How to Get Into Carle Illinois College of Medicine: The Definitive Guide (2026-2027)

Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED) is a public MD program in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It describes itself as the world’s first engineering-based medical school. The college was created in 2015 as a partnership between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health, and its students train in Carle Health hospitals and clinics across central Illinois.

This guide covers the 2026-2027 application cycle for students who will start medical school in July 2027. The AMCAS deadline for this cycle is October 31, 2026, and offers go out from January 2027 through the spring. All facts were checked on October 28, 2026.

Carle Illinois runs one of the most unusual admissions processes in the country. It screens applicants on 11 competency areas that include advanced mathematics, sends secondaries only to applicants who already meet part of that screen, asks for a visual portfolio and a video response instead of standard essays, and does not hold evaluative interviews. Applicants who understand those rules early have a real advantage.

In this definitive guide, we cover the class profile, the MD and MD/PhD programs, the engineering-infused curriculum, every competency area, current tuition by residency, the secondary portfolio with worked examples, the finalist process and the questions applicants ask most. Knowledge is power, so use what you learn here to make your application as strong as possible.

Should you have questions about the medical school application process, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. International Medical Aid has helped thousands of students get into medical school through our medical school admissions consulting and healthcare internship programs. We’re here for you!

Key Takeaways

• Eligibility. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are considered. You need a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university before you start, and no major is preferred.
• Competencies, not prerequisites. Carle Illinois lists 11 competency areas, from chemistry and biochemistry to multivariate calculus, differential equations and linear algebra. You must have completed at least 7 of the 11 when you apply to receive a secondary, and you must show at least 9 of the 11 by enrollment. Up to 2 can be marked “Plan to Enroll.”
• Academic context. For the 2025 entering class, accepted applicants had a median MCAT of 516 and a median GPA of 3.9. The minimum MCAT is 498, there is no minimum GPA, and section scores are not considered. Reviewers do not see your MCAT until the finalist stage.
• Mission. The school trains “Physician Innovators.” About 56% of the Class of 2030 majored in engineering, but the competency model and portfolio give strong applicants from other fields a clear way in.
• Key dates. AMCAS opened May 28, 2026, review began July 6, 2026, and the AMCAS deadline is October 31, 2026. Secondary deadlines are individualized. Offers run from January 20, 2027 through June 30, 2027, and classes begin July 12, 2027.
• Costs. For 2026-2027, students who entered in summer 2026 pay $18,779 per semester in tuition as Illinois residents and $24,646 per semester as nonresidents, plus campus fees of $2,840 per semester (including a $1,125 health insurance fee that can be waived). Every admitted student is considered for merit scholarships automatically.
• Distinctive training. Students see patients in their first week, follow their own patient panel in a Family Medicine Continuity Clinic, complete IDEA engineering projects during clerkships and finish with a capstone or data science project.
• Next step. If you applied this cycle, complete your portfolio and video response quickly, because the school accepts no updates after it receives your secondary. If you plan to apply in 2027-2028, map your coursework against all 11 competencies now.

Key Statistics About Carle Illinois College of Medicine

The snapshot and table below gather Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s key numbers. Each figure carries its cohort or academic year, because admissions data, the newest class profile and tuition rates come out on different schedules. The admissions medians describe accepted applicants for the 2025 entering class. The class size and class profile describe the Class of 2030, which started in July 2026. Tuition figures are the 2026-2027 semester rates published by the University of Illinois Office of the Registrar.

Two points help you read this table. First, the medians describe accepted applicants, not minimums. Carle Illinois sets a floor of 498 on the MCAT and no GPA floor, and its reviewers do not see your MCAT until the finalist stage, so the medians tell you where admitted students landed, not where the school draws a line. Second, the registrar publishes tuition per semester, by the term in which a student entered. The school does not publish a single annual tuition figure for 2026-2027, so this guide reports the semester rates exactly as posted and shows the survey-based annual figures with their own year.

Class Size and Demographics

Carle Illinois keeps its classes small. The Class of 2030 has 64 students, and the school estimates 64 new entrants for 2027. The Class of 2030 is 52% women, speaks 15 languages and comes from 38 universities and 24 undergraduate majors, including 5 different engineering majors. Eight students came from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and 27% of the class is from Illinois. In and out-of-state applicants receive equal consideration, which is unusual for a public medical school and helps explain why nearly three in four students come from other states.

Admissions Data at a Glance

Carle Illinois does not conduct interviews, so there is no “interviewed” count. It also does not publish how many people apply or how many receive offers, which means no reliable acceptance rate exists for the school. Any figure you see elsewhere that divides the 64 matriculants by the number of applicants is a matriculation ratio, not an acceptance rate, and it cannot tell you your odds.

Mission and Educational Priorities

Carle Illinois states its mission this way: “We educate exceptional Physician Innovators to deliver high-value, compassionate healthcare through transformative solutions developed at the intersection of engineering, science, and medicine.” Its vision is: “We will be global leaders in transformative medical education, research and clinical care innovation, designed to improve the health and well-being of patients and communities around the world.”

The school lists six values that it says “permeate our culture”: Compassion, Competence, Curiosity, Creativity, Collaboration and Diversity. These are not decorative. Three of them, Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity, are the exact themes of the secondary portfolio. Collaboration shows up in team-based and problem-based learning, in Innovation Pods and in the partnership between the University of Illinois and Carle Health. Competence is the reason the school screens applicants on 11 competency areas rather than a fixed prerequisite list.

What the Mission Means for Applicants

The phrase “Physician Innovator” is the key to reading every part of this school. The curriculum page describes graduates as “creative problem-solvers who challenge the status quo,” “technology drivers and implementers” and people who are “comfortable in non-traditional team[s].” The school wants board-certified physicians first. It also wants doctors who notice a broken process in a clinic and build something to fix it.

For applicants, three practical lessons follow.

1. Show quantitative strength. Four of the 11 competency areas are mathematics: calculus, multivariate calculus, differential equations and linear algebra. Statistics is a fifth quantitative area. You do not need an engineering degree, but you do need to show that you can handle engineering-style reasoning.
2. Show patient-centered compassion. The mission says “compassionate healthcare,” and the school’s own description of its values starts with “improving the human condition through compassionate care.” An application with strong technical work and thin patient contact will not match the mission.
3. Show that you build and improve things. The school’s own description of who succeeds in its curriculum names “experience coding, participating in research studies, working directly with patients as an EMT or medical assistant, or working in industry.” Those four examples are a useful checklist.

The college is also committed to improving health across central Illinois. Its Health Innovation and Rural Engagement (HIRE) initiative, co-led with the College of Applied Health Sciences, focuses on rural health, nutrition and cardiometabolic disease across Illinois. Applicants who have worked on rural or underserved health problems can connect that work directly to the school’s current priorities.

Accreditation and Institutional Identity

Carle Illinois College of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the body that accredits MD programs in the United States and Canada. The school was granted full accreditation status in 2025, and its next survey is scheduled for 2027-2028. The LCME directory lists the program in Urbana-Champaign with an initial accreditation year of 2017 and full status. You can confirm the current status on the school’s LCME accreditation page.

Accreditation tells you the program meets national standards for MD education, and graduates are eligible for the same licensing exams and residency match as graduates of any LCME-accredited school. It is not a ranking, and it does not by itself say anything about a school’s selectivity or culture.

Carle Illinois Is Not the University of Illinois College of Medicine

This distinction trips up many applicants. Carle Illinois College of Medicine is a college of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, created with Carle Health. The University of Illinois College of Medicine is a separate medical school run by the University of Illinois Chicago, with its own application and its own campuses. The two schools have different curricula, different admissions rules and different secondary applications. Carle Illinois graduates earn their MD from Carle Illinois, not from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. If you want to apply to both, read our separate guide to the University of Illinois College of Medicine and treat them as two distinct applications.

Carle Illinois is young. Its first graduating class entered residency in summer 2022. The school’s newer status matters in two ways. Its alumni network is still small, and its research and clinical programs are still adding new departments, such as the departments of Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Oncology, and Surgery and Digestive Health listed in its current leadership directory.

Medical Programs and Affiliations

Carle Illinois offers one entry-level MD program and a joint MD/PhD program. It does not offer an early decision program, a three-year MD pathway, a baccalaureate/MD program or combined MD/MBA, MD/MPH or MD/JD degrees. Everything below is part of, or connected to, the four-year MD.

Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program

At the heart of Carle Illinois is its MD program, built to educate Physician Innovators. The curriculum integrates medical science with engineering principles and clinical training, and the school says most courses are designed and co-directed by teams that include a basic scientist, a clinician and an engineer. The program emphasizes problem-based learning, human factors, design thinking and early clinical exposure. Students meet real patients in their first week and spend four years in Carle Health hospitals and clinics. All MD applicants apply through AMCAS.

MD/PhD: The Medical Scholars Program

The Medical Scholars Program (MSP) prepares physician-scholars. Students earn an MD from Carle Illinois and a PhD from one of the existing PhD programs at the University of Illinois, which span the biomedical sciences, engineering, the physical sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. The program is directed by Daniel Llano, MD, PhD.

The MSP admits students through two routes:

• Direct application. Applicants designate themselves as MD/PhD applicants in AMCAS. MD/PhD AMCAS applications must be received by July 31 of the application cycle, three months before the MD deadline. Applicants who advance receive an MD/PhD secondary that asks about PhD program interest and includes additional essays on research background and interest. Applicants must meet the requirements of both the MD program and the PhD program of interest. Interest in the MSP is not a factor in MD admission, and applicants not accepted to the MD/PhD program may still be accepted to the MD program.
• Application after the first year. Current Carle Illinois MD students can apply after their first year. They receive MSP advising during the first year, submit an MSP application in the first quarter of the fall semester of their M2 year and, if accepted, start graduate work after finishing the first 18 months of the curriculum and passing USMLE Step 1.

Funding. Students admitted directly into the joint MD/PhD program receive a tuition scholarship for four years of medical school. Support during the graduate years comes from the home graduate program. Students who join after matriculating pay their own MD tuition until they start graduate work, then receive a Carle Illinois tuition scholarship for the Clinical Immersion and Final Year when they return. The MSP scholarship can be combined with another scholarship up to the cost of tuition. MSP students are expected to apply for an NIH F30 or F31 fellowship, but continued funding does not depend on winning one.

