October 2 marked another Welcome Session at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, this time dedicated to students who were admitted in the second 2^nd National Call for Access to Public Higher Education (CNAES).

Throughout the day, about one hundred students were welcomed by students from the Student Support Office (NAPE), who distributed student kits and paired them with mentors who will guide them through their first steps at the country’s largest School of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Architecture.

“Técnico is one of the most prestigious institutions in Portugal”, says Reva Garg, who enrolled in the Undergraduate Programme in Aerospace Engineering. “I decided to pursue this undergraduate programme when I was 12—I already loved rockets and astronauts”, she shares. She expressed her joy upon finding out she had been admitted to Técnico, saying she was “very happy”, because she anticipates “gaining a lot of knowledge while pursuing undergraduate and master’s programmes, in addition to building connections and meeting people in this field with whom to work”.

In the middle of a visit to the Alameda campus, during a break to check out the Técnico cafeteria, Pedro Roldão said he was “quite confident about his entire future at Técnico”. “I think I’ll be able to achieve all my goals and that these will be good years”, says the student from Setúbal, who recently enrolled in the Undergraduate programme in Chemical Engineering. Although he had been worried about facing a steeper learning curve as he adjusted to the university—given the one-month gap between the start of classes and the release of the 2^nd call results—the orientation process put his mind at ease. “I wasn’t expecting there to be a [welcome] session”, he confessed, “because students admitted in the 2^nd call aren’t valued as much at many universities, “due to their smaller numbers” compared to those admitted in the first phase.

With her student kit in hand and standing at the entrance to the Main Building, after meeting her mentor and waiting for more classmates to join the group, Adriana Braga shares the joy she felt upon being admitted into her first-choice programme, the Undergraduate Programme in Biological Engineering. “This programme covers various branches of biology and engineering, so it’s easier to choose different paths”, says the student from Almada, who found her decision easier because she has “classmates who were admitted at Técnico in the 1^st call, and they shared insights about the university atmosphere”. “I don’t expect it to be easy, but it will be a good challenge. I believe that being a Técnico student will open many doors for me professionally—there are opportunities, seminars, and other valuable activities that I might not have access to at other universities”, she concludes with a hopeful smile, excited about the new chapter that awaits her.

Photo gallery.