Applicants for Semiconductor Contract Departments Increasingly Apply to Multiple Universities, While Dual Applications with Medical Fields Decline

Among students applying to semiconductor contract departments that guarantee employment at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the proportion of those simultaneously applying to medical and pharmaceutical programs has decreased, while the rate of applying to multiple semiconductor contract departments across different universities has increased.
According to an analysis of data from students who disclosed their early admission application universities (387 in the 2025 academic year and 549 in the 2026 academic year) by Jinhaksa on Wednesday, July 8, the rate of applicants to semiconductor contract departments at five universities in Seoul (Korea University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University, and Hanyang University) who also applied to medical or pharmaceutical programs fell by 6.2 percentage points, from 45.5% in the 2025 academic year to 39.3% in the 2026 academic year.
The proportion of students who applied to semiconductor contract departments at other universities simultaneously saw a slight increase from 26.6% to 27.7% during the same period.
The average number of semiconductor contract department applications per student also rose from 1.36 to 1.40.
The percentage of students who applied to three or more semiconductor contract departments also increased by 3.0 percentage points, from 6.7% to 9.7%.
Jinhaksa analyzed that the return of medical school admission quotas to previous levels has influenced the application strategies of top-tier science and engineering students regarding contract departments.
In the 2025 academic year, when medical school admission quotas were temporarily expanded significantly, there were relatively more cases of students applying to both medical/pharmaceutical programs and semiconductor contract departments. However, in the 2026 academic year, as medical school quotas returned to their original levels, students have increasingly made more realistic choices considering their chances of admission.
Woo Yeon-cheol, director of the Jinhaksa Entrance Strategy Research Institute, analyzed, "Although the number of medical school admissions for the 2027 academic year has increased compared to last year, the impact on the overall application trends of top-tier science and engineering students may be limited, as a significant portion of the increase is focused on regional admissions."
He further projected, "Combined with the continuous growth of the semiconductor industry and the high preference for contract departments at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the trend of dual applications with medical and pharmaceutical programs will decrease, while the strategy of applying to multiple semiconductor contract departments across different universities will become more pronounced."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.