The IllinoisCOM interview format

The Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine at The Chicago School (IllinoisCOM) says its process has four steps: the AACOMAS application, an invitation to a secondary application, "a virtual interview with IllinoisCOM faculty, administration, and staff," and, after an offer, the conditions of a matriculation agreement. AACOM's Choose DO Explorer lists virtual interviews only and the format as traditional. IllinoisCOM does not publish the interview length, the number of interviewers or whether the file is open or closed.

Item	What the school or AACOM says
Format	Traditional (AACOM). The school describes a virtual interview with "faculty, administration, and staff."
In person or virtual	Virtual only.
Who is invited	The primary application, secondary application and letters are all evaluated to decide who is invited to interview (AACOM).
Secondary application	$50, waived with an AACOMAS or AMCAS fee waiver. Due April 15, 2027 (AACOM). Sent to screened applicants.
What interviewed applicants are assessed on	Professionalism, critical thinking, communication skills, coping ability and overall fit (AACOM).
Length, interviewers, scoring	Not published.
Situational judgment test	None mentioned. We found no Casper or PREview requirement on The Chicago School's pages or its AACOM profile.

Sources: The Chicago School's IllinoisCOM page and Applying to IllinoisCOM page, and its AACOM Choose DO Explorer profile, checked October 2026.

What IllinoisCOM is looking for

The program's mission is "to train exceptional physicians to leverage the interconnection of physical and mental health to provide compassionate, patient-centered care of the highest quality." The school describes itself as grounded in The Chicago School's history of mental health education, and its dean says that addressing both mental and physical health "can significantly improve patient outcomes." AACOM says applicants should demonstrate "personal resilience, academic readiness, and the potential for growth." The admissions review is holistic and weighs academic metrics, lived experiences and personal qualities, and nonacademic factors named by AACOM include leadership, work history, community involvement, long-term commitments, medical exposure and alignment with the mission.

What the school names	How it might show up in your answers (our suggestion)
Mental and physical health together	A time you saw one affect the other, and what a physician could have done
Resilience and coping	A setback and what you actually did to cope, not only what you learned
Critical thinking	How you reason through an ambiguous problem out loud
Communication	Explaining something complicated clearly on camera
Leadership and long-term commitments	A role you kept for years and what it demanded

Timeline for the current cycle

AACOMAS opened May 4, 2026 and the primary deadline is April 1, 2027. Admissions is rolling, and the school encourages applying a year before your intended start.
The secondary application opened May 4, 2026 and closes April 15, 2027 (AACOM), by invitation after AACOMAS verifies coursework and MCAT.
Recommended minimums on the school's page: a 3.0 cumulative GPA, a 3.3 science GPA and an MCAT of 500 or above, with scores no older than January 2024 for fall 2027 entry.
Letters: two, written within two years of applying. One from a physician (preferably a DO) and one from a pre-medical source (advisor, composite or committee), or a science faculty member or advisor if none is available.
International students are not accepted at this time, per the school.

A new school: what to know

IllinoisCOM has COCA pre-accreditation status and is enrolling its first class, with fall 2027 entry for this application cycle. AACOM says enrollment and student data will not be available until the 2027/28 cycle. The college is in The Chicago School's West Loop campus at 400 S. Jefferson Street, which the school describes as a new building with high-fidelity simulators, virtual reality tools, research labs and collaboration spaces. AACOM says there is no campus-owned housing, but student affairs helps with options in the Chicago area. If you are asked why you chose a brand-new school, tie your answer to the mental and physical health mission rather than to novelty.

How to prepare

Build a mind-body story. Find one real example from your own life or work that connects mental and physical health, and be ready to talk about it for two minutes without drifting into a lecture.
Prepare for coping questions. The school names coping ability. Practice describing how you handle stress, including what you do when it does not go well.
Treat the video interview as the real thing. Camera at eye level, quiet room, good light, and a plan if your connection drops.
Write your "why." Why medicine, why osteopathic, why IllinoisCOM, why Chicago. The last two should be specific.
Run three mocks. Use someone who asks follow-ups, and record at least one.

Practice questions (written by us, not The Chicago School)

IllinoisCOM does not publish its interview questions. We wrote these around its mission and what AACOM says interviewers assess. They are for practice and do not predict what you will be asked.

Tell me why you want to be an osteopathic physician.
Why IllinoisCOM, and what does a physical and mental health focus mean to you?
Describe a time you saw mental health affect someone's physical health.
Tell me about the most stressful period of your life. How did you cope?
A patient with chronic pain also seems very anxious. What would you want to explore?
Walk me through how you would decide between two reasonable options with little information.
Describe a time you had to explain something complicated to someone who did not share your background.
Tell me about a long-term commitment and what it demanded of you.
How would you respond if a patient refused a treatment you recommended?
What do you think a physician owes a patient who is struggling emotionally?
Describe a time you were wrong and how you found out.
What would you like us to know that is not in your application?

Our free question bank preview has more medical school interview questions, and the full bank has over 500.

A 30-minute practice run

Recruit one or two people to play interviewers. Ask them to read your application first.
Have them pick eight questions from the list above and ask one follow-up for each.
Run it on Zoom for 30 minutes with your camera at eye level. Keep answers to about two minutes.
Record it. Watch two answers and check whether you gave a specific example, stayed calm on a hard question and answered what was asked.
Ask what they would still want to know about you, and add that detail next time.

Practicing alone? Confetto's AI mock interviews run traditional and panel-style interviews as well as MMIs, ask follow-up questions based on what you said, and give rubric-based feedback afterward. You can start with a 7-day free trial.

IllinoisCOM interview FAQ

Is the IllinoisCOM interview an MMI?
No. AACOM lists the format as traditional, and the school describes a virtual interview with faculty, administration and staff.

Is the interview in person?
No. The school and AACOM both describe a virtual interview.

Is there a secondary application?
Yes, for screened applicants. It costs $50 and AACOM lists April 15, 2027 as the deadline.

What are the minimum GPA and MCAT?
The school recommends a 3.0 cumulative GPA, a 3.3 science GPA and an MCAT of 500 or above.

Is IllinoisCOM accredited?
It holds COCA pre-accreditation status. It is enrolling its first class.

Do I need Casper or PREview?
Neither appears on The Chicago School's IllinoisCOM pages or its AACOM profile.

Applying to other Illinois DO schools? See our guide to the Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine interview, or our medical school interview prep page.

Confetto isn't affiliated with The Chicago School. Details come from the school's public admissions pages and its AACOM Choose DO Explorer profile as of October 2026. Formats can change between cycles, so go by what your invitation says.