2025 Best Medicine Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Ranked #2 in popularity, medicine is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for medicine students pursuing a doctor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,391 doctor's degrees in medicine to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Medicine School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of medicine for getting your doctor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to medicine students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of medicine students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for medicine to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized medicine related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for medicine students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Medicine Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Medicine in Illinois

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for medicine students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Illinois Schools for a Doctorate in Medicine

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

163 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in medicine. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a doctorate in medicine from Northwestern University

2

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

280 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Illinois at Chicago if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in medicine. UIC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a doctorate in medicine from University of Illinois at Chicago

3

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

161 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in medicine has to check out Loyola University Chicago. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in medicine from Loyola University Chicago

4

Rush University
Chicago, IL

136 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in medicine needs to take a look at Rush University. Located in the large city of Chicago, Rush University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in medicine from Rush University

5

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

32 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in medicine from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

6

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL

69 Annual Graduates

SIUC is a large public university located in the town of Carbondale.More information about a doctorate in medicine from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Best Medicine Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Medicine Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	149	1,198
Ohio	144	1,329
Indiana	132	494
Wisconsin	108	419

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Medicine

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Medicine has other similar majors worth exploring.

Medicine Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	1,105
Osteopathic Medicine/Osteopathy	199
Podiatric Medicine/Podiatry	87

Most Popular Majors Related to Medicine

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	1,151
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	514
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	452
Dentistry	307
Optometry	163
Communication Sciences	82
Chiropractic	65
Alternative Medicine & Systems	39
Allied Health Professions	28
Other Health Professions	19

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.