How to Succeed as a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Premed

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Everything you need to know to navigate UIUC premed, including UIUC premed requirements, extracurriculars and the UIUC premed acceptance rate

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learn how to get into medical school as a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign premed

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Part 1: Introduction

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is located in eastern Illinois, about two hours south of Chicago, and since its founding in 1867 the campus has become known for its landscape and architecture. In his book The Campus as a Work of Art, T.A. Gaines identified the UIUC campus as one of 50 college or university "works of art." The campus hosts a number of unique and exciting institutions—from the Krannert Art Museum (the second largest art museum in the state of Illinois) to the picturesque Japan House to Allerton Park and Retreat Center, which contains hiking trails, sculpture gardens, a historic mansion and much more. UIUC is also a major center for research, and home to the fourth-largest university library in the United States. 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is also one of the top public universities in the United States, sometimes being referred to as a “Public Ivy.” According to US News & World Report, UIUC is the 12th-ranked public school and the 35th-ranked university in the country. It is one of the largest public universities in the country by enrollment and it has even been growing in recent years. UIUC welcomed a record-breaking freshman class of 8,325 new students for the 2023-2024 academic year, bringing the total student population to 56,403. 

Amidst all this activity, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also produces a significant number of medical school applicants each year. During the 2023-2024 cycle, for instance, 295 applicants applied to medical school from UIUC. This means that approximately 3-4% of each class is following the premed track. This percentage is not especially high, which means that you shouldn’t have trouble finding opportunities on campus that will strengthen your medical school candidacy. Engineering and business are the most popular majors at UIUC (each accounting for 19% of the student population), while 5% of students major in the biological sciences (the most common major for premeds). 

The Career Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a number of staff dedicated to helping students navigate the premed journey and they make it easy to schedule advising sessions. They also host a Pre-Health Ambassador Program that allows both undergraduate and graduate students to share their experiences and any lessons they’ve learned on the premed path.

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Part 2: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign premed requirements

While medical schools each have their own requirements when it comes to undergraduate coursework, this list of required courses should fulfill the requirements of just about any of them. At the same time, we recommend consulting this list from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to verify the specific premed requirements for each school you are applying to. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign there are some courses that almost all premeds will take, while for other requirements you will have a variety of options to choose from. Much of the following information comes from the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology’s (MCB) pre-health guide. 

Here is a table detailing premed requirements at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:

UIUC Premed Requirements
Medical school requirement
Required courses
Optional courses
Biological Sciences: One year with one lab MCB 150 (Molecular & Cellular Basis of Life)
IB 150 (Organismal & Evolutionary Biology)

And one of the following:

MCB 151 (Molecular & Cellular Lab)
IB 151 (Organismal & Evolutionary Biology Lab) 		Intermediate/advanced Biology coursework may be recommended or required depending on your major and the schools where you apply. Here are a few recommended courses:

MCB 250 (Molecular Genetics)
MCB 252 (Cell, Tissues, & Development)
MCB 270 (Medical Genetics)

*Note that in most circumstances MCB 250 and MCB 252 are prerequisites for MCB 354
General chemistry: One year with one lab Choose one of the following sequences:

CHEM 102 (General Chemistry I)
CHEM 103 (General Chemistry I Lab)
CHEM 104 (General Chemistry II)
CHEM 105 (General Chemistry II Lab) or

CHEM 202 (Accelerated Chemistry I)
CHEM 203 (Accelerated Chemistry I Lab)
CHEM 204 (Accelerated Chemistry II)
CHEM 205 (Accelerated Chemistry II Lab)
Organic chemistry: One year with one lab Choose one of the following sequences:

Chemistry 232 (Elementary Organic Chemistry I)
Chemistry 233 (Elementary Organic Chemistry I Lab)
Chemistry 332 (Elementary Organic Chemistry II) or


CHEM 236 (Fundamental Organic Chemistry I)
CHEM 237 (Structure & Synthesis)
CHEM 436 (Fundamental Organic Chemistry II) 		CHEM 437 (Organic Chemistry Lab – concurrent with CHEM 332 or CHEM 436)
Biochemistry: One course MCB 354 (Biochemistry and the Physical Basis of Life)
Math/Statistics: One year (must include calculus and statistics) Choose one of the following:

