Mock Applications to Seoul Universities Decline Nationwide; 77.6% in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province Consider Local Universities

[Financial News] As the 2027 academic year's early admissions approach, changes are emerging in the pool of universities that students are considering applying to. The share of students submitting mock applications to universities in Seoul fell for the second consecutive year in all regions nationwide. Meanwhile, the share of non-metropolitan students including universities in the region where their high school is located among their application options reached 69.5%, the highest level in the past five years.
On the 4th, Jinhak said an analysis of mock application data for early admissions over the past five academic years, from 2023 through 2027, showed that the share of mock applications to universities in Seoul in the 2027 academic year was at its lowest level of the five-year period in all 10 regions nationwide. The 2027 analysis covered 53,107 students.
Among students who attended high schools in Seoul, the share who submitted mock applications to universities in Seoul fell from 77.6% in the 2026 academic year to 74.0% in 2027, a decrease of 3.6 percentage points. In Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, the figure also declined from 65.5% to 62.8% over the same period, down 2.7 percentage points.
Some non-metropolitan regions recorded even larger declines. The share of students from high schools in Jeju Province who submitted mock applications to universities in Seoul fell from 63.7% to 56.1%, a 7.6-percentage-point drop—the largest decline nationwide. The figure fell by 5.2 percentage points in Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, from 50.6% to 45.4%, and by 5.0 percentage points in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province, from 42.2% to 37.2%.
The share of mock applications to universities in Seoul declined for the second consecutive year in all 10 regions nationwide, including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon.
By contrast, more non-metropolitan students included universities in their home regions among their application options. The share of non-metropolitan students who submitted at least one mock application to a university in the region where their high school was located rose from 63.8% in the 2025 academic year to 65.2% in 2026 and 69.5% in 2027. This was the highest level in the past five years.
By region, Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province recorded the highest share at 77.6%. They were followed by Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do at 76.6% and Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province at 70.7%. Compared with the previous year, the figure rose by 5.2 percentage points in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province and by 4.8 percentage points in Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province.
All eight non-metropolitan regions saw their shares of mock applications to universities in students’ home regions rise from the previous year, reaching five-year highs at the same time.
Woo Yeon-cheol, head of Jinhak’s Institute for College Admissions Strategy, analyzed, "The decline in mock applications to universities in Seoul is not limited to specific regions but is emerging as a nationwide phenomenon. In non-metropolitan areas, there is a clear trend of students considering universities in their home regions as realistic options."
He added, "Rather than simply following the symbolic appeal of attending a university in Seoul, students appear to be increasingly evaluating universities from a practical perspective and considering which institutions best suit them from various angles. As support policies for regional universities, including tuition assistance at national universities outside the capital region, have recently become more concrete, the movement to consider regional universities as major options in this year's actual early admissions is likely to expand."
[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter