UI COM Curricular Requirements | Classes of 2023 through 2026

Updated 10/28/2024; 11/26/2024

Students graduating from the University of Illinois College of Medicine must be in good academic standing, have successfully completed all phases of the curriculum and been promoted as outlined in the Student Academic Policies and Professional Standards to Earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) Degree and graduate from the University of Illinois.

Specific Requirements for Graduation

Successfully complete a minimum of 156 credit hours as follows:

Phase 1 Curriculum Requirements (74 credit hours)

  1. Block Courses
    1. Block 1: Body Systems & Homeostasis I (5 credits)
    2. Block 2: Pathogenesis (6 credits)
    3. Block 3: Skin Muscle & Movement (5 credits)
    4. Block 4: Circulation & Respiration (7 credits)
    5. Block 5: Digestion & Homeostasis II (5 credits)
    6. Block 6: Brain & Behavior (8 credits)
    7. Block 7: Regulation & Reproduction (4 credits)
  2. Synthesis Course
    1. M1 Fall Synthesis (2 credits)
    2. M1 Spring Synthesis (1 credit)
    3. M1 Summer Synthesis (1 credit)
    4. M2 Fall Synthesis 6 (1 credit) Spring
    5. Block 8: Synthesis Capstone (9 credits)
  3. Doctoring and Clinical Skills 1 and 2
    1. M1 Fall DoCS ( 4 credits)
    2. M1 Spring DoCS (4 credits)
    3. M1 Summer DoCS (2 credits)
    4. M2 Fall DoCS (4 credits)
    5. M2 Spring DoCS (1 credit)
  4. Medical Colloquia
    1. M1 Fall Term (1 credit)
    2. M1 Spring Term (1 credit)
    3. M2 Fall Term (1 credit)
    4. Clinical Connections & Competencies I: Transition to Clerkships (2 credits)

Phase 2 Curriculum Requirements

Phase 2 students are students who have successfully completed all requirements of the Phase 1 curriculum as outlined in the Student Academic Policies and Professional Standards and Phase 1 Assessment Policies and Procedures in the Illinois Medicine Curriculum. All Phase 2 students are required to complete all components of the following courses, as outlined in the course syllabi and directed by their local curriculum dean. In order to complete Phase 2 and be promoted to Phase 3, students must complete all of the required Core Clerkships and the Clinical Intersections course.

Core Clerkships:

Core clerkships refers to the initial clinical training required of every medical student. These courses are run by clerkship directors from across the college using aligned objectives and assessment criteria. In order for a student to successfully pass a core clerkship they must meet the minimum pass level on the college administered final exam for that clerkship, generally an NBME exam in that field. They must also receive a clinical grade that meets the minimum pass level for that clerkship. The number and length of the core clerkships are subject to change at the discretion of the College Committee on Instruction and Assessment as informed by the College Phase ⅔ Management Committee.

The core clerkships include:

  • Medicine (8 weeks)
  • Surgery (8 weeks)
  • Neurology (4 weeks)*
  • Family Medicine (6 weeks)
  • Obstetrics & Gynecology (6 weeks)
  • Psychiatry (6 weeks)
  • Pediatrics (6 weeks)

*Beginning with the matriculating Class of 2023, students are required to complete the Neurology Clerkship as part of their Phase 2 coursework.

Clinical Intersections:

Clinical Intersections is the second of three courses in the longitudinal Clinical Connections and Competencies curriculum. This course is a longitudinal course offered across the M3 year on each UICOM campus. The events, objectives, and assessment criteria are aligned across the college. Students must follow the Clinical Intersections Policies and Procedures for Attendance, Requesting Absences and Grading document in order to ensure that they have completed all required components of the course.

Graduation Competency Exam

Phase 2 students who plan on graduating at or after Spring Semester 2020 will be required to sit for the Graduation Competency Exam. Students must meet the minimum pass level of the exam.

Phase 3 Graduation Requirements

During Phase 3, students must complete all listed graduation requirements for their class year. Graduation requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education in consultation with multi-campus curricular deans, leaders in clinical education, and following approval by the College Committee on Instruction and Assessment (CCIA).

