CSAT sites crowded with re-test takers with more seats open in med school

The 2025 college admission season has just begun since the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was held on Thursday with confusion remaining around the scale of the med school quota hike. The number of test takers rose by 20,000 compared to the previous year to 520,000, 161,700 of whom have taken it more than once, hitting a record high in 21 years. The upward trend of going back to study for college results from the fact that med school quotas this year increased to 1,552, similar to those in STEM departments at Seoul National University (SNU); the worry among students that med school quotas might change in the following year.

There has been growing uncertainty about the college admissions system. Last year, college-bound students were left confused as the government announced five months before the CSAT that the so-called highly difficult “killer questions” would be scrapped. As if things weren’t enough, it decided to increase this year’s med school quotas all of a sudden. As per the Higher Education Act, overall plans for college admissions and college-level admission programs shall be publicly announced at least four years and 22 months, respectively, before the beginning of the school year. However, not until February did the government make a “surprise” announcement to add 2,000 new seats to med schools, and school-level quotas were determined in late May. The administration rationalized the sudden policy announcement by arguing that it does not entail any legal issues given the inevitability that comes with a projected shortage of doctors 10 years later. It cannot refuse to acknowledge its failure to provide predictability and stability in college admission policy.

The problem is that young students will likely face growing confusion as this year’s college admission season continues. It was reported that doctors’ associations suggested at the first meeting of a consultative body of the government, the ruling and opposition parties, and doctors, which was designed to find a breakthrough in the conflict between the government and doctors, that the scale of additional registration for early and regular admissions of this year should be reduced significantly to prevent the strain on med schools that has come from their students collectively taking time off. If implemented, medical schools may accept fewer students than before the current quota hike. It will surely come across as completely unexpected news to test takers who have expected to find it easier to get into med school. Aspiring medics and the rest of the test takers are likely to feel burdened and nervous. After all, there is still a possibility of tweaking the number of med school seats even around the CSAT.

Even high school juniors are going through chaotic times as the government said it could revisit next year’s med school quota plans. Apparently affected by the policy change, 6.5 percent of 3,610 SNU freshmen quit school last year, and 30 percent of dropouts were engineering majors. With multi-time test takers growing in numbers, the nation has rising social costs, prolonged confusion over the college admission system, an obvious shortage of doctors, and a failing ecosystem of nurturing young scientists and engineers. Indeed, there is too hefty a price tag attached to missing the right time for admitting errors in the med school quota policy.