The school established a special admissions option in the academic year of 2016 for the current sophomores of Danwon High School, whose lives have been directly and irrevocably impacted by the Sewol ferry disaster last year.The special option was set for those who would find their college application quite stressful as they are still going through emotionally harrowing periods after nearly 300 of their classmates died from the disaster. Also, the school is abided by one of the enforcement ordinances of the Sewol Special Bill that allows universities to set up the special admissions option as extra quotas, if necessary. The Office of Admissions allowed a maximum of 20 students as extra entrance quotas for the Danwon High School sophomores. Seoul National University and Korea University also agreed on setting up the special admission.“As universities have a responsibility for community, we could agree on establishing a special admissions option for the victims of the disaster,” said Nam Kang-gon, a vice president of Admissions.Unlike other admissions, the Danwon High School Evaluation Committee will be constituted to evaluate applicants through the application reviews and interviews. The committee will consist of no more than 10 experts, be composed of officials from Admissions, admission officers, and professors of the specific major the student applies for. The applicants’ GPA and extracurricular activities that show their interest in the applied major will be the main criteria for evaluation. “Among 88 sophomores who have survived, female students take up only 24 of them, which is a very small number,” Nam said. “Therefore, we think that the actual students who will benefit from the special admissions will be very small, much less than 20.” However, the issue of whether or not to provide special admissions for these students was under fierce controversy since July 2014, when National Assembly agreed upon establishing special admissions. Some argued that the special admissions option is a favor that will inflict reverse discrimination against other students. Others also argued that the option is one of the government’s intentions to conciliate the bereaved families.However, the special admissions will have very little impact on other students, as the number of sophomore survivors is small and they are admitted as extra quotas in most universities including Ewha. “It is absurd to argue that the special admissions option is for the deceased students and the bereaved families,” Nam said. “The special option is for the survivors who were largely affected by their classmates’ deaths.”
