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 undergraduate 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. This is used as a component in a holistic evaluation of an applicant to ensure they have the appropriate competencies to succeed in our unique curriculum.
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.
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 who cannot adequately demonstrate competency in three or more of the desired competency areas will not 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
Are you ready to take steps toward becoming a physician-innovator?
Letters of Recommendation
All applicants are required to submit letters of evaluation and recommendation through the AMCAS letter service; no outside letters or information will be accepted by the Office of Admissions. Prospective students may submit a maximum of four letters of evaluation. The following are acceptable:
- A premedical committee report or other composite letter of recommendation from the applicant’s primary college or university.
OR
- If the primary college or university does not have a premedical committee, at least three individual letters of recommendation on official letterhead: two from individual professors with whom the applicant has taken classes or participated in research (it is strongly recommended that at least one recommendation be from someone in STEM-science, technology, engineering or mathematics) and one letter from a non-academic individual (e.g. an advisor, a supervisor from a work or volunteer experience).
Citizenship
Currently, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents will be considered.
