Rizal entered Ateneo de Manila in 1872 at age 11, four months after his mother was imprisoned for her involvement in the Gomburza murders. As the first in his family to attend college, he faced initial resistance from the registrar due to being late and sickly. At Ateneo, the Jesuit-run school, students were divided into two rival empires and followed a rigid discipline-focused curriculum. Though his grades remained excellent, Rizal failed to win a Spanish prize in his third year as his spoken Spanish lacked fluency and accent compared to a native Spaniard competitor.