Seoul National University Arranged Interview after CSAT

Seoul National University (SNU) is to put off the 2nd stage of open admissions after the College Scholastic Ability Test from the 2003 academic year.

This a result of the criticism that the 2nd semester admissions that was earlier than the SCAT had negative effects on high school classes, and is likely to influence the selection period of other colleges.

On the 3rd, a SNU source remarked, "we are now making arrangements to help normalize high school education, the 1st stage of the selection process, including accepting applications and screening papers, is to be finished before the CSAT, but the 2nd stage of oral examination will take place after the CSAT. And we will go on discussing the specific dates for the selection."

The source added, "When we consider the scheduled admissions process, it is impossible to put off the beginning of selecting applicants after the CSAT, because we will be too pressed for time. So the time for receiving applications is to be later than this year or close to it."

The Seoul National University plans to announce admitted applicants for the 1st stage of selections around the time of the CSAT in 2003 and then announce the final group of accepted applicants in the 2nd round of oral examination after the CSAT.

If the 2nd round of selections is put off after the CSAT, the system of the preliminarily accepted applicants will be dropped. This will lead to selecting applicants according to their satisfaction of the criteria of CSAT. The students seem to be able to concentrate on their preparation for the CSAT without any burden of preparing for the oral exam before the CSAT.

Chang-Won Kim changkim@donga.com