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As Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix lead the semiconductor industry through a record boom, university contract programs that guarantee graduates direct employment at the two chipmakers are surging in popularity — with admissions cutoffs projected to rival those of Korean medicine schools, according to the test-prep industry.
Megastudy Education analyzed preliminary score data from the June college entrance mock exam and found Tuesday that the minimum score needed to apply to semiconductor contract departments stood at 288 points or above on the combined Korean language, mathematics and elective subjects scale.
By comparison, medical schools — the top-ranked natural sciences programs — required 292 points, dental schools 290, Korean medicine schools 288 and pharmacy schools 286.
Based on those figures, the cutoff for semiconductor contract departments in the 2027 college admissions cycle is expected to match Korean medicine schools and surpass pharmacy schools.
Semiconductor contract departments at Yonsei University, Korea University, Hanyang University and Sogang University have historically set their cutoffs below those of medical, dental, Korean medicine and pharmacy schools, though the exact figures vary by admissions track.
Analysts say the shift reflects a sharp rise in student and parent preference for stable, high-paying jobs at major chipmakers, driven by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix offering generous salaries and performance bonuses during the current semiconductor supercycle.
The trend was already visible in the 2026 admissions cycle, when grade-based cutoffs for semiconductor contract departments at Yonsei and Korea universities hit all-time highs in the early admissions round.
Yonsei University's System Semiconductor Engineering department — a Samsung Electronics contract program — posted an average grade of 1.47, a dramatic improvement from 3.1 in its inaugural 2021 admissions year. Korea University's Semiconductor Engineering department, an SK Hynix contract program, averaged 2.68, up from 3.25 in 2021. In Korea's university admissions grading system, lower numbers indicate higher performance.
The semiconductor boom has also reshaped job seekers' employer preferences.
According to the "2026 Corporate Preference Report" released Tuesday by job portal JobKorea, SK Hynix ranked first among companies job seekers said they most wanted to work for immediately, with Samsung Electronics second. Naver, Toss, Hyundai Motor, Amorepacific, Google, Kakao, CJ CheilJedang and Nexon rounded out the top 10.
The top reason job seekers cited for preferring a company was salary and performance bonuses, at 32 percent, followed by employee benefits at 15 percent and career growth potential at 13 percent.
In the same report published five years ago, Kakao topped the list and IT and platform companies dominated the upper rankings. This year, semiconductor and manufacturing firms climbed significantly.
"Job seekers' attention, which had been centered on IT and platform companies, appears to have shifted toward the growth outlook and stability of manufacturing industries, including semiconductors," a JobKorea official said.
The survey drew on responses from 3,287 job seekers and an analysis of job-seeker behavioral data compiled by JobKorea.
Meanwhile, as of June 1, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together accounted for 53.35 percent of total Kospi market capitalization — Samsung at 29.23 percent and SK Hynix at 24.12 percent — surpassing the halfway mark.
yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com
