Thirty-five out of 40 medical schools nationwide have rejected the collective leave of absence applications from students in protest of the admissions quota hike.

In a press release on Saturday, the Association of Presidents for Medical School Advancement(APMSA) said the remaining five schools also intend to notify the students next week that their applications will either be rejected or unapproved.

The group said all 40 medical schools will not approve leaves of absence for reasons other than mandatory military service, long-term care, pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.

Earlier, the group decided to immediately deny applications that do not fall under the stated reasons, and to sternly handle cases that call for a failure or expulsion in line with university regulations.

While five medical schools, including Yonsei University, Korea University, and Kyungpook National University, completed accepting applications from returning students on Friday, the number of returning students at those schools is expected to affect the actions of other students.