[2025 Early Admission Special] 'Medical School Expansion and Increased Non-Major Options' Multiple Variables... Need to Consider Changes by University

Total Recruitment Quota and Early Admission Decrease Compared to Last Year
Reduced Recruitment Numbers for Each Admission Type Including Student Records and Essay
Must Consider Record High of Repeat Test Takers in This Year's CSAT
Expansion of Non-Major Admissions Expected to Significantly Affect Cutoff Scores

From the 9th, the application period for the 2025 academic year university early admission will begin. Examinees are expected to establish their early admission application strategies by considering variables such as the expansion of autonomous major (undeclared major) selection and the increase in medical school quotas.

According to the Korea Council for University Education on the 4th, this year, 196 universities nationwide will select 271,481 students through early admission, accounting for 79.6% of the total recruitment of 340,934 students. Although the number of selected students decreased by 551 compared to last year, the proportion of early admission selection increased by 0.6 percentage points due to the overall reduction in recruitment numbers. This is the highest early admission selection rate in the past five years.

On the 22nd, the first day of application submission for the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test, a test taker is submitting an application at the Northern Education Support Office in Dobong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

In this freshman recruitment, universities reduced the total number of recruits as they began their own restructuring due to the decrease in the school-age population, similar to last year. The number decreased by 3,362 compared to last year (344,296). The number of recruits has been declining for three years since the 2023 academic year (349,124).

Due to the decrease in total recruitment, the number of recruits for each early admission screening type also decreased. By screening type, 154,475 students (56.9%) will be selected through student record-based (curriculum) screening, 78,924 students (29.1%) through student record-based (comprehensive) screening, 11,266 students (4.1%) through essay-based screening, 22,531 students (8.3%) through practical/performance-based screening, and 4,285 students (1.6%) through other methods.

This year’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is expected to see the highest-ever proportion of repeat test takers (graduates or above) due to the expansion of medical school quotas. As a result, it is analyzed that this will significantly affect the acceptance scores not only for natural sciences but also for top students regardless of their field. In particular, with the number of autonomous major selections increasing by about 28,000 compared to last year, predicting acceptance scores has become difficult.

Lee Mangi, director of Uway Education Evaluation Research Institute, said, "This year, the influx of repeat test takers aiming for the expanded medical school quotas is expected to be greater than ever. In early admission, especially in student record comprehensive screening and essay screening, the participation rate of repeat test takers is high, so current students may have an advantage in student record curriculum screening. Also, as most universities expand undeclared major selection and broaden recruitment units, the number of recruits is large, and depending on competition rates, the range of changes in acceptance scores can be significant."

Most major universities maintain similar early admission recruitment ratios and main screening methods as the previous year. However, it is necessary to check and prepare for changes such as whether the university applies minimum CSAT score requirements and detailed selection methods.

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