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Seoul National University (Hankyoreh photo archives)

Four out of every ten students admitted to Seoul National University (SNU) this year attended a special purpose high school, gifted school, or autonomous private high school, a study shows.

Based on an analysis of Higher Education in Korea announcements in June, Jongro Haneul Education announced Sunday that of the 3,347 total students admitted to SNU, 1,469 of them — 42.7% — had attended a special purpose high school, gifted school, or autonomous private high school.

Of the three types, autonomous private high schools accounted for the largest number at 512.

After SNU, other higher education institutions with large numbers of new students admitted from the three types of schools, including Korea University (1,325/29.1%), Yonsei University (1,260/28.4%), Sungkyunkwan University (1,169/29.4%), and Hanyang University (1,003/29.1%).

In terms of percentages, the highest-ranked was KAIST, where the 563 students admitted from the three types of schools accounted for 79.0% due to the relatively low number of students admitted. It was followed by the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH, 218/66.7%), the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST, 120/56.3%), and the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST, 96/48.2%)

“Not only do more than half of students ranked at the top of their elementary and middle school classes attend the types of schools in question, but they also account for a large number of the total undergraduate selections in rolling admissions, and autonomous private schools are particularly strong for regular admissions,” Jongro Haneul Education said.

An examination of the proportion of students admitted to different universities from general high schools showed them to account for roughly half of admissions at SNU. According to a press release from SNU, the percentage of students admitted for the 2021 academic year from general high schools — including autonomous public high schools — stood at 54.4%, down slightly from 55.2% in 2019 and 55.1% in 2020.

For the first time ever this year, Higher Education in Korea distinguished autonomous high schools into public and private types in its analysis of numbers for different high school types.

Of the 336,625 total students admitted to four-year universities, 14,332 (4.3%) were found to have attended autonomous private high schools, while 7,530 of them, or 52.5%, were admitted to universities in Seoul.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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