Pau R.

Pau wanted to study at a highly selective university abroad and came into contact with SAJU after completing Year 11 in the Spanish Baccalaureate pathway.

His school had only recently introduced the International Baccalaureate, which had not been available when he first entered upper secondary education. His existing academic path therefore did not align optimally with his goal of applying to highly selective universities abroad.

With his counselor, Pau made the difficult decision to repeat Year 11 and enter the IB pathway. The decision meant losing a year academically and taking on a significantly heavier workload without any guarantee that the outcome would justify it.

At the same time, the strategy focused on differentiation. Pau developed an independent research project in fluid dynamics and was connected with a senior researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona.

The paper was later published in Elsevier’s European Journal of Mechanics / B Fluids, changing the profile from that of a strong student with good grades to a student who had already engaged with university-level research.