Math 220 (Calculus)
Math 221 (Calculus I)

And choose one of the following:

STAT 200 (Statistical Analysis)
STAT 212 (Biostatistics)
PSYCH 235 (Introduction to Statistics) 		MATH 231 (Calculus II)
MATH 241 (Calculus III)
Physics: One year with one lab Choose one of the following sequences:

PHYS 101 (College Physics: Mech & Heat)
PHYS 102 (College Physics: E&M & Modern)

or

Physics 211 (University Physics: Mechanics)
Physics 212 (University Physics: Elec & Mag) 		PHYS 213 (University Physics: Thermal Dynamics)
PHYS 214 (University Physics: Quantum Physics)
English/Writing: One year (must include writing — this requirement varies somewhat from school to school) Two semesters of English, Comparative Literature, or other “writing-intensive” courses For some options, view the UIUC Course Explorer (linked below) to find courses that fulfill the “Composition I,” “Advanced Composition,” and/or “Humanities and the Arts” General Education requirements.
Psychology/Sociology: Recommended, especially for MCAT prep, but not required PSYCH 100 (Introductory Psychology)
PSYCH 103 (Introductory Experimental Psychology)
SOC 100 (Introduction to Sociology)

As you can see from this list, you will be required to cover a significant range of material as a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign premed. You will also have the opportunity to dive deeper into whichever of these areas interests you, particularly if they relate to your major. At a school the size of UIUC there’s a great deal to explore! Demonstrating a deep engagement beyond the basic requirements can also be a way to make your application stand out to medical school admissions committees (adcoms).

The University of Illinois also requires students to fulfill General Education requirements in the following categories:

  • Composition I

  • Advanced Composition

  • Humanities and the Arts: Literature & the Arts or Historical & Philosophical Perspectives

  • Natural Sciences and Technology: Life Science or Physical Science

  • Quantitative Reasoning

  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Cultural Studies: Western/Comparative Cultures, Non-Western Cultures, and US Minority Cultures

You can visit the Course Explorer for a list of courses that are approved for General Education credit. Courses may fulfill more than one of the above categories and they may align with your premed requirements as well.

If you are planning to apply to med school “straight through”—without taking a gap year—we recommend completing your premed requirements by the end of your junior year. This will allow you to finish all relevant coursework before taking the MCAT, which is a major advantage. It will also leave your senior year more open so that you can continue to bolster your application with extracurriculars, focus on interview preparation, and complete any remaining General Education or major requirements.

Sample three-year plan 

Here is a sample three-year plan that illustrates how you might fit all of your premed requirements into your first three years of undergrad:

Sample UIUC Three-Year Course Plan
Semester
Courses
Freshman Fall CHEM 102
CHEM 103
Composition 1
Freshman Spring CHEM 104
CHEM 105
MATH 220
PSYCH 100
Sophomore Fall MCB 150
MCB 151
CHEM 232
CHEM 233
Sophomore Spring IB 150
MCB 250
CHEM 3332
Junior Fall PHYS 101
MCB 252
STAT 212
SOC 100
Junior Spring PHYS 102
MCB 354
Advanced Composition

While this plan means taking at least three required or recommended courses each semester, this course load should still be manageable. It also allows you the space to supplement your premed requirements with other classes that interest you, especially during your senior year. 

If you don’t find yourself moving at this pace—or if you decide to join the premed track at a later stage—don’t despair. Taking a gap year can be valuable not only as life experience but also as a way to strengthen your med school application. One or multiple gap years could allow you to dig deeper into your extracurriculars and find ways to connect them to medicine. For instance, if you are a visual artist, you might use this time to start an art therapy program for children with developmental disabilities. A unique pursuit along these lines will make your application stand out to adcoms. 

How to maintain a high GPA as a UIUC premed

While adcoms often foreground their “holistic” approach to admissions, GPA and MCAT scores are still the foundations of any medical school application. With so many applicants and so few spots, adcoms often use these quantifiable stats as an initial filter. While it’s still possible to make your application stand out despite a low GPA, it involves fighting an uphill battle. In other words, maintaining a high GPA should be one of your primary focuses during premed.

