About four in 10 applicants to university semiconductor contract programs also applied to medical school, according to new analysis. The share applying to both has declined, however, while the tendency to apply to multiple semiconductor contract programs has grown. [Created with ChatGPT]
About four in 10 applicants to university semiconductor contract programs also applied to medical school, according to new analysis. The share applying to both has declined, however, while the tendency to apply to multiple semiconductor contract programs has grown. [Created with ChatGPT]

Top-performing science students are showing a growing preference for university semiconductor contract programs, according to new analysis — driven by a decline in students applying simultaneously to medical school and a rise in those targeting multiple semiconductor programs at once.

College admissions consultancy Jinhaksa analyzed application data from students who disclosed their actual early-admission choices over the past two academic years, finding that the share of semiconductor contract program applicants who also applied to medical school fell 6.2 percentage points — from 45.5 percent in the 2025 admissions cycle to 39.3 percent in 2026. The analysis covered applicants to semiconductor contract programs at five Seoul universities: Korea University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University and Hanyang University.

In absolute terms, the number of students applying to both medical school and a semiconductor contract program rose during the same period — from 176 to 216 — but their share of the total applicant pool shrank.

Jinhaksa attributed the shift to changes in medical school enrollment quotas and their effect on top science students' application strategies. In the 2025 cycle, when medical school admissions were temporarily expanded significantly, students were more likely to apply to both tracks. As quotas returned to their previous levels in 2026, students made more realistic assessments of their chances and scaled back the dual-application approach.

At the same time, the share of semiconductor program applicants targeting multiple universities edged up. Of the 549 semiconductor contract program applicants in the 2026 cycle, 152 — or 27.7 percent — also applied to a semiconductor program at another university, up 1.1 percentage points from 26.6 percent (103 students) in 2025.

The share of students applying to three or more semiconductor contract programs rose from 6.7 percent in 2025 to 9.7 percent in 2026, a gain of 3.0 percentage points. The average number of semiconductor program applications per student also increased, from 1.36 to 1.40.

The overall composition of applications shifted as well. Semiconductor contract programs accounted for 26.4 percent of all applications submitted by semiconductor program applicants in 2026, up slightly from 25.5 percent in 2025, while the share going to medical and pharmaceutical programs fell from 25.6 percent to 20.4 percent over the same period.

Woo Yeon-cheol, head of the admissions strategy research institute at Jinhaksa, said that while medical school enrollment for the 2027 admissions cycle has increased from last year, much of the added capacity is concentrated in regional selection tracks. "The impact on the overall application trends of top science students may therefore be limited," he said.

He added that the continued growth of the semiconductor industry, combined with students' strong preference for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix contract programs, is expected to further reduce dual applications to medical programs while making the strategy of applying to multiple semiconductor programs across different universities even more pronounced.


brunch@heraldcorp.com