Medical School Craze and STEM Stratification: An Exploratory Study of South Korea’s College Major Choice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Mobility and Stratification in Postsecondary Education and Beyond

Abstract

Guided by the Effectively Maintained Inequality hypothesis suggested by Lucas (2001), this study treats Korean college major choice as qualitative stratification under labor-market scarcity. In this study, whether a hierarchical preference ordering exists, and if so, how students’ qualitative attributes and socioeconomic background factors shape such hierarchy, are investigated. Using data from 2016 to 2018 of the Korean Education & Employment Panel II, binary and Firth logistic models were employed. Findings showed that family resources, achievement, and considerations for future jobs concentrated access to medical studies and preferred STEM majors, thereby revealing a hierarchy in major choice in alignment with preferred jobs. This study offers empirical evidence to “medical school craze,” a currently prominent phenomenon in major choice in Korea.

Author

• Seoyoung Lim, Arizona State University