Even if you breezed through high school, the premed track at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign won’t be a walk in the park. UIUC is known for its rigorous academics, which both works in your favor and against you. On the one hand, adcoms will recognize the degree of difficulty. On the other hand, a low GPA is still a low GPA regardless of where you go to school. 

UIUC is also known for its large class sizes and many students need some time to adjust to this style of learning. It will be important to build an overall plan for your undergraduate studies in order to balance your academic load. Some semesters will inevitably be more difficult than others, but balancing things as evenly as possible will raise your odds for success. Here are some additional guidelines to keep your GPA where you’d like it:

  • Plan ahead and use your time wisely. While we’ve touched on this as it relates to the long term, it’s also essential to think about time management on monthly, weekly and day-to-day bases. One great way to manage your time is by creating daily agendas and priority lists. Blocking out periods for homework and studying will help you enjoy your well-earned free time. A consistent scheduling practice will also be hugely beneficial when it comes to balancing extracurriculars with your schoolwork. Get in the habit of creating “to-do lists” and detailed calendars.

  • Expect the premed track to be a challenge. It is extremely rare for students to complete premed without struggling at one point or another. When this challenge hits you, it might cause you to second-guess your abilities and this can lead to feelings of imposter syndrome. Understand that this response is quite common and not in any way a reflection on your qualifications. Expect to put in more academic effort than you have before, studying hard and often—adjusting your mindset is essential to sustaining focus over the long haul.

  • Take advantage of office hours and TA sessions. It’s important to ask questions when you don’t understand course material. Everyone misses something here and there, and it’s best to ask for help as soon as you can. The longer you wait to ask for help, the more likely you are to fall behind. Attending office hours is also a great way to get to know your professors—a task that can be intimidating in a large classroom setting. We recommend attending office hours early in the semester, when there is less competition for these time slots. (Office hours can get quite crowded later in the semester and around exam times.) This one-on-one time with your professors will allow you to establish a relationship over time, and it leaves many students feeling more comfortable in the classroom as well. 

  • Join a study group or create one of your own. This is another place where you can ask questions, while also supporting one another’s commitment to the premed track. It can be rejuvenating to find people who are facing the same hurdles as you. Look for a group that is supportive rather than competitive—this will benefit you in the long term. You can also, of course, organize a study group of your own.

 Finally, it’s always important to make room for flexibility. Be sure to not overburden yourself with a heavy course-load to the point that it adversely affects your GPA. If you’re having trouble fitting all of your requirements into the fall and spring semesters, you might consider completing a few prerequisites over the summer or winter.

If you decide to join the premed track later on, or if you find yourself falling behind, it will also be worth considering completing certain premed requirements in a postbaccalaureate program. These programs can provide an opportunity to improve your GPA or shift your career trajectory. We also recommend looking into Special Masters Programs (SMPs), which are generally affiliated with specific medical schools.

(Suggested reading: Average GPA and MCAT Score for Every Medical School)

What’s the best premed major?

This is one of the most common questions we get from students embarking on their premed journeys. The short answer is that there is no universal best major for premeds. Although it may seem counterintuitive, majoring in biology does not give you a statistical advantage over someone who is majoring in anthropology. 

That being said, there are certain majors that are more common for premed students, with the biological sciences topping the list. One advantage of choosing a STEM major is that there will likely be significant overlap between your premed requirements and your major requirements. STEM courses, however, are often graded more strictly than others. While UIUC does not publish their average GPA by major, here is a visualization of the average GPA by course at UIUC. 

In addition to these practical concerns, it is important to choose a major that excites you. This will make school more enjoyable and your passion will, hopefully, provide motivation to engage with the material more deeply. You are also more likely to create something that stands out when you follow your own interests rather than prioritizing what you imagine adcoms want to see. Adcoms are looking for intellectual curiosity and deep, sustained engagement. Your choice of major, paired with your extracurriculars, could be a way of demonstrating this. With these considerations in mind, here are four questions to ask yourself when picking a major:

  1. Does the major excite you?

  2. Will you be able to maintain a high GPA?

  3. How will it fit with your premed requirements?

  4. What extracurricular opportunities might the major provide?

When Should You Take the MCAT?

