Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
North Chicago, IL · Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center · 203 students per class
Program Statistics
56%
Out-of-State
203
Class Size
$5M
NIH funding · FY2025
Clinical training & research
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★★★★★Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center
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Advocate Christ Medical Center
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Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
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★★★★★John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County
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Mount Sinai Hospital
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Ascension Saint Joseph – Chicago
+2 more: Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Holy Cross Hospital
★ CMS overall hospital rating (1–5). Children's, cancer and psychiatric hospitals aren't rated.
$5M
NIH · FY2025
+5% since FY2021
Top NIH-funded departments
- Microbiology / Immun / Virology$3M
- Pharmacology$2M
- Neurosciences$0M
- 3 recruiting clinical trials
Admissions
- Benchmark
- Most successful applicants: GPAs around 3.5 and MCAT 510+
- MCAT
- Highest score is used
- Early Decision
- Applications due August 1
Sources: CMS Class Profile (RFU) · Chicago Medical School Cost & Fees · CMS Clinical Sites · CMS Application Requirements · Census QuickFacts (Lake County, IL) · NIH RePORTER · ClinicalTrials.gov · CMS Care Compare
Program Highlights
Curriculum
Allison Martin describes covering a college semester's worth of material every six weeks; at that pace, students quickly find their own method. Allison stopped attending lecture and learns by listening and reading, while classmates lean on notes, textbooks, or spaced repetition.
Drew Weinstein keeps a tighter schedule: previewing in the library before 8am, lectures until noon, afternoons of anatomy or required sessions, then evenings of daily review, because "you cannot cram."
Clinical Training Across Chicagoland
Chicago Medical School doesn't own a hospital; students rotate across a wide network instead, including Level 1 trauma rotations, suburban and rural community clinics, and the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a combined VA and military hospital next to campus.
Allison sees that as a plus: rotating through most of Chicagoland's hospitals and many small clinics exposes students to a wide range of settings. Sites include Advocate Christ, Advocate Lutheran General, Mount Sinai, and Cook County's Stroger Hospital.
Student Culture
Allison describes classmates who all have something going on, from student council to research, and who show up for each other's fundraisers and talks. The faculty care, the administration listens, and students have a real voice.
Drew points to interest groups for every major specialty, plenty of intramural sports, and volunteer organizations serving the surrounding community.
Location
The first two years are in quiet North Chicago: restaurants, gyms, and shopping for the essentials, and few distractions from studying. The city is about 45 minutes away by train for weekends.
For the clinical years, everybody moves down to Chicago itself, which Drew calls "awesome."
Sources: DocStory interviews with Allison Martin and Drew Weinstein · CMS Clinical Sites
Student Voices
2 interviews from current and former Chicago Medical School students
"We get to rotate through most of the hospitals in Chicago-land plus many small clinics."
"On the weekends we can take a train 45 minutes into the city to enjoy the night life or just to explore. During rotations third and fourth year we move downtown which is awesome."