Applications for South Korea's new regional doctor track, which requires students to serve 10 years in the region where they are admitted, topped 11 to 1 in its first year of early admissions. Under the program, students selected through the track must practice in a designated region for a set period after graduating from medical school.
A total of 5,076 students applied to the regional doctor track across 31 medical schools nationwide for the 2027 academic year, producing an average ratio of 11.08 applicants per seat, according to Jongro Academy on the 14th.
Four medical schools in the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi area drew 192 applicants for an average ratio of 8.73 to 1, while 27 schools outside the capital region drew 4,884 applicants for an average of 11.20 to 1. At the non-capital schools, the regional doctor track drew more applicants per seat than the existing regional talent track, which carries no mandatory service requirement and posted a ratio of 10.52 to 1. Still, because the regional doctor track requires 10 years of service in the designated region, its admission cutoffs are expected to fall below those of conventional medical school tracks.
By school, Kosin University recorded the highest ratio in the country at 23.00 to 1, followed by Jeonbuk National University at 21.29 to 1, Dong-A University at 19.53 to 1, Chosun University at 16.89 to 1, Konkuk University's Glocal Campus at 16.00 to 1, Keimyung University at 15.20 to 1, Yeungnam University at 15.15 to 1 and Catholic Kwandong University at 14.17 to 1.
Among the four schools in the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi area, Sungkyunkwan University led at 11.67 to 1, followed by Inha University at 9.50 to 1, Gachon University at 8.71 to 1 and Ajou University at 6.50 to 1. Applicants to the existing regional talent track at the 27 non-capital schools fell by 356, or 3.2%, from a year earlier, raising the possibility that the introduction of the regional doctor track drew away some applicants.
Many top-scoring test takers living outside the capital region are believed to have applied to both the regional doctor track and the existing regional talent track. Actual admission cutoffs will therefore depend heavily on how many students withdraw after winning multiple early admissions offers. Successful applicants to the existing regional talent track are expected to move if they also win a place at a medical school in the capital region, while those admitted through the regional doctor track are likely to withdraw if they also gain admission to the regional talent track, which carries no service obligation. "It is difficult to predict cutoffs from current ratios alone, because we have not yet confirmed whether applicants to the regional doctor track aimed higher or lower than their scores," said Lim Sung-ho, head of Jongro Academy. "There is a possibility of considerable gaps in the scale of withdrawals from multiple admissions and in final cutoffs, depending on the school and the region."
