"Expansion Expected in Early Admission Proportion for Regional Talent in Medical Schools Outside the Capital Area"

Increase in Regular Admission Quota When Early Admission Quota Is Not Filled

As the number of medical school quotas outside the metropolitan area increases, there is a prospect that the proportion of early admission for selecting local talents may rise. For students in the metropolitan area, there may be opportunities to apply to medical schools outside the metropolitan area through regular admissions.

After the government's announcement to increase the quota of medical school students by 2,000, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education (second from the right), is seen starting the meeting with presidents of medical schools at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 22nd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to Jongro Academy on the 24th, based on data before the announcement of the expansion of medical school quotas, the scale of local talent selection at non-metropolitan medical schools for the 2025 academic year was 1,071, accounting for 52.9% of the total quota of non-metropolitan medical schools. Among the 1,071 local talent admissions, 850 (79.4%) were planned to be selected through early admissions.

Jongro Academy predicted that with the expansion of medical school quotas, the number of non-metropolitan high school seniors scoring in the top 1 grade in mathematics could drop to about 90% of the total medical school quota. They analyzed that most non-metropolitan students would be selected through the local talent early admission track, while regular admissions would focus more on nationwide selection rather than local talent.

If the government’s plan to expand the local talent admission rate from 40% to 60% is implemented and the number of local talent selections in early admissions exceeds 80%, the number of local talent admissions through early admissions is expected to reach 1,758.

Also, if non-metropolitan medical schools fail to fill the local talent early admission quotas, the number of students carried over to regular admissions may increase. Since the implementation of the integrated CSAT, the number of students carried over between early and regular admissions in medical schools was 63 in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 33 in 2024. Among these, 52, all 13, and 24 respectively were non-metropolitan admissions.

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, said, "Since duplicate admissions between medical schools may increase, non-metropolitan universities will try to select as many students as possible through early admissions," adding, "As a result, the cutoff for early admission grades may also drop." He further explained, "Conversely, students from the metropolitan area including Seoul will have opportunities to apply to non-metropolitan medical schools through regular admissions."

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