Healthcare Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship (HIDE) Certificate

Carle Illinois also offers an online graduate certificate in Healthcare Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship. It is offered with the Gies College of Business, the Siebel Center for Design, The Grainger College of Engineering and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, in collaboration with Mayo Clinic through the Mayo Clinic and Illinois Alliance. It is delivered online through Coursera for graduate students and working professionals. It is not a pathway into the MD program, but its course list (including MBA 571 on the healthcare ecosystem and need identification, and MBA 573 on business strategy and new venture implementation) shows the kind of innovation work the college values.

Strategic Partnerships and Clinical Affiliations

Carle Health. Based in Urbana, Carle Health is a vertically integrated system with nearly 16,500 employees in its hospitals, physician group, health plan and associated operations, and it serves nearly 2 million people across Illinois and western Indiana. Its flagship, the 489-bed Carle Foundation Hospital, is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, offers Level III perinatal services, holds Magnet designation for nursing excellence and is certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and a Level 3 Epilepsy Center. The system includes seven more hospitals across Illinois and more than 1,300 doctors and advanced practice providers. Carle Illinois students complete their clerkships in this system, and the school’s Dean, Mark Cohen, MD, is also Carle Health’s Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university is an original land-grant institution founded in 1867. More than 1,800 faculty members teach nearly 45,000 students in 16 colleges and schools, with more than 80 research centers and labs on a campus of more than 1,500 acres. Carle Illinois draws teaching support from 10 different colleges at the university, and more than 400 Carle Illinois faculty teach, mentor and lead programs.

The Cancer Center at Illinois. Carle Illinois partners with the Cancer Center at Illinois, which brings together experts in imaging, artificial intelligence, data science, biology, chemistry and physiology to move cancer solutions from the laboratory to clinical practice.

Research facilities on campus. Carle Illinois students and faculty use the Beckman Institute, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, the University of Illinois Research Park and its EnterpriseWorks incubator, and a 7 Tesla MRI scanner available through a partnership between the university and Carle Foundation Hospital.

Read the official partnerships page for the current details.

Curriculum Overview

Carle Illinois calls its approach “the Illinois Model for Medical Education” and says it is the first in the world to integrate engineering principles into teaching medicine. The curriculum rests on three pillars, basic sciences, clinical sciences, and engineering and innovation, woven together with four curricular threads: Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Lifespan Health, Health Systems Science, and the Social and Structural Determinants of Health. The program lasts four years and has three phases: Foundational Science, Clinical Immersion and the Final Year.

Key Highlights

• Integrated learning. Rather than separate physiology, anatomy and pharmacology courses, students study all of these around one or two real patient cases each week.
• Active learning. Problem-based learning is “the backbone of our organ-based courses,” with extensive team-based learning, active learning labs, flipped classrooms and discussion. Lectures are optional, while team-based learning, problem-based learning, physical diagnosis small groups and labs are required.
• Early clinical immersion. Students interact with real patients in their first week and work in a clinic within their first 10 days.
• Longitudinal threads. Humanities, ethics, lifespan health, health systems and social determinants run through all four years.
• Innovation focus. The IDEA (Innovation, Design, Engineering and Analysis) course runs alongside the clerkships, and every student finishes a capstone or data science project.
• Grading. Foundational Science and the Final Year are pass/fail. The major clinical experience in years two and three is graded honors, pass or fail.

Foundational Science (First 18 Months)

In the first 18 months, students use the lenses of engineering and innovation to build clinical reasoning through problem-based and case-based learning, then apply it to patient care in a clinic and in the Family Medicine Clerkship. The published schedule is organized into organ-system blocks. Examples from the current schedule include 6 weeks of Renal, 8 weeks of Clinical Neuroscience, 8 weeks of Musculoskeletal and Integumentary System, 6 weeks of Digestion, Nutrition and Metabolism, 9 weeks of Human Development and Reproductive Health, 9 weeks of Hematology, Oncology, Infection and Immunity, 3 weeks of Multi-System Conditions and 4 weeks of Synthesis and Summary, with intersession weeks for study and assessment.

Two pieces run across the whole phase:

• Introduction to Clinical Practice (78 weeks) builds diagnostic and patient-work skills. During the clinical integration course, each student is paired with a physician mentor who guides the development of foundational clinical skills and an understanding of healthcare systems. Primary care exposure begins in week 2, and first-year students spend one afternoon each week in a primary care practice.
• IDEA (78 weeks) is the longitudinal innovation course. Students meet regularly with engineering partners to generate ideas that address healthcare problems they see in clinic.

Medical Engineering Discovery and Innovation (MEDI) sessions introduce techniques, technologies and innovations from an engineering perspective around important medical topics. Foundational Science ends with 2 weeks of dedicated study for USMLE Step 1, followed by a 1-week Clinical Immersion orientation.

The Discovery Learning Period. At the end of the first year, students spend six weeks in a discovery learning period. The school lists several options: a global studies option that culminates in the Global Community Immersion Program, a clinical immersion in a specialty, a research immersion with Illinois faculty researchers and research mentors, or a self-designed experience with a mentor. The global studies option looks at the environment, nutrition, education, innovation, culture, the medical system and other factors that shape the health of different populations, and it can feed data into a student’s IDEA and capstone work. Students who arrive with global health experience, for example from medical internships abroad, often find this option a natural next step.

Clinical Immersion (Years Two and Three)

The Family Medicine Clerkship begins at the start of the second year. Students then complete immersion clerkships, with the sequence for each student set by lottery:

In year two, students also start the Family Medicine Continuity Clinic, a longitudinal experience in which a small team of students follows its own panel of patients with a preceptor for 18 months. During every clerkship, students generate IDEA project ideas, then work with research mentors to build them out. A Clinical Skills Gateway Assessment closes the phase.

Final Year (Year Four)

The final year is for advanced clinical skills and career preparation. Students take electives, sub-internships and away rotations at sites across the country, complete a 2-week Career Boot Camp, and finish either a capstone project or a data science project. One of a student’s IDEA projects can be selected as the capstone, with the goal of translating it into a new approach, technology or treatment. The data science project asks students to frame a data-driven clinical question, find and use real data sources, and learn the rules around human subjects protection and privacy. Every student completes a research or thesis-style requirement this way.

Simulation Training and the Learning Environment

The JUMP Simulation Center was built to train Physician Innovators. It offers three levels of simulation, using standardized patients, mannequin-based simulators and virtual reality, and simulation is integrated into all cases. Carle Illinois also uses interprofessional simulation, so students practice emergency responses and surgical teamwork alongside other health professionals. These sessions build teamwork skills in a safe setting before students rely on them with real patients.

The school’s faculty model draws teaching support from 10 colleges at the University of Illinois and from the Carle clinical community. Students receive weekly office hours and tutoring that is available weekly and by appointment.

What the Curriculum Means for You

Problem-based learning rewards self-directed students who are comfortable saying “I don’t know yet” in a small group and then going to find out. Applicants who have only learned through lectures should look for experiences that show independent learning, such as research, self-taught coding or a project they led. The clinical model also means you will spend a lot of time in community hospitals and clinics, sometimes up to an hour away. That suits students who want broad hands-on exposure and are comfortable driving to rotations.

Admissions Requirements and Application Process

The admissions journey at Carle Illinois is designed to identify candidates who excel academically and who have the qualities to become innovative, compassionate physicians. The school uses holistic review, and it says so plainly: both MCAT and GPA are “components in our holistic evaluation.” Here is every requirement, in the order you will meet it.

Citizenship Requirements

Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are considered. Canadian, international and DACA applicants are not accepted. In-state and out-of-state applicants receive equal consideration.

Educational Background

All applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university before matriculation. There is no preferred major. Coursework does not expire: Carle Illinois considers all previous coursework regardless of when you completed it, and prerequisite-level coursework can be completed as late as May 2027 for the class entering in July 2027.

Academic Requirements: MCAT and GPA

• You must have an MCAT score before your application is considered and before the October 31 deadline.
• The minimum MCAT total is 498 out of 528.
• Scores cannot be more than 3 years old in January of the year you plan to enroll. For students entering in 2027, that means the oldest test date accepted is January 2024, and the latest test considered for this cycle is October 1, 2026.
• The best eligible score is used.
• Carle Illinois does not consider individual MCAT section scores.
• There is no minimum GPA, and postbaccalaureate or graduate GPAs are not substituted for a lower undergraduate GPA.
• Reviewers do not see your MCAT until the finalist subcommittee, the last stage of review before the full admissions committee votes.

The last point deserves attention. Early reviewers judge your competencies, experiences, portfolio and video without your score in front of them. A high MCAT will not carry a thin portfolio through the early rounds.

Required Competency Areas

At Carle Illinois, “we evaluate competency, which is a much broader concept than pre-requisites.” There are 11 competency areas, and none is required on its own:

The timing rules are the part most applicants get wrong:

• To receive a secondary, you must have completed at least 7 of the 11 competencies at the time you apply.
• By enrollment, you must demonstrate at least 9 of the 11.
• Every eligible applicant receives a Competency Checklist. You can mark up to 2 competencies as “Plan to Enroll,” and you must prove completion of all Plan to Enroll courses by the week before you matriculate.
• Any combination of competencies counts. No single area is privileged over the others.

Community college and AP credit. Community college credit is accepted. Advanced Placement credit counts only when it is followed by a higher-level course in the same subject at a college or university. Online courses are reviewed case by case, and online courses with a lab element must be reviewed before approval. Pass/fail coursework is accepted.

Alternatives to coursework. The school recognizes that research publications, professional experiences or certificates can show competency, and the Competency Checklist lets you upload documentation of these alternatives. For the advanced math areas, the Admissions FAQ lists the specific topics it looks for. Multivariate calculus should cover vectors, vector-valued functions, partial derivatives, multiple integrals and vector calculus (line integrals, Green’s theorem, divergence, curl and Stokes’ theorem). Differential equations should cover first-order, second-order and higher-order ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations with Fourier series, and boundary value problems. Linear algebra should cover matrices and Gaussian elimination, vector spaces, orthogonality, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and positive definite matrices. To support an alternative, the school suggests the course textbook with the chapters covered and the number of lectures spent on each topic, completed problem sets or exams, research reports or papers you authored, coding examples, or a letter from a PI or supervisor describing your contribution. Never alter an official document such as a syllabus; upload a separate note with your comments instead.

The school cannot provide individual pre-application assessments. To see how the University of Illinois interprets your coursework, use Transferology or talk with your pre-health advisor. Read the full list on the official Before You Apply page.

