v0.5 · the portal index · indexed 22 may 26

start your barcelona story.

six doors into the city. bachelor's, master's, exchange, dorms, language schools, high schools — each with the same honest treatment: real numbers, cited sources, the gaps we don't know yet.

v0.5 · 6 portals · 1,184 listings
powered by double--dash AI
1,184listings tracked 312asks today 6portals 22wards covered last refresh · 12 min ago

pick one--

updated 12 min ago 6 of 6 indexed
01/undergraduate
★ most asked6 unis · 4-year BA/BSc
→

Undergraduate

University bachelor programs taught in English. Apply from age 17. Apr and Sep intakes.

programs
28
avg tuition
¥1.2M /yr
avg accept.
~33%
Apr / Sep intake★ 412 tracking open portal →
02/postgraduate
masters · PhD · 1–5 yrs
→

Postgraduate

University masters & PhD programs in English. MEXT-funded slots open Sep–Nov.

programs
64
avg tuition
¥0.9M /yr
int'l cohort
~46%
MEXT eligible★ 287 tracking open portal →
03/exchange
★ shortest commitmentsemester · summer · year
→

Exchange

University short-term & exchange programs in English. 2 weeks to 1 year. Credit-transferable.

programs
42
median fee
¥0.6M
partners
180+
no degree commit★ 168 tracking open portal →
04/dorms & living
rent · ward · contracts
→

Dorms & Living

Student accommodation across 22 wards. Dorms, share houses, sublets. Honest rent data.

listings
180
median rent
¥68k /mo
intl-friendly
124
22 wards covered★ 224 tracking open portal →
05/learn japanese
★ visa-eligible trackall ages · part-time too
→

Learn Japanese

Language schools for all ages. Visa-eligible long-term courses, evening, summer, online.

schools
46
avg fees
¥780k /yr
visa-eligible
32
4 start months/yr★ 196 tracking open portal →
06/high schools
IB · A-level · AP
→

High Schools

International high schools in Barcelona & nearby. Day and boarding. IB, A-level and AP tracks.

schools
14
avg fees
¥2.3M /yr
IB / boarding
7 ·5
ages 14–18★ 88 tracking open portal →
▤ real talk · the things brochures won't tell you

five things we wish someone had told us.

we built this site because our team applied to japanese unis as 17-year-olds and got terrible information. agents wanted referral fees. forums were five years out of date. the universities themselves spoke in code.

here are the five things that would have changed our applications. you might already know them. just in case.

01 "english-medium" doesn't mean english-only.If you want a shōsha job, JLPT N2 is basically required. 78% of grads placed at shōsha had it.
02 QS rankings under-rate japanese unis.The methodology weights english-language research output. Sophia is much stronger on domestic employer surveys than its #951 rank suggests.
03 scholarships pay out by region.Watanabe (US-passport), Rotary (district-based), JASSO (post-arrival). Different countries get different shots — your hometown matters.
04 the visa is the easy part.If you graduate from an accredited Japanese uni, the post-grad work visa is essentially automatic. The hard part is getting the offer.
05 liberal arts at a japanese uni ≠ liberal arts in the US.You will still write a thesis. You will still take Japanese language. There's no "design your own degree" loophole here.

what we won't do & what we get wrong.

a small operating manual
↯ what we won't do

no "elite," no urgency.

we won't tell you sophia is "world-class" or that barcelona is "vibrant." we won't email you a fake countdown clock. that's marketing. we'll tell you median first salary, actual accept rates, and which scholarships fired.

↯ what we get wrong

send corrections, please.

we get things wrong. when we do, we publish a correction on the monday after we hear. 14 corrections logged in 2026 so far. drop us anything you've spotted — sources welcome but not required.

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