Survey Finds 2026 Early Applicants Avoid Safe Schools, Prefer Ambitious Choices and Specific Majors Over Major-Free Options

For the 2026 university admissions early application process, it is expected that test-takers will be more likely to apply to schools that match their ambitions rather than choosing safer options below their academic performance in order to secure admission.

On August 6, Jongro Academy released the results of an online survey on "2026 University Admissions Early Application Preferences," conducted from July 23 to July 27 with 1,089 test-takers.

According to the results, 4 out of 10 respondents (44.5%) said they would not apply to any lower-ranked universities among the maximum six early application choices. The proportion who said they would make one lower-ranked application was 36.7%.

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On the other hand, more than half of the test-takers said they would apply ambitiously to higher-ranked universities two or three times. Specifically, 39.0% selected "two ambitious applications," while 26.6% chose "three ambitious applications."

Regarding applications to universities that match their academic performance ("appropriate applications"), the most common answer was "two times" at 42.5%, followed by "three times" at 34.1%.

Looking at the combinations of ambitious, appropriate, and safe choices: ▲ Two ambitious, three appropriate, and one safe application was the most common at 19.5%. This was followed by ▲ Four ambitious, two appropriate, and zero safe applications (14.6%), ▲ Two ambitious, two appropriate, and two safe applications (14.3%), ▲ Three ambitious, two appropriate, and one safe application (13.0%), and ▲ Three ambitious, three appropriate, and zero safe applications (12.7%).

The average number of applications was 2.9 for ambitious choices, 2.3 for appropriate choices, and 0.8 for safe choices.

Jongro Academy interpreted the results by saying, "Although this year's admissions environment has become more challenging compared to last year due to factors such as a reduction in medical school admissions quotas, the focus in early applications is shifting toward ambitious and appropriate choices rather than safe ones."

Regarding the types of majors students intend to apply for in this early application round, "specific majors" accounted for 66.4%, which was higher than Major-Free Type 2 (selection within a field, 18.5%) and Major-Free Type 1 (complete integration of humanities and sciences, 15.2%).

Among science-track test-takers, 34.6% said they were willing to apply across disciplines to humanities-track majors.

For those considering cross-application to humanities majors, the most popular choices were business and economics-related majors (67.0%), followed by education-related majors such as teacher training colleges (9.7%), and social sciences-related majors (7.8%).

Lim Sung-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, stated, "Although the medical school admissions quota has been reduced and the number of third-year high school students has increased by about 47,000 compared to last year, making the admissions process generally more competitive, it appears that students are placing more emphasis on appropriate and ambitious applications among their six early application choices. It is expected that many students will make four or more appropriate or ambitious applications." He added, "There currently seems to be little trend toward safe, lower-ranked applications in the early admissions process."

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