Suggested Experiences

Carle Illinois says it uses holistic admissions “to identify applicants who are best suited to our institutional mission and educational design.” It names strong interpersonal skills, demonstrated altruism, leadership skills, experience in healthcare settings, and strong preparation in pre-med plus quantitative areas. It adds that applicants with experience coding, participating in research studies, working directly with patients as an EMT or medical assistant, or working in industry “have found success in our curriculum and excelled outside of the classroom.”

Shadowing is recommended, not required. The school says shadowing helps demonstrate readiness and that clinical experience can strengthen an application. In practice, almost every matriculant arrives with clinical experience. Paid roles such as EMT, scribe or medical assistant fit the school’s own examples well. Structured clinical internships for pre-med students, where you take vitals and help with intake under supervision, can add hands-on patient contact to that record.

Letters of Recommendation

• Submit at least 3 and no more than 4 letters through the AMCAS Letter Service.
• A premedical committee letter or other composite letter counts as three letters, so committee applicants may add one more letter.
• Committee letters, letter packets and individual letters are all accepted.
• Letters sent directly to the school, or letters the applicant or school did not request, are not accepted.

Carle Illinois asks you to choose letter writers who can collectively speak to your skill in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics), your work ethic and engagement, your leadership and teamwork, and your potential to be a successful innovator. A research mentor, a quantitative course instructor and a clinical supervisor together cover this list well.

Additional Assessments

Carle Illinois does not require a situational judgment test. It does not require CASPer, and it does not use AAMC PREview scores in admissions.

Virtual Office Hours and Information Sessions

Student-run Virtual Office Hours give potential applicants a chance to ask current students questions. Each session includes some information about the school but focuses on students answering applicants’ questions. You register through the applicant portal. The school is not currently coordinating campus visits, so these sessions and the online virtual visit are the best way to learn about student life before you apply.

Technical Standards and the Student Handbook

All matriculating students must meet the Carle Illinois technical standards, which are published in the student handbook. Matriculated students must also meet handbook requirements such as a criminal background check, immunizations and drug testing.

Nondiscrimination Policy

Carle Illinois follows the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s nondiscrimination policy. The university states that decisions involving students and employees must be based on merit and free from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, disability, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status and other protected categories. Questions go to the Director of the Office for Access and Equity.

Application Timeline and Process

1. Primary application (AMCAS). Apply through AMCAS. There is no early decision program. For a refresher on each AMCAS section, see our Guide to AMCAS and our full AMCAS application guide.
2. Screening. After initial screening, secondaries go at no cost to eligible applicants, meaning those who have completed at least 7 of the 11 competencies. The secondary is sent to the email address on your AMCAS application.
3. Secondary. You complete the Competency Checklist, a portfolio and a video response to questions. Deadlines are individualized, so watch your email and portal for your own date.
4. No updates. Carle Illinois does not accept updates, letters of intent or letters of interest after it receives your secondary. Make the secondary complete the first time.
5. Preliminary review and finalist review. Preliminary evaluations begin in July and are typically complete by the end of winter break. Finalist evaluation generally begins in mid-fall. Reviewers see your MCAT only at the finalist subcommittee.
6. Invitation-only events. The most competitive applicants are invited to non-evaluative events, where professionalism is still expected.
7. Offers. Offers do not typically go out until January and continue through the spring under a rolling model. Because offers come out on a rolling basis, an early, complete application gives you more chances to be considered; see What Does Rolling Admissions Mean for Medical School Applications?

Important Dates for the 2026-2027 Cycle

If you are planning ahead, the school’s How to Apply page suggests taking the MCAT about 18 months before you plan to enroll. For a July 2028 start, that points to a test in early 2027, which leaves the following spring and summer for competency coursework, clinical work and pre-med summer internships.

Decisions, Deposits and Waitlist

• Deposit. No deposit is required.
• Response time. The time you have to respond to an offer varies with when in the cycle the offer is made.
• Commit to Enroll. Carle Illinois follows the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School dates. For the 2026 entering class, the Commit to Enroll date was May 15, 2026; the 2027 date follows the same national calendar.
• Deferrals. Deferred entrance requests are considered case by case.
• Waitlist. The school describes its waitlist as “realistic,” meaning that applicants like you have been accepted from it in the past. It does not disclose waitlist position or the likelihood of an offer, and movement varies a lot from year to year.
• Transfers. Transfer applications are not available this cycle.

Tuition, Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid

Carle Illinois tuition is set by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, usually at its January meeting, and published by the Office of the Registrar under the Graduate and Professional rates. The registrar lists semester rates that depend on when a student entered the program. The Office of Student Financial Aid then uses those rates to build the official cost of attendance, which it publishes through the Illinois cost calculator at cost.illinois.edu.

2026-2027 Tuition (Semester Rates)

These are the rates for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, as posted on the University of Illinois Registrar’s website for “Medicine Carle IL-MD”:

The registrar’s page states that these figures are semester rates for new and continuing students. It does not state an annual total or whether a summer term is charged, so this guide does not convert them into a yearly number. Rates for students entering in summer 2027 will be set when the Board of Trustees approves 2027-2028 tuition.

Mandatory Campus Fees

For 2026-2027, graduate and professional students enrolled in 12 or more hours (Range I) pay $2,840 per semester in campus fees. That total includes a $356 service fee, $309 general fee, $1,125 health insurance fee, $259 health service fee, $74 transportation fee, $82 in student-initiated fees, $379 for the Academic Facility Maintenance Fund and $256 for library and information technology. The health insurance fee is the only campus fee that can be waived, and only with comparable coverage.

First-Year Cost Estimates

The AAMC’s Tuition and Student Fees survey, which schools complete each year, gives a first-year picture for 2025-2026:

These survey figures are a year older than the registrar’s 2026-2027 rates, so use them as a planning range and check the cost calculator for the current official budget. Champaign-Urbana’s housing costs help: the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is about $1,405, and the local bus system is free to students. Most students still need a car, as explained in the next section.

Scholarships

Carle Illinois uses institutional funds and philanthropic support to give scholarships to matriculating students, and it awards about $1 million in scholarship aid each year. The Scholarship Subcommittee of the Admissions Committee sets the criteria each year through a holistic review. There is no single defining characteristic, because the needs of Carle Illinois, Carle Health and the Champaign-Urbana community change from year to year.

• All students are considered for scholarship funding.
• All admitted students are automatically considered for merit scholarships, with no separate application.
• Scholarships offered to incoming students renew automatically for a total of four years as long as you stay in good academic standing.
• Because tuition is not fixed, the Scholarship Committee reserves the right to raise scholarships when tuition rises.

Financial Aid Applications and Parental Information

The FAFSA is the only financial aid application required, using the school code 001775. Only student information is required on the FAFSA, with no parental information.

Loans and Additional Funding Options

Carle Illinois does not offer institutional loans. Students who file the FAFSA are considered for Federal Unsubsidized loans and Grad PLUS loan options, and private loans are available if more funding is needed; see osfa.illinois.edu for details. Federal loan programs and limits change from time to time, so confirm the current options with the Office of Student Financial Aid before you budget. To reduce borrowing, the school points students to Illinois Human Resources money management resources and Financial Wellness Programming from University of Illinois Extension.

For context, 94% of Carle Illinois students received financial aid in 2024-2025, and indebted graduates that year left with average medical school debt of $192,737.

Work and Employment During Medical School

The school strongly discourages part-time jobs, because the program demands a significant amount of time.

Cost of Attendance and Annual Increases

Carle Illinois does not offer fixed-rate tuition, so students may see a slight increase in cost over the four years. The table above already shows this: nonresidents who entered in summer 2026 pay a higher semester rate than those who entered in 2024 or 2025.

Financial Aid for MD/PhD Students

Direct-admit Medical Scholars receive a tuition scholarship for four years of medical school, and graduate years are supported by the home graduate program. See “MD/PhD: The Medical Scholars Program” above for the rules that apply to students who join after their first year.

Campus Facilities and Student Life

Carle Illinois is located in Champaign-Urbana, a “micro-urban” community of twin cities on the University of Illinois campus. The school’s main address is the Medical Sciences Building at 506 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana. Students have the whole university around them: the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 350 performances a year, the Activities and Recreation Center is one of the largest campus recreation facilities in the country, and the twin cities have an active food, music and sports scene.

Facilities and Learning Environment

• JUMP Simulation Center. Three levels of simulation with standardized patients, mannequins and virtual reality.
• Health Maker Lab. A network of fabrication labs where students turn health ideas into prototypes.
• Clinical skills and standardized patient programs. The school runs dedicated clinical skills and standardized patient programs led by its own staff.
• University research institutes. The Beckman Institute, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute.
• Research Park and EnterpriseWorks. A technology hub and startup incubator for students who want to commercialize an idea.
• University of Illinois Library. Extensive medical resources and study spaces across campus.

Innovation Pods

Every Carle Illinois student joins an Innovation Pod at the start of medical school. A pod is a small group of students that stays together for all four years and has its own Pod Mentors from basic science, clinical and engineering faculty. Pods also have access to faculty advisors from Carle Illinois, the broader university and the Carle network, plus student, resident and retired faculty advisors. Pods are named after scientists and engineers with Illinois ties, such as Paul Lauterbur, whose work made MRI possible, and Rosalyn Yalow, who developed the radioimmunoassay technique.

Student Support and Wellness

The Office of Student Affairs supports students from the White Coat Ceremony to Match Day. Thrive is a weekly, student-led wellness series with invited speakers, and lunch is provided. The Wellness Mentoring Program is a peer-to-peer program for first-year students. The wellness program covers physical, environmental, academic, emotional, social, spiritual, career, financial and “innovative” wellness. Students have access to university counseling services. Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) handles reasonable accommodations, and a Carle Illinois liaison helps students arrange them, including for USMLE Step exams. The school also has an Ombudsperson, a Director of Student Wellness and a student success team.

Housing and Transportation

Most students live off campus, and Champaign-Urbana offers both quiet tree-lined neighborhoods and larger apartment complexes. The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is about $1,405. A limited number of graduate and family housing units are available. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District buses are free to students, every bus has a bike rack, and Uber, Lyft and Zipcar operate in town.

A car is still close to essential. Clinical experiences can begin as early as week 3 and can be up to an hour outside Champaign-Urbana. Students are responsible for their own transportation to clinical sites, and rural areas are not reliably served by public transit or rideshares. The school recommends that students have a driver’s license and a vehicle.

