Fact-Checking Minji's Debut Age: International Age, Korean System, and Trainee Year's

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Unlike older generations of performers who delayed high school or turned exclusively to GED certifications, Minji remained enrolled in traditional vocational schooling. At the time of NewJeans' debut, she was an active student at Hanlim Multi Art School, one of South Korea's premier arts high schools, studying in the Department of Broadcasting & Entertainment.

Her July 2022 debut dropped directly in the middle of her third and final academic year. Fellow students regularly reported seeing Minji walking through the hallways in her yellow-and-navy school uniform while NewJeans songs sat at number one on the Melon and Circle digital charts.

Minji completed her studies and officially graduated on February 10, 2023, at age 18. Media cameras crowded the graduation hall as she accepted her diploma alongside classmates Sullyoon and Bae of NMIXX. When asked by journalists at the graduation ceremony about taking the national college entrance exam (the Suneung), Minji confirmed she had decided not to sit for the test, opting to channel her energy exclusively into full-time global group promotions.