Education
Applicants must have graduated from an accredited college or university prior to matriculation. No single major is preferred.
All applicants are required to have earned a bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral or other terminal degree from a U.S. or Canadian accredited college or university prior to matriculation in the MD program.
Academic Requirements: MCAT and GPA
Applicants must complete the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) prior to application consideration.
Both MCAT and GPA will be used as components in a holistic evaluation of an applicant to ensure they have the appropriate competencies to succeed in our unique curriculum. For the MCAT, we require a minimum total score of 498 out of a possible 528 (highest of first two attempts; average of three or more attempts). We do not have a minimum GPA requirement.
Suggested Experience
Future applicants should have strong backgrounds in biology, chemistry/biochemistry, mathematics/statistics, physics and social sciences as well as a strong quantitative skills.
A competitive applicant who will be more likely to succeed in our curriculum will also have some experience in:
- computer programming and languages
- coding
- modeling and/or data sciences
- healthcare settings
and will demonstrate:
- strong interpersonal communication
- service
- leadership skills
- Innovation, design, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, or industrial experience in medical or related settings is a plus.
Suggested Courses and Labs
Competency in the areas listed below will most likely be met through courses taken during your undergraduate education. However, we recognize that there are alternatives to undergraduate coursework that may prepare you for our curriculum. These may include, but are not limited to, overlapping coursework (e.g. substituting Multivariable Calculus with Physical Chemistry), professional experiences, or certificates. Applicants must demonstrate competency in at least 9 of 11 competency areas to be eligible to receive a secondary application. To see how the University of Illinois interprets your prior coursework, please refer to Transferology, or speak to the pre-health advisor from your college/university, or contact us at admissions@medicine.illinois.edu to discuss your experience.
Applicants may demonstrate competence through the following suggested courses and labs:
- General/Organic Chemistry with Lab (3 semesters)
- Biochemistry (1 semester)
- Biology with Lab (2 semesters)
- Physiology, Systems Biology or other advanced biology course (1 semester)
- Physics with Lab (2 semesters)
- Humanities/Social Science course work as defined by the undergraduate major
- Calculus (2 semesters)
- Statistics (1 semester)
- Multivariable calculus
- Differential equations
- Linear algebra
Questions? Talk to us.
Letters of Recommendation
Carle Illinois College of Medicine Admissions Committee requires:
A minimum of three individual letters of recommendation and a maximum of four letters of recommendation.
OR
A premedical committee report or other composite letter of recommendation from the applicant’s primary college or university. Regardless of length, applicants with a committee report or composite letter may optionally submit a single, additional letter of recommendation.
Citizenship
Currently, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents will be considered.
