Once the second semester begins, Korean high schools open course registration for the following year. The judgement most students and parents make at that point is "pick whatever gets the best grade." But some universities publish, by name, which subjects they expect an applicant to have taken. Seoul National University issued its "Guide to Major-Linked Subject Selection for 2028 Admissions" as an admissions office notice on 30 June 2025, and it lists recommended subjects for each track by name. It is a document worth reading before the registration screen opens.

Two sets of criteria have been merged into one

Previously SNU's subject-related criteria were split between "Subject Completion Criteria I and II" and the "Major-Linked Subject Completion" list. You had to check both documents, and it was not obvious which one applied to which admissions route.

From the 2028 cycle, that structure has been simplified and merged into one. SNU described the purpose of the merger as widening students' subject choice. In other words, the number of boxes to tick has not grown — the number of documents to read has shrunk. What matters is that shrinking is not the same as disappearing.

Track 1 — humanities and social sciences: a second foreign language or classical Chinese

For Track 1, covering humanities and social science admissions units, the recommendation is short: at least one subject from the second foreign language / classical Chinese subject group.

Short, but the one most likely to collide with what your school actually offers. Whether a second foreign language runs at all varies by school, and missing even one semester can make it hard to fit in during year 3. If humanities or social sciences is the target, it is worth confirming which second foreign language and classical Chinese courses your school opens during this semester.

Track 2 — natural sciences: both mathematics and science are examined

Track 2, covering natural science admissions units, has two strands.

• Mathematics subject group — Geometry and Calculus II are recommended
• Science subject group — at least three career-elective subjects are recommended

Unit-level exceptions are attached. The College of Nursing and the School of Dentistry require either Geometry or Calculus II, not both. The College of Medicine, by contrast, still needs three or more science career electives but must include "Cells and Metabolism" and "Genetics of Organisms" among them.

Some admissions units additionally recommend prioritising specific general electives — Physics, Chemistry, Life Science or Earth Science — according to the nature of the major. Natural sciences is not a single combination, so if you have a department in mind, check at admissions-unit level rather than track level.

Read the word "recommended" precisely

This is where interpretations diverge. SNU has not presented these subjects as an eligibility requirement or a penalty rule. Instead it states that whether they were taken is reflected in document evaluation for early admissions and in subject-competency evaluation for regular admissions.

One more sentence is attached: evaluation considers not only whether a subject was taken, but the self-directed academic work and the depth of the learning experience. So it is not a structure where putting the course title on a transcript settles the matter — and, equally, not one where missing a course because your school did not offer it means automatic rejection. How that evaluation actually works is set out in what the comprehensive school record screening really assesses.

What if the course is not offered

A practical problem. At smaller schools, Geometry or particular science career electives may simply not run. The options are not confined to your own school.

• Inter-school joint curriculum — courses opened jointly with nearby schools, often after school or at weekends
• Online schools and online joint curriculum — run by metropolitan and provincial offices of education, with completion recorded on the school record

The point to note is that the application window sits alongside course registration. Announcements go out during the second semester, and once the window closes you wait until the following semester. Asking your homeroom or curriculum teacher when the joint curriculum list is published is the actionable step right now.

Overlay the credit system and the answer changes

Subject choice cannot be decided on admissions criteria alone, because the same choice also changes the transcript. How career-elective grades are recorded, and what happens if the completion standard is not met, both come into play. That structure is covered separately in how subject choice changes the transcript under the high school credit system.

So there are three tests, not one. ①Is it a subject the university recommends? ②Is it actually offered at our school? ③Can the workload and assessment be handled? Choose on one of them and the other two will produce the problem.

What to do this semester

1. Download the original "Guide to Major-Linked Subject Selection for 2028 Admissions" from the SNU admissions office notices.
2. Identify whether the intended track is 1 or 2, and check whether a unit-level exception applies (Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry).
3. Cross-check against your school's curriculum table and mark which recommended subjects are actually offered.
4. For those that are not, check joint curriculum and online school availability and application timing.
5. Look for published recommended-subject material from the other universities on your list and compare them side by side.
6. Do not decide on a department name alone — check the curriculum and the courses actually offered before finalising.

One more thing: 2028 is also the first cycle in which the five-band internal grading system and the integrated CSAT apply together. Which year groups the whole reform reaches, and when, is covered in the 2028 admissions reform summary.

This article was compiled in August 2026 from the published content of the "Guide to Major-Linked Subject Selection for 2028 Admissions" issued by the Seoul National University admissions office on 30 June 2025 — the Track 1 and Track 2 split and their recommended subjects, the exceptions for the College of Medicine, the College of Nursing and the School of Dentistry, and the statement that subject completion is reflected in early-admissions document evaluation and regular-admissions subject-competency evaluation. Recommended subjects and how they are reflected differ by university and admissions year and are subject to change, so always confirm against the original SNU admissions office notice and the relevant year's material from the universities you intend to apply to. This article sets out what to check when choosing subjects and does not assess any individual student's chance of admission.