expected that the internal grade acceptance thresholds at each school will decline."

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