The application strategies of students targeting semiconductor contract departments are changing. So-called "concurrent applications," in which students apply to medical fields alongside semiconductor programs, have declined, while cases of applying to semiconductor contract departments at multiple universities simultaneously have increased. As uncertainty over changes in medical school admission quotas has eased, preference for contract departments linked to employment at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix has strengthened, reshaping application strategies around semiconductor contract departments.
According to an analysis released Wednesday by Jinhak, based on the past two years of application data from students who disclosed the universities they actually applied to in the early admissions process, the rate of concurrent medical field applications among applicants to semiconductor contract departments at five Seoul universities (Korea University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University, and Hanyang University) fell from 45.5% for the 2025 academic year to 39.3% for the 2026 academic year, a decline of 6.2 percentage points. The number of students analyzed rose from 387 to 549, yet the rate of concurrent medical field applications actually declined.
Jinhak analyzed that this change reflects shifts in the application strategies of top-tier science-track students in response to changes in the size of medical school admissions. In the 2025 academic year, when medical school admission quotas were temporarily expanded significantly, many students applied to both medical fields and semiconductor contract departments. But in the 2026 academic year, when quotas returned to previous levels, students considered their chances of admission more realistically, leading to a decline in concurrent applications, the company explained.
By contrast, the strategy of applying to semiconductor contract departments at multiple universities spread. The rate of applying to semiconductor contract departments at other universities as well rose from 26.6% for the 2025 academic year to 27.7% for the 2026 academic year. The share of students applying to three or more semiconductor contract departments also increased from 6.7% to 9.7%, up 3.0 percentage points, while the average number of semiconductor contract department applications per applicant rose from 1.36 to 1.40.
The overall composition of applications also changed. Among applicants to semiconductor contract departments, the share of semiconductor contract departments in their total applications rose slightly from 25.5% to 26.4%, while the share of medical fields fell from 25.6% to 20.4%. This confirms a trend in which the center of gravity of applications is shifting from medical fields toward semiconductor contract departments.
Jinhak forecast that this trend will continue in this year's early admissions process. "As the continued growth of the semiconductor industry aligns with the high preference for contract departments at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, we expect concurrent applications with medical fields to decline, while the strategy of applying to semiconductor contract departments at multiple universities becomes even more pronounced," said Woo Yeon-cheol, head of Jinhak's Admissions Strategy Research Institute.
