USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Illinois

Illinois has eight MD schools and two DO schools; seven of the ten are private, and five are in Chicago itself, with the rest in North Chicago, Maywood, Downers Grove, Urbana and Springfield (list of medical schools). Rush Medical College (1837) is the oldest on the list and The Chicago School's osteopathic college (2026) the newest (list of medical schools).

Chicago also holds 25 of the state's 69 teaching hospitals on the CMS list (CMS teaching hospital list). In-state shares swing widely: Rush had 13,237 applications for 144 first-year places in 2025-26 and 21.5% of its class came from Illinois, while Southern Illinois University's class was 100% Illinois (AAMC FACTS).

Medical schools in Illinois

Several of these schools teach students at more than one site: University of Illinois College of Medicine also lists Rockford, Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, Urbana, Illinois (formerly).

School list: LCME and COCA accreditation lists, via the list of medical schools in the United States, checked October 2026.

Teaching hospitals in Illinois by city

• Chicago: Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center; Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital; Loretto Hospital; University of Chicago Hospitals; Saint Anthony Hospital; St. Bernard Hospital; Swedish Covenant Health; Presence Resurrection Medical Center; Rush University Medical Center; John H. Stroger Jr. Hosp of Cook Cty; Holy Cross Hospital; University of Illinois Hospital; Sacred Heart Hospital; Insights Hospital and Medical Center; Jackson Park Hospital; Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center; Advocate North Side Health Network; Norwegian American Hospital; Presence Saint Joseph Hosp-Chicago; Community First Medical Center; Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Provident Hospital; Shirley Ryan Abilitylab; Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago; Larabida Childrens Hospital
• Rockford: Swedishamerican Hospital; Saint Anthony Medical Center; Javon Bea Hospital
• Melrose Park: Gottlieb Memorial Hospital; Westlake Community Hospital
• Evanston: NorthShore University Healthsystem; Presence Saint Francis Hospital
• Oak Park: West Suburban Hosp Med Ctr; Oak Park Hospital
• Springfield: St. Johns Hospital; Springfield Memorial Hospital
• Peoria: Saint Francis Medical Center; Methodist Medical Ctr of Illinois
• Urbana: Carle Foundation Hospital; OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center
• Decatur: Decatur Memorial Hospital; St. Marys Hospital
• Alton: Alton Memorial Hospital
• Joliet: Presence St. Joseph Medical Center
• Dixon: Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital
• Quincy: Blessing Hospital
• Aurora: Copley Memorial Hospital
• Skokie: Skokie Hospital
• Berwyn: Macneal Hospital
• Lagrange: Adventist Lagrange Memorial Hospital
• Mchenry: Northern Illinois Medical Center
• Hinsdale: Adventist Hinsdale Hospital
• Normal: Carle Bromenn Medical Center
• Lake Forest: Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital
• Bloomington: St. Joseph Medical Center
• Carbondale: Memorial Hospital of Carbondale
• Olympia Fields: Franciscan St. James Health
• Evergreen Park: Little Company of Mary
• Kankakee: Riverside Medical Center
• Ofallon: St. Elizabeth Hospital
• Harvey: Ingalls Memorial Hospital
• Oak Lawn: Advocate Christ Hospital
• Geneva: Delnor-Community Hospital

Plus 6 more Illinois cities on the same CMS list.

Facts about Illinois

Accreditation: LCME directory; applications, places and in-state share: AAMC FACTS, Table A-1.

ABIM internal medicine certification exam by residency program: ABIM residency program pass rates; ABIM says to read rates from under 25 takers with caution.

• The University of Illinois College of Medicine expects its class of 2029 to sit USMLE Step 1 by March 27, 2027, after a dedicated study period that begins February 1, 2027; a student who has not sat by then does not begin core clerkships on April 26, 2027. (University of Illinois College of Medicine)
• UIC expects students to score above 50 on the Comprehensive Basic Science Examination in Block 8, and for the class of 2029 a score of 45 or lower removes a student from the first clerkship before the Step 1 study period. (University of Illinois College of Medicine)
• A UIC student who defers Step 1 may take up to six weeks of non-clinical electives in a term, and clerkship sites need about four weeks between the Step 1 sitting and the start of a rotation. (University of Illinois College of Medicine)
• SIU School of Medicine's four-year MD program is for Illinois residents only: students spend a foundational first year in Carbondale and the remaining three years in Springfield, while its Lincoln Scholars train all four years in Carbondale. (SIU School of Medicine)
• SIU's third year runs clinical rotations in emergency medicine, family and community medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery, and closes with a 15-week Personalized Education Plan. (SIU School of Medicine)
• In the 2025 Main Residency Match, programs in Illinois offered 1,815 residency positions in 31 specialties, the most in internal medicine (530), family medicine (213), and pediatrics (154). (NRMP)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); University of Illinois College of Medicine, Step 1 Deferral Procedures (checked November 1, 2026); SIU School of Medicine, MD programs (checked November 1, 2026); NRMP, 2025 Main Residency Match by state and specialty (checked October 29, 2026); ABIM, residency program pass rates 2023-2025 (checked October 29, 2026).

