Korea Univ. Oral Exam Changed Fate of Applicants

A half of students who passed the entrance examination of the Korea University was determined by the oral exam performance in the interview.

The Korea Univ. announced 1,600 new students through the second screening for university admission. The school official said that among the candidates included in the pass range by the high school records, 508 applicants (31.8 percent) were eliminated in the deep interview, and 313 applicants (19.6 percent) left off due to the poor performance in the oral exams.

The female students constituted 58 percent of the total new students, and 70.1 percent was held by students from the metropolitan area including Seoul. It refers that the female students from the metropolitan area have shown the better performance in the interview and the oral exams.

For the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the interview oral exams determined the elimination of 57 percent of the applicants, who were recommended by high school teachers and were included in the pass range through the document examination such as the academic records.

In case of the top-ranking students selection in certain departments conducted by the Hanyang University at the end of last month, the 72 percent (144) of 200 new students passed the entrance examination by overcoming the disadvantage in the academic records by the deep interview and the major aptitude test.

In the first semester student recruiting, the interview performance had a great effect on the pass, marking the pass/fail reverse ratios in the interview oral exams such as Korea Univ.`s 45.8 percent, Sogang Univ.`s 49.1 percent, and Hanyang Univ.`s 49.7 percent. And the female students from the metropolitan area had shown the better performance in the interview just like the second semester. Hence, such a tendency is likely to be conspicuous in the student recruiting of other universities.

Lee Jin-Yeong ecolee@donga.com