Average grades of applicants to Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University through the holistic admissions track differed by more than two grade levels depending on high school type, an analysis found. Pictured is a college entrance consulting advertisement in the hagwon district of Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
Average grades of applicants to Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University through the holistic admissions track differed by more than two grade levels depending on high school type, an analysis found. Pictured is a college entrance consulting advertisement in the hagwon district of Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

Average grades among applicants to Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University through the holistic admissions track — known as "hakjong" — differed by more than two grade levels depending on high school type, a new analysis shows.

College admissions consultancy Jinhaksa analyzed 12,525 mock applications submitted for the 2026 academic year's holistic admissions track at the three universities and found significant variation in applicants' grades by school type.

Applicants from general public high schools and autonomous public high schools averaged grade 1.87. Those from autonomous private high schools averaged grade 2.86 — a gap of 0.99 grade levels. Foreign language and international high school applicants averaged grade 3.05, a difference of 1.18 grade levels, while science high school applicants averaged grade 3.95, a gap of 2.08 grade levels.

The grade disparity by school type was also confirmed in actual university admissions results. An analysis of University of Seoul's published holistic admissions track I results for the 2026 academic year — covering 13 departments that disclosed average grades for both general high school and autonomous private high school enrollees — found that general high school students averaged grade 2.32 while autonomous private high school students averaged grade 4.07, a difference of 1.75 grade levels.

The gap was even wider in certain departments. In the transportation engineering department, general high school enrollees averaged grade 2.39 against grade 6.29 for autonomous private high school enrollees — a difference of 3.90 grade levels. The architectural engineering program in the school of architecture showed a gap of 3.58 grade levels, with general high school students at grade 2.35 and autonomous private high school students at grade 5.93. Gaps of 2.37, 1.37 and 1.35 grade levels were recorded in the advanced materials engineering, business administration, and electrical and computer engineering departments, respectively.

Jinhaksa cautioned, however, that these findings do not imply that universities favor or penalize students from any particular type of high school. The holistic admissions track evaluates not only grade averages but the full scope of a student's school record — including curriculum and course completion, academic achievement, detailed ability and aptitude notes, and research activities.

Applicants should also be careful not to treat combined admissions cutoffs — which universities publish by pooling results across all high school types — as a direct benchmark for their own chances. Yonsei University's published 70th-percentile cutoff for the Russian language and literature department under the holistic activity-excellence track for the 2026 academic year was grade 3.31, but that figure includes admitted students from general high schools, autonomous private high schools, and foreign language and international high schools alike.

"Even among students admitted to the same university and department, the grade distribution varies by high school type, so judging your chances based on the average grade alone can actually lead to a flawed strategy," said Woo Yeon-cheol, head of the admissions strategy research institute at Jinhaksa. "It is important to use published admissions results as a reference while also factoring in your own school's curriculum and the competitiveness of your school record when building an application strategy."


brunch@heraldcorp.com