Entrance scores for Korean medical schools keep rising due to competition

A professor passes by the main building of a medical school in Seoul. [Photo by Lee Chung-woo]

While entrance exam scores for medical schools in South Korea have continued to rise over the past three years, those for the country’s top universities, including Seoul National University (SNU), Yonsei University and Korea University, which are commonly referred to as SKY universities, have declined, reflecting preference among top students toward medical schools and falling school-age population.

These findings are based on data released by Jongno Academy on Wednesday on the average passing scores of SKY universities and 31 medical schools across the country from 2020 to 2022. The average passing score for the medical schools was 97.9 points in 2022, up from 97.4 in the 2020-2021 academic year.

But the passing score for SNU’s natural science departments in 2022 was 95.3, which is slightly higher than the scores for 2020 and 2021. As a result, the gap between the passing scores for the university’s natural science departments and medical school was 2.6 points in 2022, which is higher than 2.0 points in 2021 and 2.2 points in 2020.

The average passing score for SKY universities’ natural science departments also showed a downward trend. The average passing score was 95.0 in 2020, 94.6 in 2021 and 94.4 in 2022. Consequently, the gap between the passing scores for SKY universities’ natural science departments and medical schools has widened over the years at 2.5 points in 2020, 2.7 points in 2021 and 3.5 points in 2022.

The average entrance scores for the top 10 universities, including SKY universities, have also declined. The average passing score for their humanities departments fell to 91.0 in 2022 from 94.4 in 2020, while the score for natural science departments fell to 92.8 from 93.4 in the same period.