[WHY] What's the big deal with becoming a doctor in Korea?

Social Affairs

Published: 24 Feb. 2024, 07:00 Updated: 29 Mar. 2024, 00:53

[WHY] What's the big deal with becoming a doctor in Korea?

Hospital staff take the escalators at a hospital in Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

In Korea, even elementary school students attend cram schools specifically designed to prepare themselves for the competitive medical school admissions process.

Being a doctor has long been regarded as a coveted occupation, but the demand has surged even more so in recent years, with younger students attending so-called med school prep classes in private cram schools, known as hagwon in Korea, to up their chance at getting accepted into one of the country's prestigious medical schools. Children as young as eight begin studying high school mathematics at these schools.

Amid the escalating competition to gain admission to medical schools, the government earlier this month announced it would increase in the enrollment quota for these schools to address the shortage of doctors, particularly in regional areas and essential health care fields.

Two thousand spots will be added starting in the 2025 academic year, meaning a total of 5,058 students will be accepted into medical schools across the country. This marks the first hike since 1998.

While the government and medical professions are still butting heads over the plan, the news comes to the delight of many who have always dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Like most countries around the globe, becoming a doctor in Korea requires years of study and a lengthy training period.

But why do Koreans consider becoming a doctor particularly worth the time and money, even with all the preparation from a young age just to prepare for the infamously difficult college entrance exams?

Parental fervor

Enthusiastic parents want their children to become doctors because it's a stable occupation with good pay. And, in Korea, parents' expectations wield a great influence over their children due to the culture's Confucian roots that emphasize collectivism.

“The job security that follows after completing the curriculum has motivated me to study for medical school,” a 26-year-old about to start his first year of residency told the Korea JoongAng Daily. The trainee doctor, who took the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), known as suneung in Korean, three times to get into the school he since graduated from, added that he dreamed of becoming a doctor because of his parents’ recommendations.

In Korea, students take the CSAT and apply through the regular admissions route, known as jungsi, or take the early decision admission route, known as susi, and apply with other qualifications to get into medical school. Med school takes six years, including two years of pre-medical courses. Graduates then take the state-run license exam and begin their residency at hospitals after getting licensed.

More than 60 percent of 1,000 office workers between the ages of 19 and 59 in Korea said they wish their children would go to med school in the future, according to a survey conducted by research firm M-Brain Trend Monitor last year.

Around 70 percent of those respondents said their reason was so that their children could have “a stable job.”

A person looks at the banners of private cram schools in Mok-dong of Yangcheon District, western Seoul, recruiting students interested in applying to medical schools, on Feb. 8. [YONHAP]

“Students prefer to become doctors in this unstable job market because they are unlikely to become unemployed later,” an education consultant in charge of high school admissions in southern Seoul, who spoke to the Korea JoongAng Daily on the condition of anonymity, said.

“There are also many cases in which their parents, who are also doctors, recommend their children to become doctors.”

The second most popular reason cited was the high salary.

According to OECD Health Statistics, paid doctors in Korea earned the most among the 28 member countries, with an average purchasing power parity (PPP) of $192,749. The Netherlands came in second with an average PPP of $191,482, and Germany in third at $187,715.

PPP of salaried doctors among OECD member countries [YOO YOUNG-RAE]

Practitioners in Korea working at their own hospitals earned an average of $298,800, coming in at second only to Belgium. This is almost sevenfold the average income of workers in Korea.

A serious trend?

Still, many talented individuals choose to either defer their course or drop out after getting accepted to promising universities to begin their medical studies.

According to the Education Ministry’s Higher Education in Korea website, the number of first year students dropping out of Seoul National University (SNU), the country’s top university, has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Last year, 5.5 percent of accepted first year students dropped out of SNU, up from 3.6 percent in 2021.

