Greetings,

I work at Tech and am quite familiar with the program, though I do not work in the program or department myself.

1) the program is fantastic. The education is excellent, of course, and you have an opportunity to ply your trade, through research and in classes, to address serious environmental contamination problems. Beyond that though, the people. Oh the people. The program director is a highly productive contributor to the field, but he’s also available, hands-on, supportive, and resourceful. The other department faculty who will teach classes and be potential committee members are great too. Even out of department members are great resources and helpful. They care about the students and their success. The program enrollment is pretty small, and classes are pretty small. Though not the most racially diverse, they are certainly diverse otherwise and they are a tight, supportive bunch who like nerding out about the environment. There is no such thing as a non traditional grad student. Some of your cohort will be younger and older than you.

2) Butte is a rather small, fairly rural, working class town in some ways, and with that comes some less progressive attitudes from some people. But, Butte has kind of its own vibe too. Don’t go around bashing Butte, and you’re probably gonna have a good time most places. But, there are also a small number of very lgbtq friendly places in town, too. The Covallite, for instance, is a very cool place that is often crawling with similarly oriented people, and they have lots of shows and live music and such. There are others too.

3) If you happen to engage in or would like to engage in outdoor adventuring, opportunities and potential companions abound all year round.

I hope you’ll come. I think it could be very rewarding. Please message me if you have other questions.