University of Illinois Chicago

By James A. Barham, PhD

In brief

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) grew from 19th-century medical, pharmacy, and dental schools on Chicago’s Near West Side and from a University of Illinois division opened on Navy Pier in 1946 for World War II veterans. It took its present form in 1982, when the medical center merged with the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #137 in the United States and #447 in the world. It admitted 77.4% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1240 and a median ACT score of 28.

Its 16 colleges offer 86 bachelor’s degrees, 111 master’s degrees, and 66 doctorates.

Where UIC’s influence is strongest

UIC’s influence is led by philosophy and mathematics. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Philosophy: #87 in the US (#275 in the world)
• Mathematics: #98
• Engineering: #101
• Computer science: #120
• Psychology: #123

Its highest-ranked specialties in our data are:

• #10 in the US: cybernetics
• #14: orthodontics
• #20: cheminformatics

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

UIC-connected figures include the philosopher Nancy Cartwright, the literary scholar Stanley Fish, the mathematician Louis Kauffman, the computer scientist Daniel J. Bernstein, the children’s author Shel Silverstein, the sculptor Richard Hunt, the microbiologist Ananda Chakrabarty, and the evolutionary biologist Barbara Schaal. Our full lists of UIC’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is UIC hard to get into? No. It admitted 77.4% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 570–670 on the SAT reading section and 560–680 on math.

What does UIC cost after financial aid? Tuition is $14,652 for Illinois residents and $30,754 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $8,493 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $7,327 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $24,150 for incomes above $110,000.

How do UIC graduates do? 61.5% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 80% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $73,666.

What is UIC best known for academically? By our influence data: philosophy, mathematics, and engineering, plus cybernetics, where it ranks in the US top 10.