Good Highschool exchange programs?

Question

I'm looking to do an echange within the next year or so and i have found some programs such as intrax , ef, and afs.... i was wondering if you know of any others and what your experience with them was like and if you traveled with any of the programs i listed could you tell me about your experience....

Answer 1

The Rotary Club has some great programs. I never went on one, but my friends had good experiences-- I do know you usually rotate host families.

Answer 2

The first thing you want to do is make sure the program you pick is listed through CSIET (www.csiet.org). That's important, especially when it comes to working with your school to get credit for your year.

Chances are good you probably have exchange students at your high school -- and that your counselors have worked with different organizations. Ask them for a recommendation! An organization is only as good as its local representatives. Generally you'll find that AFS, Aspect, Rotary and YFU are reliable everywhere; ASSE is reliable in most places and AYUSA (INTRAX) has problems in a lot of places (our school doesn't like them for example).

Rotary will be the cheapest, but most competitive. However, most of the others offer scholarship opportunities.

You probably are too late to go next year, but will have plenty of time to apply for the year after (2009-2010) AND apply for scholarships too!

Being an exchange student is a great challenge, but one that is totally worth it. If you go to this site, you'll find lots of good advice -- it's an online community of current and former exchange students (and for those who want to violate this answer -- it does NOT sell anything) who are sharing their experiences. http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

Good luck and have a great time!