Over the past three years, more than 1,525 students have dropped out of medical, dental, Korean medicine, and pharmacy schools in regional areas of the U.S. This trend has solidified an upward mobility structure centered around medical schools, leading to a rapid increase in dropout rates.
This phenomenon is attributed to a dual movement: students within medical schools are transitioning to higher-ranked institutions in metropolitan areas, while students from pharmacy, dental, and Korean medicine programs are shifting to medical schools or more prestigious medical fields.
The surge in dropouts is primarily due to a double migration pattern formed by students moving during the admission stage (due to multiple acceptances) and then again after enrollment as they attempt to transfer to more desirable programs.
On Friday, Jongno Academy’s analysis of data from the College Information System revealed that 1,525 students withdrew from 63 regional medical, dental, Korean medicine, and pharmacy schools over the last three years. The numbers rose sharply from 359 in 2023 to 435 in 2024, and then to 731 in 2025, nearly doubling in just two years. These figures include not only voluntary withdrawals and expulsions but also cases where students left to enroll in other universities or take gap years.
According to the 2025 data, the 731 dropouts represent 17.9% of the total enrollment of 4,092 students. This means that more than one in six new students has left their program.
By field, pharmacy experienced the highest dropout rate at 22.4%, followed by Korean medicine at 20.8%, dental at 17.6%, and medical schools at 14.8%.
Among the 21 pharmacy schools, 12 (57.1%) reported dropout rates exceeding 20%, with some institutions even surpassing 30%. Similarly, six out of nine Korean medicine schools recorded dropout rates above 20%.
Regionally, medical schools in Jeju (30.0%) and Gangwon (18.1%) showed high dropout rates, while pharmacy schools stood out in Chungcheong (25.4%) and Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (25.2%). Overall, dropouts occurred uniformly across regional areas.
This trend is likely to intensify in the coming years. The introduction of a regional doctor system and an increase in medical school enrollment quotas starting in the 2027 academic year are expected to further heighten the preference for medical schools. Consequently, experts predict a structural increase in dropouts from regional medical, dental, Korean medicine, and pharmacy schools.
Lim Seong-ho, the head of Jongno Academy, stated that the expansion of medical school enrollment quotas and the growing preference for medical programs are influencing not only medical schools but also dental, Korean medicine, and pharmacy programs. The introduction of the regional doctor system and increased enrollment quotas in 2027 could accelerate this phenomenon.