Jongno Academy announced on the 21st that 851 students who passed the regular admission for the 2025 academic year at Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University chose not to enroll. This is a 20-fold increase compared to the number of students who declined enrollment last year (43).
The significant increase in the number of students declining enrollment this year is attributed to a substantial dropout at Korea University. According to Jongno Academy, 733 students who passed the non-major type 1 selection in the College of General Studies at Korea University chose not to enroll. They were supposed to recruit 36 students, but 2036.1% of them declined.
Expanding the count of students who declined after passing the non-major selection to include universities such as Sogang University, Ewha Womans University, and Dongguk University, a total of 2276 students withdrew. This is a 12.5-fold increase compared to last year (182).
Non-major selection allows students to take various courses without choosing a major in their first year of college, deciding on a path that suits their aptitude in the second year. It began to be introduced in some universities under the name 'Department of Liberal Studies' around the 2000s, but it has been criticized as merely a stepping stone to popular departments. Nevertheless, the government has encouraged major universities to expand non-major options in order to foster interdisciplinary talent.
Non-major selection is largely divided into type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is an enrollment unit that admits students regardless of humanities or natural sciences, similar to the Department of Liberal Studies. Type 2 allows students to choose their major after determining whether they prefer humanities or natural sciences within the college.
Among the total of 2276 students, 1885 were concentrated in type 1. The number of students not enrolled in type 2 was 391, with 238 in the humanities and 153 in natural sciences.
Jongno Academy noted that "the establishment and expansion of non-major selection is a major cause, along with the emergence of a large number of additional acceptances in the multi-track admissions process, which appears to have contributed to the establishment of non-major selection. We estimate that the largest number of additional acceptances in the history of top-tier university admissions has occurred."