"Is It Because of Tech Giants?"... Number of Applicants to Medical, Dental, Korean Medicine, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Schools Drops by 6,000 This Year

[Financial News] This year’s college admissions saw the lowest number of applicants in the past five years to so-called 'Medical, Dental, Korean Medicine, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Schools.'
On the 6th, Jongro Academy reported that the total number of applicants to medical and health-related universities nationwide for the 2026 academic year decreased by 6,001 (24.7%) from last year, totaling 18,297. This is the lowest figure since the 2021 academic year.
By department, medical schools saw the largest decline, with applicants dropping by 32.3% as enrollment numbers reverted. The College of Pharmacy fell by 22.4%, the College of Dentistry by 17.1%, the College of Veterinary Medicine by 14.5%, and the College of Korean Medicine by 12.9%.
As the number of applicants to medical and health-related fields decreased, competition ratios also generally declined.
For the College of Veterinary Medicine, the competition ratio dropped from 10.25:1 last year to 8.32:1 this year. The College of Pharmacy went from 9.03:1 to 7.38:1, and the College of Dentistry from 6.14:1 to 5.58:1.
However, due to a reduction in available spots, the competition ratios for medical schools and the College of Korean Medicine slightly increased, reaching 6.61:1 and 10.59:1, respectively.
The average competition ratio across all 109 medical and health-related universities nationwide was 7.23:1.
By region, the Seoul Metropolitan Area recorded a ratio of 4.41:1, the Gyeongin Region 6.84:1, and non-capital regions 9.31:1.
Lim Seong Ho, CEO of Jongro Academy, stated, "A decrease in the number of medical school applicants was expected due to the reduction in enrollment, but the decline was steeper than anticipated. The number of applicants to the College of Dentistry, College of Korean Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and College of Veterinary Medicine also fell. This appears to be due to a decrease in the number of top-performing science students compared to last year, as well as waning interest in medical and health-related fields overall."
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter