Why the DHC at UM in Missoula, MT?

About once a week I find myself thinking, “Why DID I come here?” I like Missoula, it’s sort of like a mini, less liberal, Portland with an OK public transportation system, but it’s definitely not like home. Montana is far away from any beach, which is a negative. UM is a fairly big school, which I was not planning on when I first set out on my college search. Then I remember, “Oh, yes. UM gave me the most money and was the cheapest! And the journalism program is pretty sweet too.” Don’t get me wrong I really like it here. I love the majority of my classes, I have met fabulous people, and I’ve had some good times with them.

The small classes in the DHC are wonderful. I’m used to small classes and I don’t like the lecture classes with little or no interaction. The professors I’ve had in my honors classes are how I imagined college professors to be when I was younger. They are great. The main reason I like the DHC is the people I have met, and have classes with. I love taking honors classes not because I think I’m too smart for other classes but because I love the interaction with the people in them. It’s why I took IB classes in high school and also why I applied to the DHC. I knew I would be around people who not only wanted to be in college, but wanted to get as much as they possibly could out of the experience.

My hopes for lively academic interaction have been fulfilled in my honors classes. The heated arguments in ENEX101, deep discussions in Ways of Knowing, and guessing what answer Deitrich is thinking of in Humanities have all been done in a way that I don’t think we could have done in regular classes. Being together all of the time in the FIG is helps these conversations. But I think the simple fact that we all signed up for the FIG, and did the work to get into the honors college is the reason they are so good.