2026 medical school admissions at risk, warns resigned doctors' representative

If the government adheres to the increased medical school enrollment quota for next year, it could disrupt the 2026 medical school admissions, the representative of resigned trainee doctors has warned.

Park Dan, head of the emergency committee of the Korean Intern Resident Association, added that the government has an opportunity to re-discuss the 2025 enrollment quota, noting that each university has stated in its prospectus that it is “subject to change according to the result of the enrollment quota adjustment.”

On Monday, Park made these and other claims on his Facebook page, linking to an article about the mass class boycotts at Tokyo University in 1968. These boycotts resulted in a shortage of teaching days and forced the top Japanese university to cancel the 1969 class for fear of lowering the quality of education.

Park noted that if the government implements a 4,500-student enrollment quota for the 2025 school year, the total number of first-year pre-med students will be 7,500, including the 3,000 students who took a leave of absence this year.

“It is impossible to educate even 6,000 students. Any sane government and school should reconsider the existing 3,000 enrollment quota,” Park said.

If the increase is forced through, universities could suspend medical school admissions for the class of 2026, like Tokyo University, which stopped accepting students in 1969, citing educational conditions.

Furthermore, what will happen in the 2026 academic year? Park said.

“Based on the availability of medical education and the case of Tokyo University, it is quite possible that medical school admissions for the 2026 academic year will be completely suspended, i.e., the number of medical school seats nationwide will be zero,’” he said. “Current high school seniors may benefit from the expansion policy, but sophomores will be completely deprived of the opportunity to enter medical school.”

He continued, “We are not sure if even the medical school entrance examination for the 2027 academic year can be normalized. If medical school recruitment is halted, the passing line for science and engineering majors at Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University may also be raised.”

“It is doubtful that the government and universities are taking measures or even recognizing the problem,” Park said, pointing out that there is a chance that the number of medical school students for 2025 will be revisited.

“Each university's recruitment guidelines state that 'recruitment units and numbers are subject to change depending on the outcome of the student quota adjustment,'” Park said, adding that this shows university admissions officials may be better aware of the serious situation than government officials.

“I wonder if normal university admissions will be possible in 2025 and 2026. Let's take a closer look at how serious the repercussions of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's half-baked policies will be,” he concluded.