Student Organizations at Carle Illinois College of Medicine

Carle Illinois students run a long list of interest groups that support specialty exploration, service, identity and well-being. The current list includes:

• Specialty interest groups: Aerospace Medicine, Anesthesiology, American Association of Neurological Surgeons Student Chapter, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiology, Dermatology and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Disaster Medicine (DMIG), Emergency Medicine (EMIG), ENT, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Interventional Radiology (IRIG), Neurology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Pain Management, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), Psychiatry, Radiology, Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, Sports Medicine, Surgery, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care (TSCC), Ultrasound, Vascular Surgery, and Women in Medicine and Women in Surgery.
• Innovation and technology: CIM3D (3D printing for medicine), AI in Medicine, Health Data Analytics Club and Innovators in Action.
• Service and community health: Campaña de Salud, a free, student-run health fair that serves the medically underserved Latino community; CIMED Street Medicine; Rural Health; Physicians for Human Rights; Climate Aware Physician Students (CAPS); Culinary Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine; and Medical Spanish.
• Identity and support: Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA), Carle Pride, AxisMED, Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), Middle Eastern and North African students, Muslim Student Association, Jewish Medical Student Association, Catholic Medical Association Student Chapter, Christian Medical and Dental Association, South Asian Medical Student Association, Student National Medical Association, FGLIMed (First-Generation and Low-Income in Medicine), Disability and Chronic Illness at Carle Illinois, and Students with Families.
• Professional development and well-being: AfterWards @ Carle Illinois, CIMED Mentors in Medicine, Health Policy and AMA Student Chapter, Medical Education Interest Group, American Physician Scientists Association, Personal Finances and Investments, SimplifyMD, MedMoves, Music in Medicine and a Gaming Club.

Carle Pride creates a support network for LGBTQ+ and allied students and prepares students to provide LGBTQ+ inclusive care, while the Women’s Health Interest Group focuses on current standards of care, research and policy in women’s health. Students who want to serve Spanish-speaking patients can join Medical Spanish and Campaña de Salud. If you are building those skills before medical school, a medical internship in Peru gives you supervised clinical work in a Spanish-speaking setting.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity is one of the school’s six stated values. The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion supports students through programming, community partnerships and events, and the school lists student-led cultural and community events on its website. The school also runs pipeline programs for younger students, including the Future Health Innovators Academy, the REACH Program, the SpHERES High School Research Program, Doctor for a Day, Mini Medical School and the Health Innovation Academy. Students in the Class of 2030 speak 15 languages, and current students list more than two dozen additional languages, from Arabic and Bengali to Tamil and Vietnamese.

Clinical Rotations and Research Opportunities

Clinical Training

Clinic-based instruction begins in week 1 and continues longitudinally for 18 months. In addition to the seven core clerkships, students manage their own patients in the Family Medicine Continuity Clinic. The school says it exposes students to primary care starting in week 2, and in the first year students spend one afternoon each week in a primary care practice.

Core clerkships are in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Surgery, followed by advanced electives in many specialties. The sequence is set by lottery for every student.

Sites. Students rotate at clinics and hospitals in the Carle Health system, including Carle Foundation Hospital, which is certified for Level 1 trauma, stroke and neonatal care. They also train at other community hospitals and ambulatory sites across central Illinois. Carle BroMenn is one of the system hospitals where students train with mentors. Because Carle Health is a regional system, clinical sites can be up to a one-hour drive each way, and placement can begin as early as week 3.

Electives and away rotations. In the final year, students build advanced clinical skills through electives, sub-internships and away rotations at sites across the country.

Global health. Global health is optional. The global studies option in the discovery learning period culminates in the Global Community Immersion Program. On the 2025 AAMC Graduation Questionnaire, 3% of graduating seniors reported a global health experience during medical school.

Student-run service. Campaña de Salud, CIMED Street Medicine and the Rural Health Interest Group give students service roles beyond required rotations.

Research Opportunities

Research is required. Every student completes IDEA projects plus a capstone project or data science project. Carle Illinois researchers held $8,042,700 in direct federal research grants and contracts in fiscal year 2024.

Core research areas. The school’s research and innovation work centers on translating discoveries into tools for patient care and population health. Active areas across the college and its partners include bioengineering and medical devices, artificial intelligence and data science in healthcare, cancer research with the Cancer Center at Illinois, health care delivery innovation, rural health and nutrition through HIRE, and imaging. The leadership team now includes a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and an Associate Dean for Research and Innovation.

Research labs and facilities. Students work with research mentors across campus and use the Health Maker Lab, the JUMP Simulation Center, the Beckman Institute, the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, NCSA and the 7 Tesla MRI available through the university and Carle Foundation Hospital.

Notable research highlights. Students develop new medical devices and technologies through IDEA and present the results as capstones. A clear example: as students, Alex Lucas and classmate Christina Moawad worked with engineering and business students to design a safety harness that protects emergency medical services personnel during patient transport while still letting them care for patients in the back of the ambulance. The school keeps a public showcase of capstone innovations.

Research Training and Opportunities

• Research immersion in discovery learning. A six-week option at the end of the first year that introduces multidisciplinary research with Illinois faculty, including literature review and research methods.
• IDEA and capstone. Longitudinal innovation work tied to clinical problems students see in clerkships.
• Data science project. An alternative final-year project built on clinical or molecular data.
• Research mentors. Clinical research mentors and Health Innovation Professors, listed on the school’s site.
• Office of student research. The school lists an Interim Director of Student Research who supports student projects.
• Medical Scholars Program. The MD/PhD route for students who want full research training.

Students who arrive with experience in hospitals, labs or both tend to get more out of these options. Undergraduates looking for that kind of start can combine campus research with medical internships for undergraduates that put them in clinical settings.

Get Involved

To learn more about research at Carle Illinois, start with the faculty directory and the research mentor pages, then contact faculty whose work matches yours. For MD/PhD questions, the Medical Scholars Program can be reached at [email protected]. James Slauch, a professor in Biomedical and Translational Sciences who teaches the MSP completion courses, is a good example of the faculty involved; his profile is here.

Notable Alumni, Faculty, Leadership and Admissions Staff

Carle Illinois graduated its first class in 2022, so its alumni are early in their careers. The people below were checked against official Carle Illinois pages on October 28, 2026. Their profiles show what the school’s training produces and who shapes the student experience. None of them sets admissions preferences that applicants can game, and none should be contacted for admissions favors.

School Leadership

Mark S. Cohen, MD, Dean. Dr. Cohen is Dean of Carle Illinois College of Medicine and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Carle Health. He is a practicing surgical oncologist and endocrine surgeon and a tenured professor of Surgery and Biomedical and Translational Sciences, with appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and the Beckman Institute. His research covers tissue engineering of endocrine organs from fat stem cells, anticancer drugs that target heat shock protein 90, nanoparticle drug delivery, and mixed reality and AI tools for telemedicine and training. He has published 135 peer-reviewed manuscripts, holds six patents and has founded five companies. Applicants should read his welcome message: he names the school’s core values as “Compassion, Competence, Diversity, Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaboration,” the same themes the secondary asks you to show.

Gregory Polites, Executive Vice Dean. Dr. Polites is Executive Vice Dean and a Clinical Professor in Clinical Sciences. As part of the executive leadership team, he helps run the college’s academic and clinical operations.

Kristine Carpenter, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Dr. Carpenter oversees academic affairs. She appears in the school’s 2026 residency story with Nafisa Mostofa, a sign of how closely academic leaders work with students at a school with 64 students per class.

Claudius Conrad, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation. Dr. Conrad leads the college’s research and innovation programs, the area that supports IDEA projects, capstones and student research.

Adil Haider, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer. Carle Illinois has a dedicated Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer on its executive leadership team. Applicants interested in AI in medicine should note this role and the student AI in Medicine interest group.

Admissions and Student Affairs Staff

Mark Urosev, Associate Dean for Student Affairs. Mark Urosev is the medical school contact for admissions inquiries and leads student affairs. He also teaches a service learning elective (BSE 770).

Victoria Richards, Assistant Dean for Curriculum, Assessment, Evaluation, and Enrollment. Her portfolio links enrollment with curriculum and assessment, which reflects how closely the school ties admission to readiness for its curriculum.

Jessica L. Williams, Associate Director of Admissions, and Kristin Allen, Coordinator of Student Recruiting, are listed in the school’s administration directory. Recruiting events such as Virtual Office Hours run through the admissions and student affairs team. General admissions questions go to [email protected].

Faculty

Daniel Llano, MD, PhD, Director of the Medical Scholars (MD/PhD) Program. Dr. Llano is a physician-scientist and Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, with appointments in Neuroscience, Speech and Hearing Science, and Biomedical and Translational Sciences. He practices neurology at Carle Foundation Hospital, specializing in dementia care. His research studies auditory circuits and the links between hearing loss, vascular dysfunction and neurodegenerative disease, especially Alzheimer’s disease. He is the first contact for MD/PhD applicants.

James M. Slauch, Professor, Biomedical and Translational Sciences. Dr. Slauch teaches courses in molecular genetics, microbiology, scientific writing and global biosecurity, and he teaches the MSP completion courses (MSP 600 and MSP 601) for Medical Scholars. MD/PhD applicants with interests in microbiology and genetics should know his work.

Rashid Bashir, Professor. Dr. Bashir is listed on the Carle Illinois faculty in Biomedical and Translational Sciences. His research group works on micro and nanotechnology for medical applications and is connected to the university’s Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. His work shows how deeply engineering faculty are built into the medical college.

Martin Burke, Professor. Dr. Burke is a Carle Illinois faculty member in Biomedical and Translational Sciences and a chemist who develops new methods for building complex molecules with therapeutic potential. His lab is a strong example of the chemistry and drug discovery work open to students through research mentors.

Ruby Mendenhall, Associate Professor. Dr. Mendenhall is a Carle Illinois faculty member in Biomedical and Translational Sciences whose work focuses on health disparities and community-based research. Applicants interested in the social determinants of health thread will find her work relevant.

Toufic Abdul-Basset Abdo, Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Abdo is a Clinical Associate Professor in Clinical Sciences. Clinical faculty like him teach students in Carle Health clinics and hospitals.

Notable Alumni

Alex Lucas, MD, Class of 2022. From Bridgeport in Southern Illinois, Dr. Lucas graduated in May 2022 and began an emergency medicine residency at Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, near Chicago. He credits problem-based learning, close teaching from Carle Health physicians and his EMS safety harness project with preparing him, and he said the clinical teaching “actually helped me shine on my away rotations at the bigger hospitals up in Chicago.” Students drawn to his path can read How to Become an Emergency Room Doctor: Training, Licensing, and Certification Requirements.

