The University of Montana supplemental essays

Program-specific prompts

These apply only if you are applying to the named program or school.

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired15 words max

  Your leadership list

  List five of your most significant leadership experiences (e.g., academic, cocurricular, or community-based).

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired50 words max

  Introduce yourself

  Introduce yourself to UM's DHC with a brief biographical statement (in the third person).

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired200 words max

  One experience, in detail

  Describe one of the experiences above in greater detail and how it shapes what you would bring to the Davidson Honors College community of scholars.

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired50 words max

  Three improbable facts

  List and briefly discuss three improbable facts about you.

• Davidson Honors CollegeOptional100 words max

  A powerful learning moment

  What is your most powerful learning experience to date? This could be a course, an accomplishment, a relationship, or an event that sparked significant personal growth. What did you learn? How did this prepare you for success as an honors student at the University of Montana and beyond?

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired500 words max

  What you care about

  The Davidson Honors College's mission includes the statement '[we are] dedicated to strengthening our positive impacts on the world.' Discuss an issue that you are passionate about. Why is this important to you? How do you hope the Davidson Honors College will prepare you to make this impact? How would you seek to make a difference on this issue?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself; rankings and campus beauty read as filler. Name the two or three specific things (a program, a professor's work, a structure like open curriculum) you would actually use, and tie each to something you have already done.

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired500 words max

  Your Grizzly traits

  The University of Montana's mascot is the grizzly bear. Words used to describe Grizzlies (UM students) include respectful, responsible, playful, formidable, curious, wise, creative, strategic, active, and easygoing (all right, also hungry). Which of these traits best describe you and why? What experiences have fostered those traits in you? How do you imagine this or these characteristics might shape your life in the Davidson Honors College? How can you leverage your Grizzly characteristics as a citizen of the world?

• Davidson Honors CollegeRequired500 words max

  A sense of wonder

  Our foundational academic course, Ways of Knowing, is grounded in the ancient Greek belief that knowledge begins with wonder. Describe how a sense of wonder or awe has shaped your life journey so far. How do you hope to find wonder during your time in the DHC and beyond?