2025 Academic Year Analysis of Admission Results in Seoul Universities: Disparity Between Humanities and Sciences

In the 2025 admissions cycle for universities located in Seoul, it has been revealed that the gap in school records between science and humanities students who were accepted through the subject-based admission process has significantly widened.

According to a report released by Jongno Academy on the 20th, the average school record score for successful candidates in the subject-based admission process at universities in Seoul is 2.08 for science students and 2.58 for humanities students.

This gap stands at 0.50 grades, marking the largest difference since the introduction of the integrated college entrance exam system in the 2022 academic year. The trend of science students having superior school records is becoming increasingly evident.

In the first year of the integrated exam system in 2022, there was a gap of 0.23 grades, 0.19 grades in 2023, and 0.44 grades in 2024, but in 2025, this disparity has further expanded.

A similar pattern is observed in the comprehensive student evaluation system. Among the successful candidates for the comprehensive evaluation at universities in Seoul, the average school record score for humanities students is 3.05, while that for science students is 2.71, indicating that science students have better school records.

Dominance of Science Students in Both the Capital Region and Local Areas, Favorable Structure in the College Entrance Exam

This phenomenon is evident not only in Seoul but also across universities in both the capital region and local areas.

For both the subject-based admission process and the comprehensive evaluation process, the cutoff scores for science students have been higher than those for humanities students for four consecutive years following the transition to the integrated exam system.

Science students are also expected to perform strongly in the college entrance exam. Looking at the results of the mock evaluation for the 2026 college entrance exam conducted last June, the highest standard score for calculus, the subject primarily chosen by science students, was 143, and for geometry, it was 140.

In contrast, the probability and statistics subject, primarily chosen by humanities students, scored only 136. In the Korean language section, the highest standard score for "Language and Media," chosen mainly by science students, was 137, which is higher than the 132 scored by "Speech and Writing," favored by humanities students. This indicates a favorable structure for science students in the college entrance exam as well.

Recent trends among major universities expanding their 'undecided major admissions' should also be noted.

Given that a significant number of students receiving high scores in the entrance exam and school records are from science disciplines, there are predictions that science students will also have advantages in these admission processes.

Im Seong-ho, the representative of Jongno Academy, advised, "Students in the humanities stream for the 2026 academic year need to recognize the ongoing disparity in school records between humanities and science students. Those who choose probability and statistics or speech and writing in the college entrance exam should make careful decisions regarding university selection by comprehensively considering the acceptance rates for mathematics subjects among universities they wish to apply to."

Image source: Material photos for better understanding of the article / gettyimagesbank, material photos for better understanding of the article / News1