Phani Gaddipati, MD, Class of 2022. A member of the inaugural class, Dr. Gaddipati matched into diagnostic radiology at the University of Washington. He completed a preliminary year in internal medicine at Carle Foundation Hospital before starting his four-year radiology residency at UW in 2023. He described Carle’s “really wide catchment area” and the “huge variety of patients and pathologies” students see.

Andrew Chang, MD, Class of 2022. Dr. Chang matched into internal medicine at Carle Foundation Hospital and co-founded ProteCKD, a project studying community screening for chronic kidney disease. He received a scholarship funded by community donors and chose to give back by training locally.

The Class of 2026. The school’s May 2026 residency story profiles four graduates. Neddie Byron matched in General Surgery at Inova Fairfax in Virginia and said the clerkships “really mirror the responsibilities for someone on a sub-internship.” Micah Silberstein matched in Urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and credited mentors at Carle Foundation Hospital and Carle BroMenn. Nafisa Mostofa matched in Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after discovering the field while shadowing her Carle Health mentor. Aditya Vaidyam matched in Neurology at Yale and credited the school’s innovation culture.

Both faculty and alumni describe the same strengths: small classes, early and heavy clinical exposure, and a culture where students build things. Those are the qualities your application should speak to.

Admissions Statistics and Class Profile

Carle Illinois is highly selective, but it publishes less admissions data than most schools. Here is what is available, with the cohort for each number.

MCAT Scores for Accepted Applicants (2025 Entering Class)

Remember two school rules when you read these numbers. Carle Illinois does not consider section scores in its own review, and its reviewers do not see your MCAT until the finalist subcommittee. The medians show where admitted students landed, not what the committee screens on.

GPA Data for Accepted Applicants

The median GPA for accepted applicants in the 2025 entering class was 3.9. The school does not publish a separate median science GPA or a 10th to 90th percentile range for the current cohort. There is no minimum GPA.

Matriculation Data

• Entering class: 64 students in the Class of 2030 (entered July 2026); 64 estimated new entrants for 2027.
• Total enrollment: 267 students as of October 2025.
• Interviews: None. Carle Illinois does not conduct interviews.
• Applications and offers: Not published. Because of that, no acceptance rate can be calculated for the school.

Matriculant Demographics (Class of 2030)

• 52% women
• 15 languages spoken
• 56% engineering majors, and 78% of those in bioengineering
• 23% with advanced degrees, including 2 PhDs
• 38 universities and 24 undergraduate majors, including 5 different engineering majors
• 8 students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• 18 states represented; 27% of the class from Illinois

The school’s overview adds that roughly 60% of its students have engineering backgrounds, alongside classmates with degrees in advanced mathematics, computer science and other quantitative fields. Applicants of every age and path are welcome; the 23% with advanced degrees shows that many students arrive after graduate study or work.

How to Use These Numbers

A 516 median MCAT and a 3.9 median GPA put Carle Illinois among the more selective MD programs, but the school’s process weighs competencies and the portfolio before it ever looks at your MCAT. For a broader comparison of numbers across schools, see our list of average GPA and MCAT scores by medical school.

Tips and Strategies for Admission

Applying to Carle Illinois requires a strategic, well-prepared approach. The school’s process is different enough that general advice can mislead you. These tips translate its stated priorities into concrete steps.

Audit Your Competencies Before Anything Else

Make a simple table with the 11 competency areas, the course or alternative evidence for each, and the date it was or will be completed. If you will not have 7 completed when you submit AMCAS, you will not receive a secondary, no matter how strong the rest of your file is. If you are a biology or chemistry major, the gap is usually in the math: multivariate calculus, differential equations and linear algebra. Applicants often close it with a community college course, which the school accepts. Engineering majors are often short on biology, advanced biology or biochemistry instead. Use your two “Plan to Enroll” slots only for courses you are sure to finish by May 2027.

Reflect on Your Motivations for Medicine

Explain why you want to be a physician, and then why you want to be a physician who builds. Reflect on the moments that started your interest, and look for the moment you first noticed a problem in care that you wanted to fix. The school’s How to Apply page frames the secondary around one question: “Why is engineering-infused medicine right for you and how will you use it to change the world?” Your personal statement and portfolio should answer it without saying it outright.

Showcase Your Academic Excellence

A strong GPA and MCAT matter, and the medians for accepted applicants are high. Reviewers, though, judge competencies and experiences first and see the MCAT only at the finalist stage. That makes your transcript’s rigor, especially in quantitative courses, and your evidence of independent learning as important as the numbers. If you had an academic setback, show the upward trend and the harder courses you took afterward. The school values students who thrive in a demanding, self-directed environment with a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Engage in Meaningful Extracurricular Activities

Quality matters more than quantity. Choose a few activities that show commitment to healthcare, leadership and community service, and stay with them long enough to take on responsibility. The secondary rewards “multiple activities” for each value, but only those that are “meaningful for the value,” so depth across a few areas beats a long list.

Gain Relevant Clinical and Research Experience

Hands-on clinical experience is how you learn what a medical career really involves, and the school specifically names working “directly with patients as an EMT or medical assistant.” Volunteering, shadowing, paid clinical work and internships for pre-med students all count when they put you in contact with patients. Pair that with research, ideally in an area that matches the school’s focus on technology, data or devices. If you code, put that skill to work on a health problem.

Build a Record of Making Things

Carle Illinois cares about creativity in a literal sense. A device prototype, a 3D-printed model, an app, a data dashboard for a clinic, a redesigned workflow at your job or a piece of art used in patient education all qualify. Document each with photos, sketches and short notes as you go, because the secondary portfolio is image-focused and you will need that material later.

Highlight Unique Aspects of Your Background

Your experiences and perspectives add to the class. Students in the Class of 2030 came from 38 universities and 24 majors and speak 15 languages. Reflect on how your background shaped your goals and how it would help a small, team-based class. Non-engineers should make their quantitative and problem-solving strengths obvious, and engineers should make their patient-centered experience just as obvious.

Prepare Thoughtfully for the Secondary Application

Start building your portfolio before the secondary arrives. Pick your strongest experiences for Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity, collect the images, and draft captions. Remember that screeners evaluate your portfolio before they read your AMCAS, and the school accepts no updates once it has your secondary. Use the secondary to complement your primary application and show your fit with an interdisciplinary learning environment.

Choose Letter Writers Who Cover STEAM and Innovation

The school asks for letters that together speak to your skill in STEAM, your work ethic, your leadership and teamwork, and your potential as an innovator. Ask each writer for a specific story. A research PI who can describe something you designed or debugged is especially useful here.

Understand and Meet Technical Standards

Read the technical standards in the student handbook before you apply. They describe the abilities every student must have, with or without accommodations, to finish the program.

Utilize Available Resources

Sign up for student-run Virtual Office Hours to ask current students about the curriculum, clinical travel and life in Champaign-Urbana. Watch the school’s virtual visit and its video on why it uses competencies. Talk with your pre-health advisor about how your courses map to the competencies, and use Transferology to see how Illinois reads your transcript. For outside help building a strategy, see Medical School Admissions Consulting: How It Could Help You.

Plan Your Gap Year or Reapplication Carefully

Because coursework never expires at Carle Illinois, a gap year can be used to close competency gaps with community college or online math courses that the school reviews. It is also a chance to add the sustained patient contact and building experience the portfolio rewards. Well-structured pre-med gap year programs can provide supervised clinical work, while a job as an EMT, scribe or medical assistant gives you the continuity reviewers like to see. Reapplicants should change something concrete, such as a completed competency, a new project or a new clinical role, and show it in the new portfolio.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Be proactive about financial aid. File the FAFSA with school code 001775, and remember that only student information is required. Merit scholarships are considered automatically for all admitted students, renew for four years in good standing, and can be raised if tuition increases.

Secondary Application Questions, Example Responses and Analysis

Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s secondary application is unlike any other. Instead of standard essays, the school asks applicants to show their compassion, curiosity and creativity through a portfolio, and to answer questions on video. Here is what is confirmed for 2026-2027, what is not, and how to prepare.

What Is Confirmed for 2026-2027

• Who receives it. Secondaries go to eligible applicants after initial screening. You must have completed at least 7 of the 11 competency areas when you apply.
• Cost. The secondary is free. There is no secondary fee.
• Format. The school’s Admissions FAQ says: “Our innovative, non-traditional secondary application process will consist of a portfolio and video response to questions.”
• Competency Checklist. Every eligible applicant receives the checklist, where you document each competency, mark up to 2 as “Plan to Enroll” and upload any alternative evidence.
• Deadline. Secondary deadlines are individualized. Use the date in your own invitation.
• No updates. Carle Illinois does not accept updates after it receives your secondary, so submit only when the portfolio is complete.
• The question behind it. The school’s How to Apply page describes the secondary step this way: “Why is engineering-infused medicine right for you and how will you use it to change the world? This is our chance to make sure our character and values align.”

What is not published. Carle Illinois does not post its secondary wording publicly, and the exact 2026-2027 portfolio instructions, word limit for any written statement, and video questions are not publicly posted. The video questions appear only inside the application portal. Follow the instructions and limits shown in your portal exactly, even where they differ from the practice material below.

MD/PhD applicants. Applicants who advance in the Medical Scholars Program receive an MD/PhD secondary that asks about PhD program interest and includes additional essays on research background and interest. Those prompts are not published for this cycle. Prepare a clear account of your research questions, your methods, your specific contribution to each project and the University of Illinois PhD programs that fit you, then answer the portal prompts as written.

How the Portfolio Works

The portfolio has one artifact for each of three school values: Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity. In recent cycles, each artifact has been a one-page PDF that is mostly images, with short captions or notes that give context. Reviewers evaluate the portfolio independently, before they read your AMCAS application, so each page must make sense on its own.

Six principles carry over from cycle to cycle:

1. Be reflective and personal. Your artifacts should do more than display achievements. Show how each experience changed what you think or do.
2. Be concise and clear. Short captions force you to choose the one detail that matters. Every word should link the experience to the value.
3. Focus on your role. Say whether an activity was for credit or on your own time, whether it was a team effort and what you did.
4. Quality over quantity. Several activities per value can be powerful, but only if each one is meaningful for that value. Leave out minor items.
5. Ensure professional presentation. Artistic skill is not required. A clean grid of photos, sketches, screenshots or scanned documents with readable captions works. Protect privacy: never show a patient’s face or identifying details, and get permission for photos of other people.
6. Seek feedback. Ask someone who does not know your AMCAS to look at each page for 30 seconds and tell you what they learned. If they cannot, revise.

