Getting into medical school through regular admissions just got harder

Medical schools nationwide will admit 492 more students in the 2027 academic year than last year, but the number of seats available through the regular admissions round — open to applicants regardless of region — has actually fallen by 21. While schools are taking 499 more students through early admissions this year, regular admissions will accept 726 students, down from 747 last year.

College admissions consulting firm Jinhaksa analyzed initial enrollment figures across 39 medical schools nationwide and found that total admissions this year stand at 3,508, up 16.3 percent from 3,016 last year. Early admissions seats rose by 499, from 2,025 to 2,524. Regular admissions, by contrast, shrank from 991 to 984. The share of total seats filled through regular admissions also dropped 4.8 percentage points, from 32.9 percent to 28.1 percent.

Looking only at existing regular admissions tracks, schools will take 37 fewer students than last year. The general track fell by 21, from 747 to 726, while the regional talent track dropped by 16, from 244 to 228. The overall decline in regular admissions was limited to seven, however, because a newly created regional doctor track has been allocated 30 seats.

The regional doctor track will admit 488 students in total across early and regular admissions, with 458 of those seats — 93.9 percent — reserved for early admissions. Only three universities offer regular admissions slots under the regional doctor track: Chungbuk National University (13 seats), Chonnam National University (9 seats) and Jeju National University (8 seats).

Among the 39 schools, seven reduced their general regular admissions quota, six increased it, and the remaining 26 kept it unchanged from last year. Soonchunhyang University saw the steepest cut, dropping from 30 seats to 10. Dankook University, on the other hand, raised its general track quota from 7 to 16. However, Dankook will not admit any students through the regular admissions regional talent track this year, having taken seven through that route last year.

In the regular admissions regional talent track, Chonnam National University cut its quota from 18 to 10, and Chonbuk National University reduced its from 28 to 21. Kangwon National University increased its allocation from 5 to 8, while Konkuk University's Glocal Campus raised its from 13 to 16.

Final regular admissions figures will not be confirmed until the early admissions vacancy-filling process concludes. Seats that go unfilled in early admissions — because too few applicants meet the minimum College Scholastic Ability Test score requirements, or because students who received multiple offers decline enrollment — carry over to the regular admissions round.

Jinhaksa noted that because minimum CSAT score thresholds for medical school early admissions are generally high, a more difficult CSAT this year could push more seats into the regular admissions round.

"The fact that medical school enrollment has increased should not be taken to mean that opportunities in regular admissions have expanded as well," said Woo Yeon-cheol, head of the admissions strategy research institute at Jinhaksa. "The actual number of regular admissions seats can vary depending on CSAT difficulty and early admissions vacancy results, so applicants must check the final enrollment figures and eligibility requirements for each track after the early admissions process wraps up."