Seoul's top 10 universities have reduced their regular admissions (jeongsi) quotas for the 2028 academic year compared with the previous year. The so-called SKY universities — Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University — saw a steep drop of nearly 500 students in their regular admissions intake.
According to Jongro Academy on the 3rd, the regular admissions ratio at four-year universities nationwide for the 2028 academic year stood at 19.2 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from 19.7 percent a year earlier.
The cuts were most pronounced at major universities in Seoul. The combined regular admissions quota at Seoul's top 10 universities for the 2028 academic year totaled 14,987 students, down nearly 1,000 from 15,891 the previous year. By school, Seoul National University cut 242 slots, Yonsei University 331, and Hanyang University 312.
Compared with the 2027 academic year, Seoul National University reduced its quota by 242, Yonsei by 331, and Hanyang by 312. Within the SKY group alone, regular admissions slots were slashed by 576, or 11.3 percent. Most of the reduced regular admissions capacity was reallocated to early admissions (susi).
Education experts expect the expansion of early admissions at top-tier universities to widen the "chain movement" in the admissions process. This occurs when students with multiple early-admission offers at top universities move on to medical schools and other institutions. For example, in the 2026 academic year, Yonsei University's natural sciences track saw additional admissions equivalent to 102.9 percent of the original quota — meaning more students than the initial quota were admitted before moving on to other universities.
Jongro Academy projected that this trend is likely to weigh on regional universities. Regional universities will still fill 89.8 percent of their total admissions through early admissions in the 2028 academic year, and an increased outflow to metropolitan-area universities could widen their enrollment shortfalls. Of the 22,887 students whose unfilled early-admission slots were carried over to regular admissions in the 2026 academic year, regional universities accounted for 87.2 percent.
"If student attrition from multiple early-admission offers increases, early-admission cutoffs at some Seoul universities could fall," Lim Sung-ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, said. "The polarization could deepen, with regional universities facing wider enrollment shortfalls and metropolitan-area universities seeing intensified competition."