Practice With Last Cycle’s Prompts (2025-26)

The prompts below are the 2025-2026 wording, published by applicant-compilation sites and identical to the 2024-2025 wording. They are prior-cycle prompts, shown here only so you can practice. They are not confirmed as the 2026-2027 wording. The examples are original teaching material written for this guide.

Portfolio instructions (2025-26 wording, all three artifacts)

“In the three artifacts we ask you to SHOW US how compassion, curiosity, and creativity have played out in your life, and how you exemplify these values. Each artifact should be uploaded as a PDF (one page for each value, formatted no larger than 8.5″ x 11″). No hyperlinks or embedded videos are allowed. We encourage you to make your artifacts image focused but captions or other brief notes can be included on the artifact to help us understand the context of your images. Your artifacts will be most powerful if you include multiple activities for each and clearly indicate the quality and depth of your experience, but only include that which is meaningful for the value. The artifacts should be somewhat reflective in nature so share your thoughts and insights. You may repeat experiences listed on your AMCAS application and/or include new ones. Our screeners will evaluate your portfolio independently BEFORE they evaluate your AMCAS application so do not assume the screeners are aware of any of the information in your AMCAS. Please do not include activities from high school or earlier unless they are of very high quality or impact (an example would be achieving Eagle Scout rank). Family interactions/relationships (“spending time with family”) are unlikely to score well unless you can show how they are unusual or significant (an example would be full-time caregiver for a family member for a period). Please make your role clear. Was the activity you are presenting part of a class for credit or something you did on your own? Was this part of a team? If so, what was YOUR role?”

Because each artifact is a visual page, the worked examples below show a page plan: the images, the caption on each image and a short reflection line. Captions are kept brief, as the instructions ask.

Compassion artifact (2025-26 wording)

“We believe in creating physicians who, in addition to solving healthcare’s most complex problems, are also tender, kind, and warm. From day one, you will be working with patients. Show Us – How have you changed the lives of others? What have you experienced that has fostered a deep sense of compassion? For example, have you had a moving volunteer experience? Have you learned through adversity and shared those lessons with others in need? Share with us the ways you’ve impacted a larger population and help us see how you will be the type of physician we would entrust with our most beloved community members.”

Limit (2025-26): one page, PDF, no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, no hyperlinks or embedded video.

What it asks. Show, with evidence, that you have changed other people’s lives with warmth, and that the effect reached beyond one person.

Approach. Choose two or three experiences that show sustained care, including one where you reached a larger group. Use images that show places, tools or documents rather than identifiable patients.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Page title: “Compassion: Showing Up Again”

• Image 1, photo of an ambulance bay at dawn (no people): “EMT-B, rural county service, 2 years, 900+ hours, paid. My role: patient care on 12-hour shifts.”
• Image 2, my handwritten note card for a patient’s daughter, with names blacked out: “A stroke call. While my partner drove, I held a scared daughter’s hand and wrote down the times so she could tell the ED. I keep a stack of these cards now.”
• Image 3, photo of a laminated fall-risk checklist on a refrigerator: “After three repeat falls at one senior complex, I made a one-page checklist with the residents’ council. My idea; I wrote it, they edited it. 40 copies handed out.”
• Image 4, chart sketch: “Lift-assist calls from that complex dropped from 9 to 4 over the next six months. Not proof, but residents told us they used the list.”
• Reflection line at the bottom: “Compassion, to me, is coming back. The second visit is where trust starts, and it is the visit I want to keep making in a continuity clinic.”

Analysis. The page answers each part of the prompt. “How have you changed the lives of others?” is shown in the note card and the checklist. “A deep sense of compassion” is the reflection line about returning. “Impacted a larger population” is the senior complex, with a modest, honest outcome. Each caption states the role, whether it was paid or volunteer, and whether the idea was the applicant’s, which the instructions specifically request. The closing line links to a real Carle Illinois feature, the Family Medicine Continuity Clinic, without name-dropping. No patient faces or names appear.

Mistakes to avoid. Filling the page with text, which defeats an image-focused format. Using a photo of a patient. Listing ten activities with one line each. Choosing an experience where you were the person being helped, unless you show how you then helped others.

Curiosity artifact (2025-26 wording)

“Carle Illinois College of Medicine values lifelong learners. We want to see your passion for learning and growing! Show Us – How have you explored new interests, cultures, or people? Have you identified a need and taken the initiative to respond to that need? For example, is there a research project or work experience you’d like to share? Has your curiosity fostered a deeper sense of vulnerability, resilience, or life-long learning? If so, how? Let us see where your curiosity has taken you.”

Limit (2025-26): one page, PDF, no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches.

What it asks. Show where your curiosity has led you, including a need you noticed and acted on, and what that taught you about yourself.

Approach. Show a sequence: a question, what you did to answer it, a setback and what you learned. Research is the obvious choice, but a work problem or a new culture can work just as well.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Page title: “Curiosity: Following One Question”

• Image 1, screenshot of a spreadsheet with de-identified columns: “Scribe job, urgent care. I noticed that wrist X-rays waited longest on Mondays. My question: why? Done on my own time, approved by the clinic manager.”
• Image 2, photo of a library stack of statistics and Python books: “I taught myself enough Python to sort six months of de-identified wait times. Self-taught over one winter.”
• Image 3, photo of my lab bench with a gel image: “Separate thread: undergraduate research on bacterial biofilms, 3 semesters, for credit. My role: ran assays, wrote the analysis scripts. Two months of failed experiments taught me to check my controls first.”
• Image 4, a printed slide titled “Mondays”: “Back to the clinic: the delay matched one technician’s day off. Scheduling changed. I had expected a technology problem; it was a people problem.”
• Reflection line: “Curiosity made me comfortable being wrong in front of others. I want to keep asking ‘why Mondays?’ in small teams, the way problem-based learning works.”

Analysis. The page shows exploration of new interests (coding, statistics), a need identified and acted on (the wait times), a research project (biofilms) and growth (learning to be wrong, checking controls). It answers the “vulnerability, resilience, or life-long learning” question directly. Captions separate paid work, independent work and for-credit research and state the applicant’s role. The final line ties the story to the school’s problem-based learning without flattery.

Mistakes to avoid. Presenting research as a list of techniques with no question behind it. Claiming results you cannot support. Showing any patient data that is not fully de-identified.

Creativity artifact (2025-26 wording)

“The dictionary tells us that innovation is a new method, idea, or product. Often there is an outcome, a clearly defined result, or a new thing is discovered. The introduction of something new requires dynamic thinking and creative solutions. Creativity is key to innovation. Help us see your creativity and potential for innovation! Show Us – What are the ways you demonstrate you have an active mind? What are you really proud of? For example, have you used technology in novel or distinct ways? What innovative solutions have you employed in your work, healthcare, or hobbies? Have you taken a risk to respond to a problem, to express yourself, or to achieve your goals? Describe how you live and lead a creative life.”

Limit (2025-26): one page, PDF, no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches.

What it asks. Show things you made or changed, how you think, what you are proud of and a risk you took, ideally across work, healthcare and hobbies.

Approach. Use the “build” story that best shows your process, from sketch to prototype to test, and add one or two creative parts of your life outside science.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Page title: “Creativity: Sketch, Build, Test, Repeat”

• Image 1, my notebook sketch of a pill organizer with raised tactile markings: “A neighbor with low vision kept mixing up his morning and evening pills. My idea, my design, on my own time.”
• Image 2, photo of three 3D-printed versions on a desk: “Version 1 was too small to open. Version 3 has raised dots he can feel. Printed at my campus makerspace.”
• Image 3, short quote card with his permission: “‘I don’t have to wait for my daughter to check anymore.’ He has used version 3 for eight months.”
• Image 4, photo of a mural I painted with a youth art group: “Volunteer lead for a 10-person team. Creativity outside the lab keeps me patient with ideas that don’t work yet.”
• Reflection line: “My proudest work is the version that failed first. I want to bring problems like this one to an engineering team, and to keep making things with my hands.”

Analysis. The page answers “used technology in novel ways” (3D printing), “innovative solutions in healthcare” (the organizer), “what are you really proud of” (the failed first version) and “taken a risk” (building for a real person). The mural shows a creative life beyond medicine. The closing line points toward the kind of engineering collaboration Carle Illinois builds into its IDEA course and the student CIM3D group, without overstating the project.

Mistakes to avoid. Claiming a product is “invented” or “patented” when it is a prototype. Showing only art with no link to problem-solving, or only engineering with no human user. Hiding the failures, which are often the most convincing part.

Impact Statement (2025-26 wording)

“Tell Us – In 250 words or less, create an abstract-style narrative describing the impact of the experiences you included in your portfolio artifacts and how they have shaped your understanding of and connection to the Carle Illinois values of Compassion, Curiosity, and Creativity. The narrative should provide context and scope to the stories told in your artifacts and the value and impact these Carle Illinois values have in your life.”

Limit (2025-26): 250 words. Follow the limit in your portal for 2026-2027.

What it asks. An abstract-style summary that ties all three artifacts together, gives context and scope, and explains how the values work in your life.

Approach. Write it like a research abstract: background, what you did, what happened, what it means. Mention each value by name and connect the three pages into one story.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

For two years, my most important tool was not a stethoscope. It was a pen. As an EMT in a rural county, I learned that patients and families remember who explained things and who came back. That lesson shapes my compassion artifact: the note cards I write for families and the fall-risk checklist I created with residents of one senior complex, where lift-assist calls later dropped.

Curiosity started in the same places. At my scribe job, I asked why wrist X-rays waited longest on Mondays, taught myself Python to find out, and learned the answer was staffing, not software. In my biofilm lab, three semesters of failed and repeated assays taught me to welcome being wrong. Both experiences made me comfortable asking basic questions in front of people who know more than I do.

Creativity connects the two. When a neighbor with low vision confused his medications, I sketched, printed and tested three versions of a tactile pill organizer. The first failed. The third is still on his kitchen counter.

Together these experiences gave me a working definition of a physician: someone who notices a problem, cares enough to return, and builds something that helps. Compassion keeps the patient at the center, curiosity finds the real cause, and creativity turns the answer into a tool. I want to keep practicing all three in small teams, in a continuity clinic, and in projects with engineers, so the next thing I build reaches more than one kitchen counter.