To be eligible for graduation a student must:

  • Have met all requirements of the Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3
  • Before the required date to inform the college of a student’s intent to graduate, a student must satisfy interim requirements for completion of any remaining required M4 coursework as determined by the
  • Have documented passing scores on USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK examinations
  • Be in administrative good standing as defined in the College’s Academic Policies and Professional standards
  • Close out ongoing research

Phase 3 Graduation Requirements for Class of 2023 and Beyond

The total credit burden for Phase 3 students who matriculated with the Class of 2023 and beyond is 38 credit hours. A student may accrue some of their open elective credits through coursework done prior to phase 3.

Phase 3 students are required to complete the following coursework in order to be eligible for graduation. There are two tracks for graduation, UICOM Graduation Requirements and UICOM Rural Graduation Requirements. Each course type is defined below the table.

UICOM Graduation Requirements 2023 & Beyond UICOM Rural Graduation Requirements 2023 & Beyond
Sub-Internship: 4 weeks Sub-Internship: 4 weeks
Acute Care of the Patient (EM/ICU): 4 weeks Acute Care of the Patient (EM/ICU): 4 weeks
Physician Assessed Patient Facing Electives: 8 weeks RMED Immersion: 16 weeks
Community Oriented Primary Care: 2 weeks
Transition to Residency: 2 weeks Transition to Residency: 2 weeks
Free Electives: 20 weeks Free Electives: 10 weeks

Sub-Internship: 4 weeks, primarily inpatient rotation in which the Phase 3 student has primary responsibility for patients, continuity of care of patients, and reports directly to an attending/ chief Only courses listed in the catalog as a sub-internship will fulfill this requirement.

During Academic Year 2024-2025, students may take sub-internships at another LCME accredited institution, provided that the course is identified in the schools’ catalog as a sub-internship and meets the approved requirements set by the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee. Pursuing a sub-internship at an outside institution requires the approval from the local Curriculum Dean or Phase ⅔ Director.

Effective AY2025-2026 and onwards, all sub-internships must be completed within the University of Illinois College of Medicine. CCIA approved 5/1/2024

Acute Care: All UICOM students are required to complete electives in Emergency Medicine or Intensive It is strongly encouraged that these be taken during the student’s Phase 3 year.

Physician Assessed Patient Facing Electives: All students must complete the required amount of clinical elective courses that require the student to directly interact with patients and the other members of the care These electives must be taken during the students Phase 3 year. Clinical Electives, defined below, may be used to meet this requirement. Courses where the student does not interact directly with the patient (e.g. radiology, pathology) are not eligible to be considered Patient Facing electives.

UICOM Rural Graduation Requirements allow students to complete the 16-week RMED immersion and 2 week Community Oriented Research Project for the Physician Assessed Patient Facing Electives component. During this immersive rural experience, RMED students become an integral part of the care team at a rural clinical site, working directly with the patients in the community. They also work closely with students from RPharm and RNursing on an interprofessional collaborative research project to address a health need in the rural community.

Transition to Residency: 2 week course which completes the Clinical Connections and Competency This course must be completed in the last semester of the student’s enrollment in the college of medicine.

Free electives: Students are required to complete a total 20 weeks of free electives. These free electives may be taken during their Phase 2 or Phase 3 year. Students are able to enroll in and complete any combination of research electives, clinical electives, non-clinical electives, or self-designed electives to meet the required weeks.