According to Jongro Academy, a major private education institute, 23 out of 25 students, or 90 percent, that were accepted into Yonsei University’s semiconductor engineering major based on their CSAT score decided not to enroll in the school. This marks a significant increase from last year's 70 percent, even despite the major guaranteeing jobs at Samsung Electronics due to its status as a "contractual" department.

Korea University’s Department of Communications Engineering, which also has a contract with Samsung Electronics, experienced an even larger increase in the number of non-registrants for the department, rising fourfold from last year's 16.7 percent to 70 percent this year.

A mother takes notes at a briefing session held at Jongro Academy in southern Seoul on Feb. 7 about admissions to medical schools following the expanded enrolment quota. [YONHAP]

While the head of Jongro Academy, Lim Seong-ho, suggested that some of these students may have opted for SNU’s newly established School of Transdisciplinary Innovations — a major similar to the aforementioned contractual departments — there has been an increase in students choosing to go into medical schools, especially after the government announced it would increase the enrollment quota for medical schools to address the doctor shortage.

Democratic Party Rep. Ahn Min-suk revealed data last year indicating that four out of five first year students who enrolled for medical school via the CSAT were accepted only after multiple attempts over the past three years.

This means the students are not only competing against other third-year high schoolers but also others preparing for the college entrance exam on their own, often studying for the admissions tests for years on end and facing multiple failures.

In 2022, a 44-year-old man who had worked at a Korean conglomerate for 17 years made headlines after being accepted to a medical school to begin his college life anew.

Science and engineering fall short

These days, high-scoring students in science and mathematics tend to prefer to apply for medical schools in the greater Seoul area, and even choose to attend med school in regional areas over attending SNU with a non-medical related major, as doctors have become a popular occupation in the country. The tendency, however, has resulted in a shortage of graduates in science and engineering.

A person on Tuesday walks past an advertisement for a private cram school in southern Seoul recruiting students from elementary to high school to attend classes for medical school admission. [NEWS1]

“I initially aimed at getting into SNU but changed my mind after seeing everyone with good grades trying to get into medical school,” a second-year med student in Busan said.

According to data from Jongro Academy, Korea's top 20 university majors were all in the medical field last year, a shift from SNU's physics and computer science majors that used to dominate the university major rankings in 1990.

In 2023, students had to rank in the top 1 percentile to gain admission to medical schools in regional areas outside of the greater Seoul area, and in the top 0.3 percent for more competitive medical schools primarily in the greater Seoul area, according to education consultants.

“After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and now Covid-19, students are likely to prioritize the benefits that come with becoming a doctor, such as job stability, social status and high compensation, over those of working in the science and engineering fields,” said Na Seung-il, a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Vocational Education and Workforce Development.

According to Na, the continued concentration of talent in the medical field will result in a shortage of personnel in both the science and engineering fields, as well as the medical field in the long term.

“The lack of supply will disrupt the development of industries [such as technologies and science], which may ultimately hinder the growth of the medical industry itself based on the law of the minimum,” Na said.

While he acknowledged that the government is expanding its investments and making an effort to reduce the disproportion in areas like science and engineering, he pointed out the need for improvement in the educational system in these areas.

Doctors protest the government's decision regarding the medical school quota hike in front of the provincial office of Jeju Island on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The Yoon Suk Yeol government recently announced that it plans to expand its investment in nurturing talents in the high-tech industries.

President Yoon said last Friday that the government will massively increase its budget for research and development to make a "quantum leap to become a scientific powerhouse," during his congratulatory speech at KAIST in Daejeon.

Last year, the Ministry of Education increased the enrollment quota for postgraduates and Ph.D.s in majors related to the industry, including semiconductors and software, by 1,303.

“The career path for those majoring in science and engineering varies significantly among individuals because their path after graduation is systemically less clear compared to that of those who finish med school,” Na said.

“It is essential that we create diverse career tracks for graduates in these fields and improve the post-graduation education system so that engineers can work stably, receive respect and earn salaries comparable to those of doctors.”

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]