'Medical School Enrollment Increase by 2000 Students' Overcome Critical Phase... Admission Impact Starting This Year's Examinees

1469 Increase in 2025 College Admissions
Jongno Academy: "68% of SKY Science and Engineering in Passing Range"
Expected Decline in Passing Scores, Increase in Repeat Students

The court's decision to dismiss the appeal for the suspension of the enforcement of medical school quota expansion has effectively confirmed the increase of 2,000 medical school seats for the first time in 27 years. In response, the education sector anticipates that from the early admission application period in September this year, there will be an increase in upward applications and a rise in the number of repeat test-takers, which will impact the college entrance exam cutoff scores.

The Administrative Division 7 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Gu Hoe-geun, Bae Sang-won, and Choi Da-eun) on the 16th dismissed the appeal filed by 18 medical school professors, residents, and medical students against the Ministers of Health and Welfare and Education regarding the suspension of the enforcement of the medical school quota expansion.

As a result, the medical school quota is expected to increase by 1,469 students (excluding CHA University of Science and Technology) for the 2025 academic year admissions. From the 2026 academic year admissions onward, the plan is to apply the full increase of 2,000 students, raising the quota from 3,058 to 5,058.

Jongno Academy analyzed that if the medical school quota increases by 1,469 students, 67.7% of science and engineering students from Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University will fall within the acceptance range. The regional talent admission quota is expected to increase from the current 1,071 students (54.0%) to 1,966 students (63.2%).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, stated, "If the medical school quota expansion is confirmed, the number of top-tier repeat test-takers will increase, and current high school seniors may feel anxious. From the early admission application period in September, upward applications may increase due to the expanded medical school quotas."

He also predicted that the number of applicants challenging the entrance exam, including repeat test-takers and current university students, will rise. Lim said, "With the expansion of medical school quotas, the number of multiple acceptances will increase, and there will be many additional successful candidates, which could lower the cutoff scores. This could become an important variable depending on the future scale and level of repeat test-takers."

He anticipated that as the number of regional talent admission slots increases, students with excellent school records in provincial areas are more likely to retake the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). Additionally, there is an analysis that the dropout rate among KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and other top-tier science and engineering students may increase.

There is also an analysis that the number of students selected through the regional talent admission in local universities, where the quota increase is significant, will be a key variable. Although the quota increase will be adjusted by university, the government has announced a policy to raise the proportion of regional talent admissions to up to 60% per university. Kim Byung-jin, director of the Etoos Education Evaluation Research Institute, advised, "While there will be a domino effect on admissions due to the lack of restrictions on the scale of regional talent admissions, attention should be paid until the announcement of the early admission guidelines at the end of May, which will reveal the scale of regional talent admissions."

The Korea Council for University Education will review and finalize the revised college entrance exam implementation plan next week based on the court's decision. The final university-specific early admission guidelines, including the final recruitment quotas, will be announced from the end of this month to early next month.

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