Number of applicants for medical school entrance exams in South Korea surges on fourth day of open enrollment... approaching 50,000

On the fourth day of the 2025 medical school entrance exam recruitment period, the number of applicants is approaching 50,000. Compared to last year, the competition is particularly fierce this year.
According to U-way, a service that handles various entrance exam applications, as of 6 p.m. on the 12th, approximately 47,167 people had applied to 39 medical schools nationwide for temporary admissions.
The competition ratio for all positions (excluding some positions for social considerations and equal opportunity selection) was 15.8 to 1. Of particular note was the selection for local talent, which received 12,357 applications, out of a total of 1,549 available positions.
The competition rate was about 8 times higher than the number of applicants for the university. On the other hand, the medical school, the University of Carnegie Mellon, was excluded from the statistics. Applications were accepted at each university from the 9th to the 13th, and applications were accepted from overseas nationals and foreigners.
Excluding the special selection, the total number of students selected is 3,089. 26 medical schools outside the Seoul metropolitan area are recruiting 1,549 students through the local talent selection process, while Seoul National University and Korea University have already closed their applications.
Yonsei University and Ewha Women's University also closed their applications on the same day. The remaining 35 medical schools plan to continue accepting applications until the final day.
The competition rate for the Student Affairs Department (recommended type) at Yonsei University (Seoul) was 10.2:1, up from last year (10.57:1).
The competition ratio was 14.29 to 1. The competition ratio for all positions increased from last year (6.5 to 1 for the Student Affairs Department's Subjects and 11.33 to 1 for the Student Affairs Department's General Affairs).
Seoul University (12.66 to 1 to 13.56 to 1), Korea University (27.04 to 1
The competition ratio for the medical schools of the so-called "SKY" universities has all increased from last year, following the US medical school competition ratio of the US universities (from 16.34 to 1 to 30.55 to 1). The total competition ratio for the medical schools of these three universities has increased from 16.34 to 1 to 18.82 to 1.
The competition rate for the medical school at Ewha Womans University (which only has one type of selection for future talents), which closed on the same day, was 16.39. This is a decrease from last year (20.85 to 1).
The most competitive selection among the faculties was for Sungkyunkwan University's essay selection (293 to 1), followed by Inha University's essay selection (162.58 to 1) and Gachon University's essay selection (141.
3:1), Catholic University's essay selection (120.42:1), Chung-Ang University's essay selection (111.5:1), and Kyung Hee University's essay selection (101.47:1).
The reason why the competition rate for essay selection is high in university medical school entrance exams is that if you pass the mathematics essay evaluation, you only need to meet the minimum academic standards for university entrance exams.
The reason is that it is easy for students with excellent mathematics to gather at these schools. As there are still applications open for other universities' regular recruitment, the competition rate for all medical schools is expected to intensify.
On the other hand, the 2025 recruitment is being carried out on an ongoing basis, and many applicants to medical schools have already been received, so it will be difficult to scrap the increase in admissions for 2025 as advocated by the medical community.
It is seen as something that