The best of the PAU wants to study letters: "Catalan Philology and medicine must have the same validation"

BarcelonaHer name is Laura Tallada Fàbrega, she is from Banyoles and she did her baccalaureate at the public high school Pere Alsius i Torrent. Furthermore, she is the student who achieved the highest score in the PAU exams this 2026. With a 9.9, Laura wants to study humanities, specifically she wants to enter —and will be able to— the double degree in Translation and Interpretation and Applied Languages at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). "Since I was very young, I have liked languages and reading has been quite important for my life. Therefore, I have always valued the humanities," she tells ARA by phone, from Menorca where she has taken a getaway with friends to celebrate the end of her baccalaureate. She explains that "it's not that I have completely rejected science," but that anything related to language, art, and culture interests her more. In fact, she makes a clear case for the humanities: "I believe they are as necessary as science, and that we should have the same prestige," she claims. And she adds: "Studying Catalan philology or medicine should have the same validation. All are very necessary degrees for our society.

Laura also explains that, although she is very clear about what she wants to study, she still doesn't know what she wants to do in the future. "First, I would like to try a bit of everything and then decide. For now, perhaps what interests me most is literary translation and everything related to the publishing world," she describes. The girl with the best PAU score has started the summer with friends in Menorca —"I've been lucky to always have them with me. They are very intelligent, they have always motivated me to study and I look up to them as an example," she celebrates—, but Laura wants to take advantage of the summer to continue learning: "I want to advance with languages, especially Chinese," she explains. Furthermore, one of her passions is acting at the Aula de Teatre de Banyoles, but she accepts that next academic year she will have to move to Barcelona to study and will have to put it aside.

Behind Laura there are four more students who have obtained a 9.8, all of them in the province of Barcelona. They are Martina Gutiérrez, from Institut Vallès in Sabadell; Enric Sánchez, from Col·legi Sant Josep in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia; Tomàs Alfonso Torralbo, from Institut Torre del Palau in Terrassa, and Joan Torrecillas, from Liceu Politècnic in Sant Cugat del Vallès. In fact, Martina explains to this newspaper that she also wants to study humanities: "I'm hesitating between English Studies or Modern Languages and Literatures, and both options are offered at the University of Barcelona (UB)", she explains.

In the province of Tarragona, the best score is 9.7 and it was achieved by Miquel Edo, from Institut Baix Camp in Reus. Finally, the best grade in Lleida, 9.6, was achieved by Lucia Garcia, from Institut Els Planells in Artesa de Segre.