(246 words)

Analysis. The statement follows the abstract structure the prompt asks for: context (EMT, scribe, lab, neighbor), actions, outcomes and meaning. It names Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity and shows how each works in the applicant’s life, then joins them in one definition. It adds scope the pages could not hold, such as how long the applicant worked and why the experiences matter together. It stays under 250 words and ends with a forward-looking line tied to real features of the curriculum.

Mistakes to avoid. Repeating the captions word for word. Writing a second personal statement that ignores the artifacts. Going over the limit, which a portal may cut off. Generic praise of the school.

The Video Response

The school confirms that its secondary includes a “video response to questions.” The questions are shown only inside the portal, and timing rules for the current cycle are not published, so read every on-screen instruction before you start recording.

How to prepare without knowing the questions:

• Expect the values. The school’s six values and the three portfolio themes are the most likely territory. Prepare one short, specific story each for compassion, curiosity, creativity, collaboration and a time you were wrong.
• Practice timed answers. Record yourself answering unfamiliar questions with a short preparation window and a strict time limit. Aim for a clear structure: the situation, what you did, what changed and what you learned.
• Check your setup. Use a quiet room, steady lighting from the front, a stable camera at eye level and a reliable internet connection. Close other programs.
• Be yourself. Speak to the camera as if it were a person on your team. Reviewers are looking for warmth and clear thinking, not polish.

For more on finding and organizing prompts across schools, see our medical school secondary essay prompts database.

Submission Guidelines

• Format. Follow the format in your portal. In recent cycles, each artifact has been a one-page PDF no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, with no hyperlinks or embedded videos.
• Content. Use images, documents, sketches or screenshots, and include more than one activity per value when each one is meaningful.
• Captions and notes. Add brief captions for context. Do not replace images with long blocks of text.
• Timing. Submit within your individualized deadline, and only when everything is final, because updates are not accepted later.

By preparing your portfolio thoughtfully, you can show the qualities Carle Illinois values: compassion, curiosity and creativity, backed by real evidence and honest reflection.

Interview Format and Preparation

Carle Illinois College of Medicine does not conduct interviews. This is confirmed by the school: “We do not do in-person interviews.” There is no traditional one-on-one interview and no Multiple Mini Interview. The evaluation that other schools do through interviews happens at Carle Illinois through the portfolio, the video response and the committee’s review.

What Happens Instead

• Preliminary evaluation begins in July and is typically complete by the end of winter break.
• Finalist evaluation generally begins in mid-fall. The finalist subcommittee is the last stage before the full admissions committee votes, and it is the first stage at which reviewers see your MCAT.
• Invitation-only events. Carle Illinois holds invitation-only events for its most competitive applicants. The school says these events do not include any evaluation of applicants, but applicants are expected to be professional. Dates are announced to invited applicants and are not published.
• Offers typically begin in January.

How to Prepare

Even without an interview, your preparation looks similar.

1. Treat the video response as your interview. It is the only time the committee sees and hears you. Practice with timed, unfamiliar questions.
2. Know the school. Be ready to explain, in a sentence or two, what problem-based learning, the IDEA course, the Family Medicine Continuity Clinic and the capstone or data science project would mean for you.
3. Share your story. Be ready to talk about your path to medicine, your strongest project and why engineering-infused medicine fits you.
4. Exhibit professionalism at events. If you are invited to an event, arrive on time, dress professionally, ask current students and faculty real questions, and treat everyone with respect. Non-evaluative does not mean unobserved.
5. Keep preparing for other schools. Most of your other schools will interview you. Our Multiple Mini Interview (MMI): The Definitive Guide and our list of the most common medical school interview questions will help with those. Carle Illinois itself does not use the MMI.

If you want structured practice for the video response or other schools’ interviews, IMA’s medical school application consulting can help you prepare with practice and feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the relationship between Carle Illinois College of Medicine and Carle Health?

Carle Illinois is a partnership between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health, created in 2015. The university grants the MD and runs the college, and Carle Health is the clinical partner where students train. Carle Health is a vertically integrated system based in Urbana with nearly 16,500 employees across its hospitals, physician group, health plan and related operations, and it serves nearly 2 million people across Illinois and western Indiana. Its flagship, the 489-bed Carle Foundation Hospital, is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center and holds Magnet designation for nursing. The two organizations are tightly linked at the top: the school’s Dean is also Carle Health’s Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. For applicants, this means a clinical education spread across a regional system, with sites up to an hour away.

What are the unique features of Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s secondary application?

The secondary is a portfolio and a video response to questions, not a set of standard essays. In recent cycles, the portfolio has had three one-page, image-focused artifacts, one each for Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity, plus a short written impact statement that ties them together. Screeners evaluate the portfolio before they read your AMCAS application. You also complete a Competency Checklist. The secondary is free, deadlines are individualized, and you receive it only if you have completed at least 7 of the 11 competency areas. The exact 2026-2027 wording is not publicly posted, so follow your portal’s instructions. Start collecting photos and documents of your work well before the invitation arrives.

How many competencies do I need to receive a secondary?

You need at least 7 of the 11 competency areas completed when you apply to receive a secondary. By the time you enroll, you must demonstrate at least 9 of the 11. You can mark up to 2 competencies as “Plan to Enroll” on the Competency Checklist, and you must prove those courses are complete by the week before you start. Any combination counts, and no single competency is required. Map your courses against all 11 areas before you submit AMCAS.

How does Carle Illinois College of Medicine support diversity and inclusion?

Diversity is one of the school’s six core values. The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offers programming, community partnerships and student events, and the college supports identity-based groups including APAMSA, LMSA, Carle Pride, AxisMED, SNMA, FGLIMed, the Muslim Student Association, the South Asian Medical Student Association and Disability and Chronic Illness at Carle Illinois. The school also runs outreach programs for younger students, such as the Future Health Innovators Academy and Doctor for a Day. The Class of 2030 speaks 15 languages and comes from 18 states.

What clinical training opportunities are available at Carle Illinois College of Medicine?

Clinical training starts in the first week, when students meet real patients, and students work in a clinic within their first 10 days. First-year students spend an afternoon each week in primary care. In year two, students start the Family Medicine Clerkship and the Family Medicine Continuity Clinic, where they follow their own patients for 18 months. Core clerkships cover family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery, in an order set by lottery. Training takes place at Carle Foundation Hospital and other Carle Health hospitals and community sites across central Illinois. The final year adds sub-internships, electives and away rotations across the country.

What research opportunities are available at Carle Illinois College of Medicine?

Research is built in. Every student completes IDEA (Innovation, Design, Engineering and Analysis) projects during the clerkships and finishes with a capstone project or a data science project. A six-week research immersion is one option at the end of year one. Students work with research mentors across the University of Illinois, using facilities such as the Health Maker Lab, the JUMP Simulation Center, the Beckman Institute and the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. Students who want full research training can apply to the MD/PhD Medical Scholars Program.

How does Carle Illinois College of Medicine incorporate innovation into its curriculum?

Innovation runs through all four years. Courses are designed and co-directed by teams that include a basic scientist, a clinician and an engineer. Medical Engineering Discovery and Innovation sessions bring engineering techniques into medical topics. During clerkships, students generate ideas for improving care in the IDEA course and develop them with mentors, and one IDEA project can become the final-year capstone. Students can also choose a data science project that uses real clinical or molecular data. The school calls its graduates “Physician Innovators.”

What financial aid options are available for students at Carle Illinois College of Medicine?

Every admitted student is considered automatically for merit scholarships, with no separate application, and the school awards about $1 million in scholarship aid each year. Scholarships renew for four years in good standing and can be raised if tuition increases. File the FAFSA with school code 001775 to be considered for federal aid; only student information is required. Students who file are considered for Federal Unsubsidized and Grad PLUS loan options, and private loans are available. The school does not offer institutional loans. In 2024-2025, 94% of students received financial aid.

How much is tuition at Carle Illinois?

For 2026-2027, students who entered in summer 2026 pay $18,779 per semester in tuition as Illinois residents and $24,646 per semester as nonresidents. Campus fees are $2,840 per semester for students in 12 or more hours, including a $1,125 health insurance fee that can be waived with comparable coverage. The school does not offer fixed-rate tuition. For a full budget with living costs, use the university’s cost calculator once you are admitted.

What makes Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED) unique?

CI MED is the world’s first engineering-based medical school. Its curriculum integrates engineering, basic science, clinical medicine and the humanities, and engineering is part of the curriculum from the first year rather than an add-on. Its admissions process is just as unusual: 11 competency areas instead of a prerequisite list, a portfolio and video secondary, no interviews and MCAT scores hidden from reviewers until the finalist stage.

What kind of research opportunities are available at CI MED?

Students can work on bioengineering and medical devices, AI and data science, cancer research with the Cancer Center at Illinois, rural health and nutrition through the HIRE initiative, imaging, health care delivery and more. Every student’s research culminates in a capstone or data science project, and the MD/PhD program supports students who want a full PhD.

Where is Carle Illinois College of Medicine located?

CI MED is in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Its address is the Medical Sciences Building, 506 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana. Clinical training takes place at Carle Health sites in Urbana and across central Illinois, some up to an hour away.

What are the career prospects for CI MED graduates?

Graduates go into clinical practice across specialties, often with research, industry or entrepreneurial interests alongside. Recent graduates matched in general surgery at Inova Fairfax, urology at Rush University Medical Center, anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic and neurology at Yale (Class of 2026), and earlier graduates matched in emergency medicine at Advocate Christ and diagnostic radiology at the University of Washington. No school can promise a specific match, but these results show graduates competing well for residency.

How does Carle Health connect with CI MED?

Carle Health is the clinical partner of CI MED. Students complete their clinical training at Carle Foundation Hospital and other Carle hospitals and clinics, learn from Carle physicians who serve as mentors and faculty, and some graduates stay at Carle for residency. Carle Health’s Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer is also the college’s dean.

Is UnityPoint Health affiliated with CI MED?

Carle Health is the clinical partner the school names on its partnerships page. UnityPoint Health is not listed there as a partner. Students rotate at Carle Health hospitals and clinics and at other community hospitals and ambulatory sites in central Illinois, and the school shares a map of current sites. If a specific hospital matters to you, ask about it during Virtual Office Hours.

How can I find job opportunities at Carle or UnityPoint Health?

Both Carle Health and UnityPoint Health post openings on their own career websites, where you can search positions and apply online. Searching “Carle Health careers” or “UnityPoint Health careers” will take you there. For pre-med applicants, roles such as patient care technician, scribe, medical assistant or EMT can add the direct patient care experience Carle Illinois values.

