Student athlete disqualified from college admission for wearing cap with school emblem

The Seoul Administrative Court upheld the disqualification of a student athlete who was denied admission to a university in 2024 after wearing a swim cap bearing the emblem of one's high school during the practical entrance examination.

The applicant, a water polo player, challenged the decision, arguing that the university’s admission guidelines ban only names or school affiliations on swimsuits — not on swim caps.

However, the court ruled that the swim cap could reasonably be interpreted as part of the swimsuit under conventional usage of the term. The Korean term "suyeongbok" literally translates as "swimming clothes."

"Regarding the swimming cap as part of the swimsuit is in keeping with the conventional interpretation of the word (swimsuit) ... Considering that the rule is to ensure a fair applications process by assessing each applicant's abilities in no regards to one's affiliations, there is no reason to treat swimsuit and swimming cap differently," the court said.

The plaintiff also argued that two other applicants were not disqualified despite wearing marked swimming caps, but the court pointed out that markings on the mentioned caps did not show their school affiliations.

Addressing the plaintiff’s claim that no examiners warned them about the disqualifying attire during the test, the court stated that the absence of such an on-site warning could not be construed as assurance that the applicant would not face disqualification.