One in five successful applicants to Seoul National University (SNU) through regular admissions this year is a “three-time or more” exam retaker. Applicants from Seoul made up about half of the successful candidates.
On February 7th, Jongro Academy analyzed the 2025 SNU regular admission results and found that out of 1,570 initial successful candidates, 330 (21%) had taken the university entrance exam three times or more. This percentage is the highest in the last 10 years. The ratio of three or more-time exam retakers in SNU’s regular admissions dropped from 9.6% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2017 but has been gradually increasing, reaching 19.3% last year (2024 admissions).
Due to increased quotas for medical school admissions, ongoing students at universities have been reattempting entry examinations, resulting in some gaining admission to SNU, influencing the increase in three-time or more retaker success rates. Lim Seong-ho, head of Jongro Academy, mentioned that a significant number of top scorers, who have taken the exam three times or more, likely gained admission to multiple prominent universities, including medical schools. Consequently, with the increased quotas for medical school admissions, there may be more cases of successful SNU applicants overlapping with those admitted to medical schools while opting out of enrollment at SNU compared to last year.
The proportion of retaker applicants has risen, while those repeating the exam once dropped slightly to 571 (36.4%) from 624 (40.4%) the previous year. Successful high school senior applicants increased to 633 (40.3%) from 589 (38.1%) the year before. The slightly easier exam in 2025 compared to the previous year is believed to have narrowed the score gap between high school seniors and retakers. Lim expressed that due to the expansion of the local talent recruitment in admissions, some retakers with excellent school grades might have chosen other opportunities.
By school type, 999 (63.6%) of the successful candidates were from general high schools, similar to last year’s 986 (63.8%). Those from special-purpose or autonomous private high schools numbered 432 (27.5%), showing little change from the previous year’s 427 (27.6%).
From a regional perspective, candidates from Seoul accounted for nearly half of the successful admissions. Seoul-born successful candidates numbered 718 (46.8%), an increase from 676 (44.7%) the previous year, marking the second-highest percentage in the last decade, following 2023’s 48.5%. Candidates from military areas decreased to 55 (3.6%) from 63 (4.2%) the previous year.
Professor Park Nam-ki from Gwangju National University of Education indicated that concentrating students with similar backgrounds might hinder their understanding of those from different environments. He emphasized that SNU, as a university responsible for nurturing the nation’s core talents, should pay greater attention to meeting the standard for securing diversity among incoming students.