Elite high school grads still on top
Seoul’s major universities continue to accept more graduates from autonomous high schools while the number of graduates from regular high schools is decreasing, according to an analysis by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education. The conclusion was based on announcements from 174 four-year universities.Autonomous high schools are financially independent from the government and have more freedom in picking their students. They are generally considered elite in Korea and are not required to follow a standardized curriculum.
The analysis said the ratio of typical high school graduates among incoming college freshmen fell below 50 percent for the first time at some universities. The figure for Seoul National University (SNU) stood at 46.7 percent, down 6 percentage points from last year. The ratio of graduates from regular high schools accepted to Yonsei University (49.4 percent) and Sungkyunkwan University (49.5 percent) also dropped below 50 percent.
Though there were only three universities that accepted less than half of their quota from regular high schools, the situation wasn’t much better at other major universities in Seoul.
Sogang University (52.7 percent), Hanyang University (54.3 percent), Ewha Womans University (55.7 percent) and Korea University (58.2 percent) admitted only a little more than half their quota from regular schools.
The tendency to accept fewer students from typical high schools is especially common in the capital city, particularly among its 14 major universities: They had an average of 63 percent, which is higher than the Seoul metropolitan area’s 72.5 percent and the 78 percent national average.
Kim Hee-dong, the head of Jinhaksa Entrance Strategy Institute, admitted that the trend had been expected.
“Middle school students with relatively higher grades crowded into autonomous high schools and students [there] did better in early admissions because they had more diversified experiences,” he said.
Autonomous high school graduates who entered college this year nationwide accounted for 9.2 percent, up from 7.5 percent last year. The figure among the 14 major universities in Seoul showed a larger increase, to 13.2 percent from 11 percent last year.
This phenomenon was even more drastic at SNU, Yonsei and Korea University. According to the Haneul Education Center, autonomous high school graduates in their incoming freshman class rose from 1,687 last year to 1,997 this year, an increase of 18.4 percent.
BY SHIN JIN [bongmoon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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