Katherine Beavis

"The best thing about UChicago is the people. I've never felt alone after telling a particularly nerdy joke, I've never felt that I bored anyone when talking about my research passions, the camaraderie and intellectual kinship here, among like-minded people, is really special and rare."

Katherine Beavis, a classical studies and art history double-major and health and society minor, set the record for most studied abroad student in the College. In total, she completed six programs: Beijing Pre-Orientation; Rome: Antiquity to the Baroque Civilization; Paris: Astronomy and Astrophysics; Tell Keisan archaeological dig in Israel with the Oriental Institute; Florence: Living with History; and London: British Literature and Culture. 

Along with experiencing various cultures around the world, Beavis was also active on campus. She served on the boards of the University of Chicago Political Union and University of Chicago Emergency Medical Services, among others. As a third-year, she was a CRASSH Scholar for the Visual Resources Center, helping to expand the Joel Snyder Materials Collection, which was available for students and instructors to handle and learn from materials such as pigment, fibers and embroidery. 

“[The University of Chicago] has also revealed a far richer life to me than I ever could have imagined,” she said. “I can be both deeply joyful doing research and hosting my friends for wine and cheese. I can be a Classicist and choose to pursue medical school. I can be someone from Chicago who loves Chicago and also has lived in many other places during college. I can have a thoroughly intellectual life without isolating myself from the vivid and wonderful world that surrounds me.”

After graduating, Beavis will start the University of Virginia’s career-changer Post Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program to take the required science classes to apply for medical school.