What resources are available for CI MED students and employees?

Students have access to the My.Medicine student site, the student handbook, Innovation Pods with faculty mentors, the weekly Thrive wellness series, university counseling and disability services, academic tutoring, and financial education from the Office of Student Financial Aid and University of Illinois Extension. MyCarle is Carle Health’s patient portal, which students may also use as patients. Carle Health employees use the system’s own internal tools.

Does Carle Illinois interview applicants?

No. Carle Illinois does not do interviews. It evaluates applicants through the portfolio, the video response and committee review, and it invites its most competitive applicants to non-evaluative events where professionalism is still expected.

Do I need an engineering degree to get in?

No. There is no preferred major, and 44% of the Class of 2030 did not major in engineering. You do need strong quantitative preparation, because 5 of the 11 competency areas are statistics or mathematics, and you need to show that you like solving problems and building things. Make that evidence easy to find in your application and portfolio.

Does Carle Illinois accept international or DACA applicants?

No. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are considered at this time. You also need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. or Canadian institution before you enroll.

Is Carle Illinois the same as the University of Illinois College of Medicine?

No. They are separate medical schools with separate applications. Carle Illinois is a college of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, created with Carle Health. The University of Illinois College of Medicine is part of the University of Illinois Chicago.

Can I send updates or a letter of intent after my secondary?

No. Carle Illinois does not accept updates from applicants after it receives the secondary, and it does not accept letters of intent or interest. Because the school uses individualized deadlines and rolling offers, it says excluding updates is fairest to everyone. Put your strongest, most current material in the secondary.

Do Carle Illinois students need a car?

A car is strongly recommended. Clinical experiences can begin as early as week 3 and can be up to an hour from Champaign-Urbana, students are responsible for their own transportation, and rural sites are not reliably reached by bus or rideshare.

How can I strengthen my clinical experience before applying?

Choose roles where you work directly with patients, which the school names as a strength in successful applicants. Paid roles such as EMT or medical assistant, steady clinical volunteering and structured pre-health internships where you take vitals and help with intake under supervision all build that record. Shadowing is recommended but not required.

Related Medical School Guides

If Carle Illinois is on your list, these guides cover schools with related features. Each pairing is a planning idea, not a statement that two schools are equally selective.

• Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University: another Illinois MD program, on an interprofessional health sciences campus north of Chicago, useful if you want team-based training with other health professions.
• Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center: a Chicago MD program with a large academic medical center, and the residency home of one recent Carle Illinois graduate in urology.
• Southern Illinois University School of Medicine: a public Illinois MD program with a strong focus on central and southern Illinois, a good comparison for applicants drawn to regional and rural care.
• Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago: a Chicago-area MD program with a values-based mission, for applicants who want an Illinois option with a different educational philosophy.
• University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine: a research-intensive Illinois MD program, worth comparing for applicants with strong research records.
• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine: a large Chicago research school, a useful contrast for applicants weighing a big academic center against Carle Illinois’ small classes.
• University of Illinois College of Medicine: the separate University of Illinois Chicago medical school, often confused with Carle Illinois, with its own campuses and application.

To compare every MD and DO option in the state side by side, see our guide to medical schools in Illinois.

More Medical School Guides

Here is a broader list of other institutions to consider as you build your school list:

• Central Michigan University College of Medicine
• Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
• University of Minnesota Medical School
• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
• Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
• Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Georgetown University Medical School
• Yale School of Medicine
• West Virginia University School of Medicine
• West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Indiana University School of Medicine
• Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
• Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Meharry Medical College
• Howard University College of Medicine
• University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUMC)
• Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science College of Medicine
• Loma Linda University School of Medicine
• John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM)
• Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KansasCOM)
• UC Irvine School of Medicine
• Nova Southeastern University College of Allopathic Medicine
• Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
• Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
• Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM)
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
• Tulane University School of Medicine
• LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine
• LSU Shreveport Medical School
• Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV
• University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix
• Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM)
• The University of New Mexico School of Medicine
• Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM)
• University of South Alabama College of Medicine
• University of Alabama School of Medicine
• FIU College of Medicine
• UCF College of Medicine
• USF Morsani College of Medicine
• Florida State University College of Medicine
• Morehouse School of Medicine
• Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
• Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM)
• Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM)
• ECU Brody School of Medicine
• Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
• University of South Carolina Medical School
• Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
• Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
• Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
• Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM)
• Penn State Medical School
• CUNY School of Medicine
• SUNY Downstate Medical School
• NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine
• NYU Long Island School of Medicine
• Albany Medical College
• TOURO College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University
• Jacobs School of Medicine at the University at Buffalo
• Hofstra Zucker School of Medicine
• Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• University of Rochester Medical School
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED)
• University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• University of Toledo College of Medicine
• Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
• Ohio State University College of Medicine
• Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM)
• Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS)
• Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
• Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU)
• A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• University of Missouri Medical School
• Kansas City University (KCU)
• UMKC School of Medicine
• New York Medical College
• University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• University of Wisconsin Medical School
• VCU School of Medicine
• University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Case Western Medical School
• University of North Carolina Medical School
• University of Florida Medical School
• Emory University School of Medicine
• Boston University College of Medicine
• California University of Science and Medicine
• UC San Diego Medical School
• California Northstate University College of Medicine
• Touro University of California
• CHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
• UC Davis School of Medicine
• Harvard Medical School
• UC Riverside School of Medicine
• USC Keck School of Medicine
• UT Southwestern Medical School
• Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio
• University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
• UT Austin’s Dell Medical School
• UTMB School of Medicine
• McGovern Medical School at UT Health
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• UNT Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Houston College of Medicine
• Texas A&M College of Medicine
• Baylor College of Medicine
• George Washington University School of Medicine
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• St. George’s University School of Medicine
• Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (in Pennsylvania)
• Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
• Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Western University of Health Sciences (in California)
• Drexel University College of Medicine
• Perelman School of Medicine
• UCLA Medical School
• NYU Medical School
• Washington University School of Medicine

How International Medical Aid Can Help

International Medical Aid (IMA) supports pre-health students through clinical internships abroad and admissions advising. IMA is independent of Carle Illinois and has no affiliation with the school. Nothing here guarantees admission. What IMA offers is experience and reflection that match what Carle Illinois asks applicants to show.

Enhancing Your Preparation Through Global Health Initiatives

IMA’s global health initiatives work with communities abroad on health access and education. These programs help students understand global health disparities, build cultural competence and see how other health systems work, which gives them useful comparisons with U.S. care. Carle Illinois’ own discovery learning period includes a global studies option that ends in the Global Community Immersion Program, so global health experience before medical school can lead naturally into that choice.

Global Internships and Experiences

IMA’s healthcare internships abroad place students in clinical settings in Kenya and other sites. Interns take vitals, do intake and triage, and help with direct patient care under the supervision of local clinicians. These pre-med internships abroad add sustained, hands-on patient contact to your record, which Carle Illinois names as a strength in successful applicants. They also produce exactly the kind of material the secondary portfolio asks for. A photo of a clinic’s paper intake log, a sketch of a workflow you helped improve or a reflection on a patient you cared for can become a Compassion, Curiosity or Creativity artifact. Working in a resource-limited setting also builds the problem-solving habits that Carle Illinois’ IDEA course develops. Students in the U.S. can also look at our pre-med internships page to compare program options and timing.

IMA Admissions Consulting

IMA’s medical school application consulting helps applicants plan their school list, map coursework against requirements like Carle Illinois’ 11 competencies, and present their experiences clearly. For a school like Carle Illinois, that includes choosing which experiences belong in which artifact, writing short captions that show your role, keeping an impact statement within its limit and practicing timed video answers. Advisors help you frame global health and clinical experience honestly, connecting it to the school’s values without overstating what you did.

Fostering Innovation and Global Perspectives

Clinical work in unfamiliar settings challenges students to think critically and creatively with limited resources. That builds resilience and problem-solving, the same habits Carle Illinois looks for in Physician Innovators. Students who have worked in different settings are also better prepared for the interconnected health problems of a global world. The next step is simple: if you are one to two years from applying, pick one clinical experience you can sustain and one project you can build, and document both as you go.

Final Thoughts and Sources

Carle Illinois College of Medicine is a small, young and genuinely different MD program. It wants Physician Innovators: applicants with the quantitative preparation to finish its competency checklist, the compassion to care for patients from week one and the creativity to build better tools for care. Before you apply, confirm that you will have at least 7 of the 11 competencies completed, gather evidence of your compassion, curiosity and creativity, and plan for a portfolio and video response instead of essays and interviews. Submit early, submit complete, and remember that the school accepts no updates afterward.

Sources

All sources were checked on October 28, 2026. Admissions statistics are for the 2025 entering class unless another cohort is named.

• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Before You Apply: citizenship, degree, MCAT and GPA policy, the 11 competencies, the 7-of-11 secondary screen, letters, assessments and Virtual Office Hours.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Admissions FAQ: secondary format (portfolio and video response), no interviews, invitation-only events, individualized secondary deadlines, no updates, rolling offers, no early decision, SJT policy, transportation, scholarships and math competency topics.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, How to Apply and Application Timelines and Deadlines.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Tuition, Fees and Scholarships.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, MD/PhD Medical Scholars Program.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Mission and Vision, Overview and LCME Accreditation pages.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, MD Curriculum and Clerkship pages; Facilities, Innovation Pods, Wellness Program, Student Interest Groups and HIRE pages.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, 2026 White Coat Ceremony: Class of 2030 profile.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Leadership, Administration and Faculty directories; Dean Mark Cohen biography.
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine news: Physician Innovators Ready for Residency (May 5, 2026); Personalized, Immersive Clinical Experience Key to Carle Illinois Graduate Success (2022); Carle Illinois Graduates Join Carle Health Residency Program (2022).
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Office of the Registrar: 2026-2027 Graduate and Professional tuition (semester rates) and 2026-2027 Graduate and Professional fees by credit range.
• AAMC Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR), Carle Illinois College of Medicine profile, 2026 edition: accepted-applicant MCAT and GPA medians (2025 entering class), total enrollment (October 2025), estimated new entrants, cycle dates for the 2026-2027 AMCAS cycle, decision and waitlist policies, Tuition and Student Fees survey figures (2025-2026), financial aid and debt (LCME Part I-B, 2024-2025), federal research funding (FY 2024) and Graduation Questionnaire global health data (2025).
• LCME, Accredited U.S. Programs directory.