In 2005 I was in my final year of school and really wanted to study abroad. Lithuania had just joined the European Union and new opportunities were opening up. I felt that studying in another country could change not just what I would learn, but the whole direction of my life.
There was just one problem.
I had absolutely no idea how to get in.
When you have to figure everything out yourself
Today you can find information about studying abroad in a few minutes. In 2005 the situation was completely different.
There was no single place where you could clearly see what you could study, which universities accepted students from Lithuania, which documents you needed, which exams you had to pass, when to submit everything and where to start.
So I started figuring it out myself.
After school and homework, I spent a few more hours a day searching for information online, writing to universities and calling their admissions offices.
Sometimes the conversation started very simply:
“Hello, I'm Artur from Lithuania. I'd like to study at your university. What do I need to do?”
But the answer often wasn't that simple.
One staff member would send me to another, who would send me to a third. Every time, I had to explain again that I was from Lithuania, describe our school system and try to understand which admission requirements applied to me.
Lithuania had only just become an EU member, so sometimes even the universities themselves didn't have a clear answer.
About four months passed like this.
Half a point short
Eventually I worked out the application process, prepared my documents and sent my applications.
Then I got good news.
The university was ready to accept me – I only had to meet the English language requirement.
I had to take the IELTS exam and score at least 6.5.
Until then I knew almost nothing about IELTS.
I registered, bought study materials and started preparing on my own.
On the exam I scored 6.0.
I missed the required score by just 0.5 points.
There was no time left to retake the exam before the application deadline.
I didn't get into the university.
I didn't know it yet, but this is where Kastu begins
Then I realized that the problem wasn't just the missing 0.5 points.
Until then I had to get through the whole application process alone: find the information, understand the different requirements, figure out the deadlines, the documents and the English language requirements.
There was no one who could simply say:
“Here are your options. Here is what you need to do. Now let's go through the whole process together.”
If I had understood the whole process from the start, I could have started preparing for the English exam earlier, had more time and, if necessary, taken the exam again.
But back then, that kind of help didn't exist.
I didn't know yet that a year later I would start solving that exact problem myself.
And then everything came together
That same year I started studying economics in Lithuania.
But the desire to study abroad and see the world never went away.
While I was studying, I took an active part in youth activities, got involved in a business club for school students and later became its president.
At the beginning of my second year, I took part in a youth fair on Europe Square in Vilnius.
There I learned that Danish universities were looking for someone to represent them in Lithuania and help Lithuanian school students get into universities in Denmark.
And then everything came together.
After all, only a year earlier I had been through almost all of it myself.
I knew how a school student feels when they want to study abroad but don't know where to start.
I knew what it was like to search for information for hours on end.
I knew what it was like to call universities and not get a clear answer.
And I knew how one obstacle you can't get past can close the door to a university.
Then a very simple thought came to me:
“If there was no one to help me back then, maybe I can be that person for someone else.”
The two weeks that started it all
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
For about two weeks I hardly went to lectures. I sat and drafted a plan for an organization that would help Lithuanian school students study abroad.
But the most important thing wasn't the organization itself.
I wanted to create what I myself had missed most a year earlier.
A place where a young person could understand their real options.
Where someone would tell them clearly which documents and exams they needed.
Where important deadlines and requirements wouldn't come as an unpleasant surprise.
Where they wouldn't have to figure out a foreign university's whole admission system on their own.
And where, if a problem came up, there would be someone to turn to.
In 2006, that idea became Kastu.
One of the first Kastu study fairs, 2009
Why Kastu exists
From the very beginning, Kastu's goal was never just to help fill in an application form.
The problem was much bigger.
A young person can have the ability, the motivation and big ambitions, and still lose their chance – simply because they didn't know about an important requirement, didn't understand the system or had no one to help them solve a problem.
That's what happened to me.
That is why Kastu was created: so that obstacles you can get past never become a reason to give up on your plans.
We can't take your exams for you or decide what you want to study.
But we can do a lot: you know what is needed in advance, you have a clear plan, and you get help when you need it.
We help you understand where and what you can study.
We help you choose the right programs.
We explain the admission requirements.
We help you get your documents in order.
We guide you through the whole application process, and all of this is completely free.
And we help you spot problems before they become obstacles.
In other words, today we do what I myself needed most in 2005.
From one failed application to more than 8,000 students
Two decades have passed since Kastu was founded.
In that time, countries, universities, admission systems and technologies have changed.
Kastu has grown too.
But one thing hasn't changed – the reason we do all this.
More than 8,000 young people have already started their path to studying abroad with Kastu.
But behind this number are more than 8,000 different stories.
The first time away from home.
A newly discovered study program.
New friends.
Independence.
New career opportunities.
Sometimes – a completely new direction in life.
It all started with one dream that never came true.
Kastu study fair, 2019
What looked like a failure became the beginning of Kastu
In 2005 it felt like I had simply failed.
I was half an IELTS point short, I didn't get in, and I had to choose a different path.
Only much later did I understand where that path led.
Sometimes I think: if I had gotten in, Kastu might never have existed.
And today, because of that one dream that didn't come true, thousands of other young people have a real chance to make theirs come true.
That is exactly why Kastu still exists today.
So that no one has to figure it all out alone, the way I did.
And so that you don't lose your opportunity because of an obstacle you can get past.
Maybe now it's your turn?
If you are thinking about studying abroad, you don't have to figure everything out on your own. That's what Kastu is for. Applying through Kastu is completely free, and you can choose from 850+ programs in five countries. And if you have questions right now, KastuGPT, our AI assistant, answers them 24/7.
20 years of Kastu history in pictures
