The number of medical school freshmen from gifted schools and science high schools declined this year. Experts attribute the drop to the "sanctions on enrollment in medical and pharmaceutical programs" established in 2021 by the Ministry of Education and the Council of Gifted School Principals. The government has strengthened penalties for students from these schools who pursue medical degrees, viewing it as inconsistent with the founding purpose of such institutions — to nurture science and technology talent.
According to data the Ministry of Education submitted to the office of Rep. Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea on the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on June 4, 97 gifted school and science high school graduates — including repeat test-takers — entered medical schools for the 2026 academic year, down 60 from 157 the previous year. Compared with 167 for the 2024 academic year, the figure fell by 70 over two years.
The downward trend becomes even more pronounced when the statistical scope is broadened. The number of gifted school and science high school graduates entering medical and dental schools dropped steadily — from 202 for the 2024 academic year to 179 for 2025 and 113 for 2026. The data covers 36 of the 39 universities nationwide with medical or dental schools, excluding Catholic University of Korea, Sungkyunkwan University and Hanyang University. Among these, Seoul National University's medical and dental schools saw admissions from gifted and science high school graduates rise from 15 for the 2024 academic year to 19 for 2025, before falling to eight for 2026.
Some have interpreted the decline in gifted and science high school graduates entering medical programs as a sign that the so-called "med school fever" is subsiding. In reality, however, competition for medical school admissions has intensified. According to an analysis by Jongno Academy, the competition ratio for medical schools for the 2026 academic year stood at 6.61 to 1, up from 6.58 to 1 the previous year when medical school enrollment quotas were expanded by more than 500 seats. For reference, the number of students admitted to medical schools through the regular admissions cycle was 1,599 for the 2025 academic year and 1,078 for 2026.
This has led analysts to conclude that sanctions against gifted and science high school graduates pursuing medical programs are directly driving the decline in related admissions. Since the 2022 academic year, both gifted schools and science high schools have required incoming students to sign pledges consenting to "sanctions on medical school enrollment." As a result, middle school students who aspire to become doctors tend to avoid these schools from the outset.
The level of sanctions imposed on gifted school graduates who pursue medical programs is so stringent that some describe it as "excessive." First, schools provide no counseling or college admissions guidance for students who wish to enter medical programs after enrollment and even recommend transferring to a general high school. Second, when applying to medical programs, students receive a student record based on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act instead of the specialized gifted school transcript under the Gifted Education Promotion Act. This means the student is provided with a class-rank-based record rather than a GPA-based one, and all research activities and creative programs run by the gifted school are submitted as blank entries. In effect, admission through the comprehensive student record evaluation or the curriculum-based evaluation becomes virtually impossible. Additional measures include restrictions on dormitory and study room access outside regular class hours, as well as recovery of additional tuition and scholarships invested in the gifted school curriculum. Given these conditions, students who dream of entering medical school have no choice but to attend nationwide autonomous private high schools or general high schools instead. Science high schools also apply their own sanctions by adopting the gifted school sanctions framework.
Due to these penalties, the number of students who transferred out of or dropped out of gifted and science high schools between 2020 and 2023 reached 303. Industry observers believe that a significant number of students — not captured in official statistics — also withdrew from science or gifted high schools, passed the qualification examination and entered medical schools through that route.