by Keegan Malan

New transfer to PUC? Welcome aboard! We are glad to have you here and wish you the best of luck. Here are some tips to help you along on your new journey and get better acquainted with the place you will call home. 

Get To Know Your Geography

If you’ve only visited the campus once, whether that be a tour or an overnight stay during college days, the geography of PUC can be a little tricky to the unacquainted. So on move-in day, once you have finished setting up your room and have introduced yourself to your roommate, take a stroll around campus with the PUC map, https://www.puc.edu/about-puc/campus-map, and acquaint yourself with the buildings, especially the ones where your classes for that quarter will be. This will save you a lot of time and worry once your classes start and make you feel more at home.

Take Advantage Of Events 

There are many events held by PUC each quarter, whether it’s Fall Fest during fall quarter, the basketball tournament in the winter, or a trip to Six Flags in the spring. This is a great opportunity to have a lot of fun with your classmates and make new friends. Besides these larger events, though, there are smaller ones sprinkled throughout the school year that you can enjoy as well and should, since the years you spend here at PUC should be fun as well as instructive. 

Connecting With Your Professors 

With the student-to-teacher ratio at 19:1, it is inevitable that you will spend a lot more one-on-one time with them than you otherwise would. But besides the nicety of easy access to help from your professors, there is the added bonus of getting to know them as people, rather than the barrier that usually divides faculty and students at other schools. 

As a former transfer student myself, it’s truly a gift to be able to connect with your teachers when you arrive at a school where you don’t know anyone and are basically starting from scratch. Getting to know your professor, and continuing to work with them for many quarters onward is anchoring, both academically and emotionally.  

Join A Club or Start Your Own 

There are currently many student clubs at PUC, sometimes multiple for each department, that you can enjoy and have fun with. “But what if I don’t find a club I want to join?” You ask. No worries, because here at PUC, you can start your own club, and it doesn’t even have to be an academic club. You could start your own book club, film club, or hiking club-you can do it all. It is a great way to gather friends, have fun, and meet new people with shared interests. 

Explore The Valley

When one is proud and truly at home in the place one lives, it is not only the place itself that one is comfortable with, but also the surrounding area. PUC is part of the Napa Valley, which offers a great deal of fun for students. Gourmet food, live music, outdoor activities, museums, and coffee. It’s all yours. Take advantage of it.

And that is ultimately what you should do: take advantage of it. The “It” being this wonderful school with its wonderful people and all that it has to offer you. Explore, make friends, get your education, and have fun doing so. And so we say, welcome aboard!