  • Research Electives: A UICOM student may receive credit hours for weeks spent doing research if the following conditions are 1) The research project must be approved by the appropriate dean or research director for that student’s home campus. This approval will include a review of the proposed research project to ensure it meets the coursework expectations of a course within the UICOM. 2) The student must be supervised by a UICOM faculty member during their research. 3) For two-week electives a student must submit an abstract or a project summary at the end of the course. For four-week research electives the student must submit a manuscript intended for publication at the end of the course. A UICOM student may only complete 8 hours of research course work for credit hours. A student may not receive course credit for retrospective work, (i.e., work done before the initial approval of the elective). Medical Scientist Training Program students are able to receive 12 weeks of research credits.
  • Self-Designed Electives: Self-Designed elective courses may be clinical or non- clinical in They may be done outside of UICOM or in the community with the approval of the student’s local Phase ⅔ Curriculum Dean or Director. Self- Designed elective approval comes after review of the course’s goals/objectives, instructional features, and means of assessment. Self-Designed electives should not be more than 4 weeks in length. Self-Designed electives are not a required component of the UICOM curriculum but may be used to meet the free elective credit requirement.
  • Clinical Electives: These electives are courses that are available to UICOM students that allow students to work directly with patients and preceptors, thus impacting patient care and enhancing the student’s knowledge in the field of These electives are not a required component of the UICOM curriculum and may be used to meet the Patient Facing Elective, Sub-Internship (if so identified), Acute Care in Medicine (if so identified), and free elective credit requirements. Patient Facing electives can be identified by the student’s home campus. Pathology and radiology based courses are clinical electives but are not generally considered patient facing electives. These courses will be graded using the Clinical Elective Assessment form.
  • Non-Clinical Electives: These are college approved course work available to M3 and M4 students which do not meet the requisite expected clinical time and patient care burden needed to be considered These courses are not a required component of the UICOM curriculum and may only be used to fulfill the free elective credit requirement. This includes online electives and electives on topics not pertaining directly to clinical care (e.g. humanities in medicine). These electives will be graded using the Non-Clinical Elective Assessment form.

USMLE Testing Requirements

All UICOM students are required to complete the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2CK exams prior to graduation. Students must sit for the USMLE Step 1 exam prior to beginning Phase 2 and must receive a passing score on this exam to remain active in Phase 2 coursework. Students must sit for the USMLE Step 2CK exam prior to petitioning for graduation.

Graduation Requirements for Out of Phase Students

All UICOM students will be required to complete the Phase 3 requirements of a single graduation year in their entirety and may not combine graduation requirements across graduation years. Students are expected to complete the graduation requirements of the year of their matriculation and may not choose another year’s graduation requirements without approval of their local curriculum dean. A student may, at the discretion of the Senior Associate Dean for Education Affairs, complete the graduation requirements for either the year in which they are graduating or the year in which they were originally intended to graduate as long as the complete coursework still exists within the college. Students who graduate in December will have the same graduation requirements as students who graduated in May of the same calendar year.

Grading and Assessment in Phase 2 and Phase 3

Courses in Phase 2 and 3 will be graded on either a tiered or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis based on the length and type of course as defined in the previous sections.

Core Clerkships

All Phase 2 required Core Clerkship courses will be graded in a tiered grading system as Honors, High Pass, Pass, and Fail (H, HP, P, F). Students will receive a final graded score in core clerkship that is a reflection of the required course work within the clerkship including their clinical grade and their performance on the discipline’s NBME. If any additional components are included as part of the final grade for a clerkship, these will be identified and their weight provided to students in the syllabus at the start of each course. The required points for each graded level will be provided in the clerkship syllabus to students at the start of each course.

The clinical performance component will be solicited from clinical faculty using the Clinical Evaluation Form for the given clerkship. The comments and scores will be provided to the local clerkship director in order for a final clinical performance score to be calculated.

Non-Clinical Electives

All non-clinical and online electives will be graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.Non-clinical and online electives will be evaluated using the Non-Clinical Elective form. This form will be filled out by the director of the course or key faculty members who worked most closely with the student during the course. This form will be used to provide the final grade for the course for a given student’s performance.

Clinical Electives, Sub-Internships, Patient Facing Electives, & Acute Care Electives

Any clinical elective lasting >2 weeks in length will be graded using a tiered grading system (Honors, High Pass, Pass, and Fail). Any clinical elective lasting 2 weeks or less will be graded using a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading system. Students will be graded entirely on their clinical performance, assignments completed during the course, or any other course work outlined in the syllabus for a given course. The faculty will use the Clinical Elective Evaluation Form to provide the final grade to students. If there are components of the course grade that are a result of assignments, presentations, etc. that happen outside of clinical work, the student will be informed of these assignments and their weight on the final grade at the beginning of the course.