University of Illinois College of Medicine

The University of Illinois College of Medicine, part of the University of Illinois system, is the largest medical school in the United States, with over 2,600 students and trainees. The college provides scientific and clinical training. It has campuses in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and Urbana. It has nearly 4,000 faculty across the state and graduates one in six Illinois physicians.

While students at the Chicago campus spend all four years there, students assigned to the other campuses do their first year of pre-clinical training at the Urbana campus. Most then move on to either Rockford or Peoria in the second year. A very few (usually MD/PhD track) spend all four years in Urbana.

History
The College of Medicine is now part of the University of Illinois at Chicago, but it predates the rest of the University by decades. The beginnings of the medical school component of UIC can be traced back to the founding of the private Chicago Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1858 and the private Chicago College of Pharmacy in 1859. These units, along with the private College of Physicians and Surgeons, which opened in 1882, were all absorbed by the University of Illinois by 1913. The site is the former site of the west side grounds, former home of the Chicago Cubs.