Determining when you should take the MCAT depends on a number of factors such as the premed classes you’ve completed and when you are planning to apply to medical school. While MCAT scores do not technically expire, at the majority of med schools MCAT scores earned within the last two to three years are considered valid. If you are planning to apply to med school “straight through” we generally recommend taking the MCAT for the first time in the fall of your junior year. This will allow you to study in the summer after your sophomore year. It will also provide adequate time in case you need to retake the test. 

It is important to have completed most of your premed requirements before taking the MCAT. If you have not completed most of these requirements before the fall of your junior year, it would be smart to hold off on taking the test until later in the school year. You should also hold off if you are scoring poorly on AAMC practice tests and need more time to study. It’s better to wait to take the MCAT than to get a low initial score that needs to be improved. We recommend studying for at least 300 hours, which averages out to about three hours a day for three months.

Your biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and biochemistry required courses are particularly important for the MCAT. Even though the biochemistry premed requirements are fewer than those of the other sciences, it is, in fact, one of the most important subjects to master for the MCAT. If you are planning to take one or more gap years before medical school we generally recommend waiting until your senior year or later to take the MCAT. This will allow you to complete all of your premed requirements and then prepare for the test to your greatest ability.

(Suggested reading: What MCAT Score Do You Need to Get Into Medical School?)

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Part 3: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign premed extracurriculars

When it comes to picking your extracurriculars, med school adcoms value meaningful, long-term engagement. One goal of your med school application should be to make yourself memorable, and extracurriculars are the primary way to do this. You want adcoms to remember you by something unique to your experience—for example as “that pianist who organized a choir at their local nursing home” or “that community organizer who led wildfire reconstruction efforts in their Colorado hometown.”

So, while it’s important that your extracurriculars demonstrate personal qualities and experiences that make you well-suited to being a doctor, they do not need to be exclusively medicine-related. The above examples demonstrate compassion, initiative, leadership, and communication skills—all of which are important traits for a physician. In addition to this broader understanding of extracurriculars, there are three areas to make sure you cover: research, shadowing, and volunteering/clinical experience. 

Suggested reading: How to Choose the Right Extracurricular Activities for Medical School)

Research at UIUC

One of the major advantages of attending a large school such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for premed is the wealth of opportunities to get involved with research. UIUC is classified as an R1: Doctoral University, which connotes the highest level of research activity. To give some sense of this, in 2021 total research expenditures at UIUC totaled $731 million.

In order to get involved in research at UIUC, we recommend first looking into the work that your professors and other faculty in your areas of interest are working on. After you are familiar with their work, you can express your interest (the more specific, the better) and ask if they or any of their colleagues are looking for a research assistant. These conversations tend to be most comfortable in person, so it’s a good idea to either attend office hours or reach out to find a time to meet. As you likely know, working individually with a professor is an excellent way to obtain a strong letter of recommendation for medical school.

The Illinois Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) aggregates both summer and on-campus research opportunities across the university, as well as hosting research programs of their own. A few of these programs include the Illinois Undergraduate Research Ambassadors, the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, and an Undergraduate Research Workshop series. OUR also hosts an Aspiring Researchers Alliance, where students can work collaboratively and find long-term support. In addition, UIUC is home to Image of Research, an undergraduate research symposium, and the Illinois Student Undergraduate Research Journal—your involvement with either of these would certainly impress adcoms!

Shadowing at UIUC

Finding shadowing opportunities as a premed can be a daunting task that often involves cold-calling and putting yourself out there. Shadowing is an extremely valuable experience, though, in that it will show you exactly what being a doctor entails—from meeting with patients to completing paperwork for insurance companies. It can also give you an insider’s perspective into what careers in various specialties look like. With such a wide variety of medical occupations out there, it is a good idea to seek a range of shadowing experiences. 

While Carle Foundation Hospital, the teaching college for Carle Illinois College of Medicine, generally does not offer shadowing opportunities for undergraduates, there are a number of other hospitals and clinics in the area where you can fulfill your premed shadowing requirements. A few of these are:

  1. OSF Healthcare – an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

  2. Christie Clinic – one of the largest physician-owned, multi-specialty group medical practices in Illinois.

  3. Avicenna Community Health Center – a free medical clinic for the uninsured and underinsured that is open on Sunday afternoons and select Saturday afternoons.

