Students from elite secondary schools in South Korea are nearly three times more likely to be accepted to a top school in the country through an application process that is largely based on extracurricular activities.  

The revelation came from Vice Education Minister Park Baeg-beom on Tuesday as he unveiled the results of a ministry survey of admissions decisions at 13 top universities.

The survey looked at the so-called comprehensive school-record application, which emphasizes extracurricular achievements, accolades and internships over conventional standardized test scores.

The Education Ministry launched the survey last month on the 13 universities which had high acceptance ratios based on the comprehensive school-record application. 

The survey comes as the college admissions process in South Korea has emerged as a major issue following allegations of undue preferential treatment and privilege afforded to the children of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk while applying for college.