UIC sets the Step 1 date by the clerkship calendar

The University of Illinois College of Medicine, which had the largest MD entering class in the state in 2025-26 (302 first-year places), publishes its Step 1 dates a class at a time. Its class of 2029 is expected to sit Step 1 by March 27, 2027, after a dedicated study period that begins February 1, 2027; a student who has not sat by then does not begin core clerkships on April 26, 2027 (UIC Step 1 deferral procedures).

The gate before that is the NBME Comprehensive Basic Science Examination in Block 8. UIC expects a score above 50, and for the class of 2029 a score of 45 or lower removes a student from the first clerkship before the dedicated period opens (UIC Step 1 deferral procedures). We treat the CBSE as the first real checkpoint: a UIC student who works with us in the blocks before Block 8 gets a study plan built to clear it, not just to reach the Step 1 date.

Deferring has a price. A student who defers may take up to six weeks of non-clinical electives in a term, and clerkship sites need about four weeks between the Step 1 sitting and the start of a rotation (UIC Step 1 deferral procedures). A late sitting can push back the clerkships whose grades feed the MSPE, so if practice scores are short in February we would rather adjust the plan early than lose the April start.

SIU: a first year in Carbondale, then Springfield

SIU School of Medicine's four-year MD program is for Illinois residents only, which is why its 2025-26 class was 100% from the state. Students spend a foundational first year in Carbondale and the other three in Springfield, while its Lincoln Scholars, part of the Rural MD Program, train all four years in Carbondale (SIU MD programs).

SIU's third year runs rotations in emergency medicine, family and community medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery, then closes with a 15-week Personalized Education Plan for other specialties or deeper work in a current interest (SIU MD programs). Eight subject areas in one year means eight subject exams to plan around for a student whose rotations use them, and the 15 weeks that follow are a natural place to fit Step 2 CK.

1,815 residency positions, and a pooled attempt budget

Illinois programs offered 1,815 positions in the 2025 Main Residency Match, the most in internal medicine (530), family medicine (213) and pediatrics (154) (NRMP). A student who hopes to stay for residency is competing for a large pool, and the license that follows comes from a board that counts attempts across all Steps together (FSMB).

That pooled count is the part of Illinois's rules we plan around first. Five attempts across Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3 leaves two spare if every Step passes the first time, so a first-attempt pass on Step 1 is worth more here than in a state that counts per Step (FSMB).

Which board exams Illinois students take

Illinois's eight MD schools prepare students for the USMLE. Chicago has the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Northwestern Feinberg, the University of Chicago Pritzker school and Rush; the others are Loyola Stritch in Maywood, Rosalind Franklin's Chicago Medical School in North Chicago, Carle Illinois in Urbana and Southern Illinois University in Springfield. The University of Illinois also teaches in Rockford and Peoria. In 2025-26 Loyola Stritch had 13,289 applications for 175 first-year places and the University of Illinois College of Medicine 11,273 for 302 (AAMC FACTS).

The two DO schools take COMLEX-USA. They are Midwestern University's Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Downers Grove and The Chicago School Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine. Illinois's board treats the two series alike on attempts, with one pooled count for the USMLE and another for COMLEX (FSMB). Neither pool is per exam, so a retake at one Step spends attempts you might need at another.

Illinois licensing rules that affect your exam plan

Illinois counts attempts in a pool, not per exam, and the FSMB lists five across all USMLE Steps combined and five across COMLEX Levels combined (FSMB). It also lists seven years to complete the USMLE, no limit on COMLEX, and 24 months of training before a first license (FSMB).

Source: FSMB state licensure requirements, checked October 2026; confirm with the board before relying on them.

What Illinois's rules mean for how you study

• Treat Illinois's pooled cap as a budget. Three Steps take three sittings if all go well, leaving two spare across all of them, so one retake at Step 1 and one at Step 3 uses it up (FSMB).
• A fourth try at Step 1, which the USMLE itself allows, would leave one attempt for the two exams still to come, so in Illinois the combined cap bites before the per-Step cap does (FSMB, USMLE eligibility rules).
• DO students share one pool of five attempts across Level 1, Level 2-CE and Level 3, and with no COMLEX time limit you can take the time you need, but every retake still draws from that pool (FSMB).
• For the USMLE, seven years is the limit to complete all Steps, and a research year or leave of absence spends that time, so put all three Steps on one calendar before you book the first (FSMB).

Many Illinois students rotate, interview or match next door. Illinois's neighbors on our list: Indiana (1 MD, 1 DO), Iowa (1 MD, 1 DO), Kentucky (2 MD, 1 DO), Missouri (4 MD, 2 DO), Wisconsin (2 MD, 0 DO).

How much Illinois searches for board prep

Illinois sits in the top five of 51 states in Google Trends on four of its five search terms over the past five years: USMLE (4th), USMLE Step 1 (5th), Step 2 (4th) and shelf exam (4th). COMLEX is the outlier at 29th, in a state with two DO schools against eight MD schools.

Source: Google Trends, United States, past 5 years, retrieved October 2026; ranks show relative interest, not student numbers.