With interviews for 2027 law school admissions set to begin next month, applicants in South Korea are spending millions of won on private tutoring for personal statement editing and interview preparation. Some candidates spend more than 10 million won ($7,000) on private instruction to pass the Legal Education Eligibility Test (LEET), raising concerns that the cost of law school admissions is snowballing.
A law school prep academy in Seoul's Gangnam district priced its "2027 POST-LEET Comprehensive Package" at about 4.2 million won ($2,900) after discounts, according to education sources on the 18th. The course covers personal statement editing, interview lectures and consulting on which schools to apply to.
The burden is also substantial earlier in the process, during LEET preparation. One academy's premium study center program for the 2027 test — including lectures on language comprehension, reasoning and essay writing, one-on-one coaching, study management and access to study space — cost 14 million won ($9,700).
Such high-priced offerings have emerged because admissions outcomes hinge not only on LEET scores but also on personal statements, interviews and other evaluation components. Interviews in particular go beyond basic questions about character, requiring applicants to reason through social issues such as technological innovation and freedom of expression, which makes separate preparation essential. Kwon Jae-yeol, a law professor at Kyung Hee University, said students trained at academies sometimes perform better in interviews. "Law school interviews are demanding, so having your answers assessed objectively is helpful," the professor said.
Interview formats and question types also differ by school, requiring preparation tailored to each institution. Jang, 30, a student at a law school in the greater Seoul area, said there is a great deal to prepare and that the formats vary by school, making it difficult to prepare alone. "When I was applying, I put so much effort into it that I signed up for two or three interview consulting programs," Jang said with a sigh.
Some warn the private tutoring market could grow further because qualitative evaluation criteria in law school admissions remain unclear. Rep. Baek Seung-a of the Democratic Party of Korea noted during a recent parliamentary audit of government agencies that qualitative assessment accounts for 40% of admissions at Seoul National University's law school, but that guidance on it is lacking, fueling growth in private tutoring for the oral examination. A law professor at a regional university said what interviews ultimately measure is legal and logical reasoning. "Short-term training based on private tutoring may teach techniques for answering, but it is difficult to build reasoning ability itself, which suggests the evaluation method needs to be reconsidered," the professor said.