Business schools not top of SKY admissions for 5 years running — education departments lead

Over the past five years, the humanities departments with the highest admissions cutoffs in the school-recommendation-based early admissions rounds at Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University were not business schools — they were education-related departments. In the sciences, medical schools dominated, but with medicine set aside, mathematics education and computer science programs stood out.

Jongno Academy released data Monday comparing admissions results from the 2022 through 2026 academic years published on the college admissions portal "Eodiga." Education-related departments topped the humanities rankings in 6 of the 15 cases across the three universities and five years. Economics and political science and diplomacy departments each appeared twice, as did journalism and media-related programs.

The analysis covered Seoul National University's regional balance round, Yonsei University's recommendation-type round and Korea University's school recommendation round. Cutoffs were measured using the "70 percent cut" — the point at which 70 percent of enrolled students fell in terms of their high school transcript grades.

At Seoul National University, the humanities cutoff leader was the English education department in the 2022 academic year at a rating of 1.11, Korean language education in 2023 at 1.04, and English education again in 2024 at 1.02. The economics department has topped the rankings for the past two years, recording a rating of 1.11 in the 2025 academic year and 1.00 in 2026.

At Yonsei University, the top humanities department shifted each year — education in 2022, social welfare in 2023, sociology in 2024 and journalism and public relations in 2025. In the 2026 academic year, political science and diplomacy led with a rating of 1.20.

Korea University also saw a different department claim the top spot each year. After the liberal arts college in 2022, history education led in 2023, education in 2024 and the media school in 2025. In 2026, political science and diplomacy ranked first with a rating of 1.23.

In the sciences, medical schools were dominant. Of the 15 top-ranked cases across universities and years, medical schools accounted for 13 and a veterinary school for one. The only exception outside the medical and pharmaceutical fields was Seoul National University's mathematics education department in the 2026 academic year, which posted a cutoff of 1.05.

At Yonsei University and Korea University, medical schools held the highest science cutoffs in all five years analyzed. In the 2026 academic year, Yonsei University's pre-medicine program recorded a rating of 1.00 and Korea University's medical school posted 1.02.

Excluding medical and pharmaceutical programs, mathematics education and computer-related departments each topped the rankings four times. Together they accounted for 8 of the 15 cases — more than half. Mathematics education ranked first at Seoul National University in the 2023 and 2026 academic years, and at Korea University in 2022 and 2023.

In computer-related programs, Yonsei University's computer science department ranked first for three consecutive years from 2022 through 2024. At Korea University, the computer science department led in the 2025 academic year with a rating of 1.26. In 2026, excluding medical and pharmaceutical programs, Yonsei University's astronomy and space science department topped the rankings at 1.11, while Korea University's biomedical science department led at 1.14.

"In the humanities, students who receive multiple acceptances and transfer to other universities can affect the final cutoffs," said Lim Sung-ho, head of Jongno Academy. "In the sciences, mathematics-related departments are highly regarded for their broad career prospects, and computer-related departments continue to maintain high cutoffs."