Once September comes, the first question is usually where to spend the six early-admission applications. In practice, though, what goes wrong is rarely the strategy — it is the procedure. Payment never completed, so the application was never filed. A deadline assumed to be midnight that was actually late afternoon. Two universities whose own exams fall on the same day, discovered only after filing. Here is what to check, in order, before you apply.

Applications are filed on two agency sites, not on university websites

Most early-admission (susi) applications are filed through Uway Apply and Jinhak Apply. Universities differ in which service they use, so check which site your target universities are on. Both require an account.

The flow is this: you write one common application form, then pull it into each university's application and fill in the university-specific fields. Name, resident registration number, school of origin and school-record consent are entered once; if a track requires a personal statement, you write it at the university-specific stage.

At the common-form stage, enter your high school, graduation year and school-record data consent correctly. A mistake here can stop your school record from reaching the university, which is then treated as a missing document.

The 2027 schedule — three days or more in early September

Under the framework set by the Korean Council for University Education, the 2027 early-admission application window is three days or more between 7 and 11 September 2026. Each university sets its own dates within that window, which means they do not all open and close on the same day.

The rest of the calendar is worth knowing too. Early-admission results are announced by 18 December, waitlist offers run from 24 to 29 December, and waitlist enrolment closes on 30 December. Regular-admission (jeongsi) applications run for three days or more between 4 and 7 January 2027.

If you want the full year in one view, see how to read the final-year calendar.

Closing times differ by university

This is where most accidents happen. Applicants assume the deadline runs to midnight, when in fact many universities close at 5 or 6 in the evening. On the last day, traffic also delays payment processing.

And the application is only complete once payment goes through. A form that has been written and saved is not a filed application. After paying, confirm the completion screen showing your application number, and save or print the receipt.

There is one safe approach: finish writing and paying the day before the deadline. On the final day there is no time left to recover from an error.

Once filed, an application cannot be cancelled

After the deadline you cannot change the university or the track, and a change of mind is not grounds for a refund of the application fee. Refunds are possible only for reasons set out in the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act.

The typical grounds are these: an amount overpaid by mistake, failure to sit the process because of the university's own fault, failure to sit because of a natural disaster, and failure to sit because of hospitalisation due to illness or accident. Simply deciding not to go ahead is not covered.

So decide first, pay second. The "file it now and skip it later" approach only costs you the fee.

Before you split the six

Early admission is limited to six applications. Some institutions, such as industrial universities and junior colleges, fall outside that count, so check the admissions guidelines. The limit itself, and the binding force of an early-admission offer, are covered in the six-and-three rule.

The usual mistake in splitting them is the minimum CSAT requirement. A track whose headline competition ratio looks low can behave completely differently once that requirement is applied. It helps to understand how a headline ratio turns into a real one before allocating.

Check whether university-run exams collide

Essay tests and interviews are held on fixed dates, and if two collide you have to give one up. It gets more confusing because some universities hold essay tests before the CSAT and others after it.

Before applying, write every candidate university's exam date and time on one calendar and rule out the combinations that clash. Even on the same day, a morning-and-afternoon split still requires travel time to be counted.

School records and documents must be settled before filing

The school record used in early admission covers work up to the first semester of Year 12, and the data sent to universities has a fixed cut-off date. Anything recorded incorrectly has to be fixed before then. Corrections follow a set procedure and deadline, so check how the correction process works and speak to your homeroom teacher.

Some tracks also require documents to be submitted separately — GED holders, students who studied at overseas high schools, and applicants to talent-based tracks, among others. The application deadline and the document deadline are two different dates, and postal submissions are often judged by arrival, so note both.

What to do after filing

Keep the receipt and application number until results are out. University notices appear on each university's admissions office website, so check announcements about exam details and instructions regularly.

In short, the order is this: confirm your universities → check for exam-date clashes → complete the common form → complete each university's form → pay → save the receipt → submit documents. Follow it and you will not lose an application to procedure alone.