After the government announced on the 7th that the number of medical school admissions for next year would be increased to 3,058 based on the return of medical students, the admissions industry forecasted that confusion among examinees and N re-examinees would be unavoidable. It is also predicted that the passing scores for top universities will rise due to the influx of examinees for medical college admissions resulting from previous government announcements.
Lim Seong-ho, head of Jongno Academy, noted, "Even though the results of the 2025 academic year admissions will be released, the change in the number of admissions for the 2026 academic year makes it impossible to use it as a reference for admissions predictions. This will inevitably lead to considerable confusion for this year's third-year high school students, N re-examinees, and the current second-year students who are the last eligible year for the integrated college entrance exam."
He added, "The government must swiftly confirm and announce detailed matters regarding the selection methods, regional talent selection ratio, and the scale of both regular and early admissions related to the number of admissions for the 2026 academic year to minimize confusion in the entrance process."
Last year's N re-examinees were the highest in 21 years, with 161,784, accounting for 31% of all examinees. The admissions industry believes that the government's announcement early last year to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 each year for five years from the 2025 academic year has led to a rise in those retaking the exam.
Also, this year, the number of regular medical school applicants exceeded 10,000 for the first time in six years. An analysis by Jongno Academy of the results from 39 medical schools across the country found that the number of applicants for regular admission to medical schools for the 2025 academic year totaled 10,519, a 29.9% increase (2,421) from the previous year (8,098). Among them, 2,162 students applied for the regional talent selection process at 21 medical schools that only accept students attending schools in regions with medical schools, marking an 80.8% increase from the previous year.
Kim Byeong-jin, head of the educational assessment research institute at Etoos, said, "The return of the medical school expansion to the 2024 academic year will ultimately lead to a decrease in the number of admissions compared to the 2025 academic year, which will result in higher admission results. This will not only affect the medical field, but also lead to an increase in the results for upper-tier natural science majors."