In addition to these locations, we recommend that students reach out to physicians they know personally or can be connected to through family or friends. If you’re having trouble finding shadowing opportunities you can also reach out to alumni. Remember that University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni who are now working in the medical field have overcome the same hurdles you are currently facing. They will likely be sympathetic to your plight. 

(Suggested reading: How to Ask to Shadow a Doctor (Example Scripts Included))

Volunteering and Clinical Experience at UIUC

There are a number of places where you can fulfill your volunteering and clinical experience requirements in the Urbana-Champaign area. Here are a few initial locations to look into:

  1. Carle Foundation Hospital – while the Carle Foundation Hospital does not generally offer shadowing opportunities, they do have a number of strong volunteering programs. Their student program is one of the largest hospital-based volunteering programs in the state, with about 500 students participating each semester. They also host programs in hospice care and community health initiatives, among others—all of which you can easily apply to on their website.

  2. Avicenna Community Health Center – Avicenna (mentioned above) is entirely dependent on volunteers. As a volunteer at Avicenna you will get to work with a wide variety of individuals such as doctors, nurses, medical students, nutritionists, social workers, IT specialists, GIS specialists, engineers, and undergraduates studying a range of disciplines.

  3. OSF Healthcare – OSF Healthcare is another excellent place to gain volunteering and clinical experience. In addition to hosting a college internship program for which you can receive course credit, they offer a variety of volunteering opportunities that range from ensuring patient safety to delivering meals to senior citizens. 

In addition to these local opportunities, many students find that summer is an excellent time to gain additional volunteering and clinical experience. We recommend looking into opportunities at healthcare facilities in your hometown or wherever you are planning to spend your summer. The National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions provides a list of student opportunities on their website and the UIUC School of Molecular & Cellular Biology maintains a list of summer enrichment opportunities they have been sent. 

One important aspect of clinical experience is patient exposure. We recommend accumulating 500+ hours of patient exposure experience in order to make your medical school application as competitive as possible. Here are some of the most common ways or settings where students gain this essential experience:

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also hosts over 1,000 registered student organizations across campus, in which you will find a wide variety of volunteering and leadership opportunities. A number of the groups are also explicitly related to medicine and the health professions, such as the UIUC chapter of the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC), Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED), and Positive Premeds—an organization that provides premeds with a comforting place centered around mental health advocacy and personal well-being. These are only a few of UIUC’s medically-related student organizations, and it will be worthwhile to explore their entire range of offerings to find the groups that you are most passionate about.

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Part 4: Getting into medical school from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

As mentioned earlier, in 2023 295 students applied to medical school from UIUC. While we don’t have data specific to these applicants, overall in the 2023-2024 cycle about 45.7% of medical school applicants were accepted into an MD-granting medical school and about 43.7% ended up matriculating. This represents an improvement from especially difficult cycles in 2021-2022 (when only 38% were accepted) and 2022-2023 (when only 43.1% were accepted).

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Premed Acceptance Rate

In 2021, the most recent data we have available, UIUC students were accepted into medical schools at a rate of 44%. This puts their chances slightly above the average. Additionally, premeds at UIUC have gone on to attend a number of prestigious medical schools such as the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the Duke University School of Medicine, and the Yale School of Medicine.

If you would like to stay in the Urbana-Champaign area, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine (affiliated with both UIUC and the Carle Foundation Hospital) is worth considering. Established in 2015, they are notable for being the first engineering-based medical school in the country. (To be considered for admission applicants must complete upper level mathematics courses.) There are also a number of other excellent medical schools in Illinois, with Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine ranking highest. While getting into any of these schools—and getting into medical school in general—will require great effort, know that the rigors of a UIUC premed education will put you in a strong position to succeed.

(Suggested reading: How Hard Is It to Get Into Medical School?)

Final Thoughts

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a large school that offers a plethora of ways that you might structure your premed journey. While there are many clubs, organizations, and initiatives to get involved with, this also means that you will likely encounter large class sizes and it may take some effort to form personal relationships with your professors. The most important thing is to find the premed path that works for you and allows your unique personal qualities, passions, skills, and experience to shine through. This guide should serve as an overview of available opportunities, as well as things to keep in mind during your four years of undergraduate studies. We encourage you to dig deeper into the resources collected here as you progress on your journey to become a doctor.

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian headshot

About the Author

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.