3,111 applicants for 5 seats: students flock to essay exams as a comeback card

Essay-based admissions slots account for just 22.5 percent of early admissions seats for the 2027 academic year, yet applications to those programs have surpassed half of all early admissions submissions — a sign that students are increasingly turning to essay exams as a way to overcome weak school records. The average competition ratio has also risen from last year.

College admissions consultancy Jinhaksa said Wednesday that its analysis of application data from 44 universities offering essay-based admissions found that 612,510 applications were submitted for 12,723 seats, yielding an average competition ratio of 48.14-to-1. That is up from 43.45-to-1 the previous year. The figures include duplicate applications — students applying to multiple schools — and do not reflect the actual number of individual applicants.

Total early admissions seats across general tracks at those universities stood at 56,470. Student record-based holistic review accounted for 25,357 seats, or 44.9 percent, while grade-based track seats numbered 18,390, or 32.6 percent. Essay-based admissions had the smallest share at 22.5 percent.

The application breakdown told the opposite story. Of the roughly 1.13 million total applications submitted, essay-based tracks drew 54.1 percent — more than the combined share of grade-based (12.8 percent) and holistic review (33.1 percent) tracks. The average competition ratio for essay-based admissions also far exceeded those of the grade-based track at 7.87-to-1 and the holistic review track at 14.79-to-1.

"Essay-based admissions carry little real weight on school records, making them the go-to 'comeback card' for students who feel disadvantaged by their grades," said Woo Yeon-cheol, head of the admissions strategy research institute at Jinhaksa. "Particularly this year, the concentration has become even more pronounced, as the rise in repeat exam-takers coincides with this being the final year under the current admissions system."

The most competitive program was Kyung Hee University's Korean medicine track for humanities applicants, where 3,111 students applied for 5 seats, producing a ratio of 622.20-to-1. Several medical and pharmacy programs also surpassed 500-to-1: Sahmyook University's pharmacy department at 563.40-to-1, Ajou University's pharmacy department at 527.00-to-1, and Sungkyunkwan University's medicine program at 524.60-to-1.

Among non-medical science tracks, semiconductor contract programs stood out. Sogang University's system semiconductor engineering department — a contract program with SK hynix — recorded 297.67-to-1, while Hanyang University's semiconductor engineering department came in at 211.00-to-1.

In humanities tracks, Kookmin University's business administration major posted the highest ratio at 389.09-to-1. Hanyang University's media and communications department and its political science and diplomacy department also exceeded 300-to-1, at 337.20-to-1 and 319.00-to-1, respectively.

Essay exams begin Saturday with University of Seoul, Sungshin Women's University and Hongik University's science tracks. Sungshin Women's University and Hongik University will hold their humanities-track exams Sunday. Yonsei University follows on Oct. 10, with Catholic University's non-medical and non-pharmacy programs and Chung-Ang University's creative essay exam scheduled for Oct. 11. After the College Scholastic Ability Test, exams resume from Nov. 21 with Konkuk University, select programs at Kyung Hee University, and Korea University and Sogang University's science tracks, among others.

Jinhaksa advised students not to be discouraged by the headline competition ratios and to focus instead on essay preparation and meeting minimum CSAT score requirements. "Even when the initial competition ratio looks high for essay-based admissions, the effective ratio can drop to less than one-quarter once you exclude no-shows and those who fail to meet the minimum CSAT threshold," Woo said. "If you have applied to a university with a minimum CSAT requirement, making that your top priority for the remaining period is the surest way to improve your chances of admission."