Impact of Medical School Quota Increase: 2025 Early Admission Cutoff Drops

With a significant increase in the number of medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year, the early admission cutoff has drastically decreased.

According to data released by Jongro Academy on the 10th, the minimum acceptance cutoff for early admission to medical schools for the 2025 academic year is projected to be 4.65. This represents a decline of 1.18 grade points compared to the previous year's cutoff of 3.47, which coincided with an increase in medical school enrollment to 4,610 students.

The overall acceptance threshold has dropped due to the increase in medical school quotas. In the 2024 academic year, 90.1% of accepted students had grades within 1.6, while in the 2025 academic year, students with grades within 1.9 accounted for 91.5% of all accepted students. This indicates that the expansion of medical school quotas has had a direct impact on the early admission cutoff.

Changes in Internal Grade Cutoffs and Regional Trends

In the 2025 academic year, it was confirmed that 18 universities had internal grade cutoffs exceeding 1.6, an increase of 8 from the 10 universities in the previous year.

The number of students exceeding a 1.6 grade cutoff is estimated to be around 543 when considering the admissions quota, which is approximately 3.4 times higher than the 159 students in the 2024 academic year.

Regionally, among the universities where cutoffs dropped below 1.6, 15 are located in local areas.

Specifically, 7 are in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, 3 each in the Chungcheong and Gangwon regions, and 1 each in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam area and Honam region.

In the capital region, only 3 universities showed internal grade cutoffs lower than 1.6. The number of universities with cutoffs exceeding 2 rose by 1 to 6 compared to the previous year, with 123 students exceeding the 2 grade cutoff, marking a 70.8% increase from 72 students in the 2024 academic year.

Conversely, the number of universities that declared a cutoff of 1 has decreased from 5 to 4 compared to the previous year.

The universities maintaining a 1.0 grade cutoff for the 2025 academic year include Kyung Hee University (Seoul, Regional Equity), Catholic University (Seoul, Regional Equity), Konyang University (Daejeon, General Student Interview), and Soonchunhyang University (Chungnam, Excellence in Academic Performance).

2026 Academic Year Outlook: Medical School Acceptance Threshold Expected to Rise Again

In contrast to the significant increase in medical school quotas for the 2025 academic year, the quota for the 2026 academic year is set to return to 3,058, suggesting that the threshold for medical school admissions will rise once again.

Next year, it is anticipated that the acceptance rate for top students with grades within 1.4 will increase, while the acceptance rate for students exceeding a 1.6 grade cutoff is expected to decrease.

Jongro Academy stated, "In the 2025 academic year, the significant increase in medical school quotas allowed students with grades in the late 1 range and into the 2 range to apply for early admission to medical schools. However, this year, it is expected that these students will be more cautious about applying to medical schools, leading to a reduction in the number of early admission applications."

Image source: Jongro Academy, reference photos for understanding the article / gettyimagesbank