Oxford University admits teenage prodigy who loves sports and video games

He is only 15 years old and already has a place reserved at the prestigious British university of oxfordwhere he will study a double degree Math and Computer Engineering, after having passed a difficult selection process. He is Miguel Donaire Arcas-Sariot, a Spanish teenager whose high abilities do not prevent him from leading a normal life.

Passionate about mathematics since childhood (“I remember him doing logical reasoning tests since he could remember”his mother, María José Arcas-Sariot, tells EFE), this student from the La Presentación school in Granada (southern Spain) faces with “excitement and a little fear”although also with self-confidence, this new educational stage, chosen and desired.

He himself was in charge of completing the cumbersome bureaucratic process that allowed him to take the selection process, consisting of an exam in Madrid in which he obtained a score of 96 out of 100 and four other tests. ‘online’ in English, Miguel himself told EFE during a break between classes.

“It was a surprise, I didn’t know if I was going to get in or not. “I was quite surprised,” indicates after explaining that, initially, he did not celebrate it much because he did not fully believe that this “delusion” that he had harbored for a while “had turned out well.”

His love for mathematics has led him to obtain the occasional title such as national champion of the Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, something that is not surprising given the “extreme intelligence” of Miguel, who is in the second year of Baccalaureate with curricular adaptation at his own request (two years above what would correspond to him by age).

His adaptation tutor, Eloy López Trescastro, warned him from the beginning: “He was able to deduce formulas while I explained them on the blackboard at a fairly advanced level”. The teacher defines him as a student with a capacity for adaptation and “tremendous maturity, not only in the academic field, but also personally”as he comments.

Despite everything, Miguel leads a normal life, and his hobbies are divided between the gym and sports such as volleyball, video games and board games with friends.

For him, mathematics has always been a challenge: “It’s something I’ve always liked, so it was pretty clear to me. Although I have also strayed a little into physics, mathematics and computer science have been what I have always liked.”

Having gone through several classes as a result of course changes has allowed him to make friends: “From each class, friends and other people you meet stay, so in the end I meet a lot of people”it states.

He still has a couple of months left to finish his Baccalaureate (before going to Oxford he will also take the Spanish university entrance test, in case he decides to return to Spain). His departure generates some “fear” because of the changes, but at the same time it is seen “pretty sure” of himself.

His mother, who defines him as a person “good, noble and simple”, he says that they tried to delay his decision to advance to another course: “We always try to delay him so that he can live his childhood as long as possible. We think that there is no need to run and that the duration of his childhood is what is best for him, but there came a time when he asked us for it.”

At home, the love for mathematics is not new, his sister is already studying a double degree in Mathematics and Physics at the University of Granada.