The LEET Craze Driven by Employment Difficulties... About 19,400 Applicants This Year

Increase in Popularity of Civil Servant Aspirants
STEM Students and Office Workers Join In
12% Rise from Last Year, Record High
Only 1 in 10 Can Enter Law School

The number of applicants registering for the Law School Admission Test (LEET) has reached an all-time high. This marks the tenth consecutive year of increase. Analysts attribute this surge in law school enthusiasm to a wide range of applicants, including students from humanities and science fields, public service exam takers, and office workers.

According to the Law School Council (Chairman Lee Sang-kyung), 19,400 applicants registered for the 2025 academic year LEET between the 21st of last month and the 5th of this month.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

This is an 11.8% increase from last year's 17,360 applicants, setting a new record. Compared to the first year of the LEET exam in 2009 (10,960 applicants), it has increased by 77%, and it is 2.5 times higher than the year with the fewest applicants, 2013 (7,628 applicants).

The number of LEET registrants has been rising for ten consecutive years: △2016 academic year 8,246 △2017 academic year 8,838 △2018 academic year 10,206 △2019 academic year 10,502 △2020 academic year 11,161 △2021 academic year 12,244 △2022 academic year 13,955 △2023 academic year 14,620 △2024 academic year 17,360.

The law school admission quota is 2,000 students, but the competition rate has been increasing every year. This year, only one out of ten LEET test takers can enter law school.

The surge in LEET applicants is analyzed to be due to fewer cases of immediate employment after university graduation, leading more people to turn to law school as an alternative.

An official from a law school admissions agency said, “The number of examinees preparing for the LEET exam right after entering university is also increasing,” adding, “In a difficult employment situation, they are preparing for law school admission early.”

There is also analysis that the recent decline in popularity of public service jobs, due to low salaries and other reasons, has led many university students aspiring to become public officials to turn their attention to law school.

Another official from a law school admissions agency stated, “In the past, public service was popular because it was considered stable, but due to low salaries and rigid organizational culture, it no longer appeals to the MZ generation,” adding, “Outstanding students are flocking to law school to become legal professionals.”

With the economic slowdown, many office workers are also knocking on the doors of law schools, expressing anxiety about their future.

An office worker who attends a LEET study group twice a week near Gangnam Station in Seoul said, “LEET doesn’t have many test subjects, and once you get used to the question types, the chances of passing seem relatively high, so I started preparing after work,” emphasizing, “I want to obtain a lawyer’s license to prepare for old age without relying on unstable employment.”

The ongoing law school “re-taking” craze also plays a role. The demand for transferring from non-metropolitan law schools to metropolitan ones is increasing among students who hope to join large law firms.

This is based on the judgment that entering popular law schools such as SKY (Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University) is advantageous for employment at major law firms. In fact, the number of dropouts from the 25 law schools nationwide has been increasing every year: 180 in 2020, 195 in 2021, and 236 in 2022.

Reporter Lee Soon-gyu, Legal Newspaper

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.

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