Eight of every 10 students who dropped out of South Korean medical schools last year were enrolled at schools outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Admissions consultants believe a substantial share left to reapply to medical schools in and around the capital after enrolling at provincial ones.
A total of 383 students dropped out of the country's 39 medical schools in 2025, according to an analysis of public disclosure data from the Academic Information Disclosure System by Jongro Academy released on the 6th. Of those, 301 students, or 78.6% of the total, were at provincial schools. Seoul-based schools accounted for 48 dropouts, or 12.5%, and schools in Gyeonggi and Incheon for 34, or 8.9%.
Dropout numbers have risen sharply since the government expanded medical school enrollment quotas. The figure stood at 178 in 2022 and 201 in 2023 before jumping to 386 in 2024, then held at a similar level of 383 last year. That is an increase of 205 students, or 115.2%, from 2022.
The rise was most pronounced at provincial schools. In the Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang region, dropouts climbed to 67 last year from 27 in 2022. The Chungcheong region rose to 66 from 28, and the Daegu and North Gyeongsang region to 56 from 19. Gangwon went to 51 from 23 over the same period, and Jeju to 12 from two. The Honam region recorded 49 last year, down from 77 in 2024 but still above the 39 logged in 2022.
Kangwon National University had the most dropouts at 22, followed by Wonkwang University with 18, Gyeongsang National University and Dankook University's Cheonan campus with 17 each, and Hanyang University with 16. Four of the five schools with the highest dropout counts were outside the Seoul metropolitan area.
Admissions consultants cite reapplication to Seoul-area medical schools as one reason provincial schools see so many departures. As local-talent admissions tracks expanded starting in 2023, more high-performing students in the provinces enrolled at nearby medical schools, and some of them are believed to have left after enrollment to prepare again for schools in the capital region. Some dropouts are also thought to involve students who could not adjust to medical school or who switched to a different field of study.
"Once the regional physician system takes effect with the 2027 admissions cycle, even more local students will enter provincial medical schools," said Lim Sung-ho, head of Jongro Academy. "There are concerns that if the dropout trend at provincial medical schools continues, we could see these students moving back to medical schools in the capital region."
