What are a few good Exchange Programs?

Question

I was planning to do an exchange to Japan for about a year, and then go to college there. But I was wondering if there were any more good exchange programs out there. I already found JASIN, Rotary, AFS, Intrax, CCI, JET, and EF. I looked at the EF site, and I don't really like it too much. Some of their programs that I wanted to take don't go to Japan, unless I skipped over it lol. So, I was just wondering, are there anymore good ones out there? Price doens't really matter, I just need the yearlong exchange to Japan.

And if anybody knows, could you tell me which ones are the best, out of the ones I found? I really like Intrax and Rotary. I'm making sure my grades stay up and I'm in all honors classes ( =( ), so that won't be a problem lol :)

I'll probably do the exchange sometime in highschool. I know some of the programs wont accept until 12th grade, and im going to 9th now lolz so i have time. xP

Thanks in Advance!!!

~iLoveGaara♥

Answer 1

i went with YFU. great program. You wnat to go to college there? if you want to go to college you do NOT have to pay for a program. if you want to study in japan apply to the universities like you apply to the american universties. if you look at those school websites there should be an international application. If you go through a program you pay someone else a lot of money to fill out that sheet of paper for you. Silly waste of money in my opinion. However if you are looking for a 13th year of HS then go with a program.

Because of your age i seriously suggest trying YFU. It is free to do a summer scholarship, 2 months studying in HS. i did that and it was great. Give you an idea if you really want to study abroad. Then if you do wait till college. I say this from someone who has studied abroad several times.

Also do not worry so much about the univerisity rank. University is university. What do you want to study? Japanese or biology etc? Choose your school by what they offer not what some magazine rates them as. Do you speak japanese fluently? If not then  your first bit of university will be studying japanese and only japanese.

There is much more to concider in chooseing your school. Tokyo may be a good school but its in the middle of tokyo, more $$ to live in, crowded, little space. Look at the schools, some are pretty, others in my opnion are just ugly. Good Luck. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions

Answer 2

I would recommend you go with AFS instead of the other ones and go during your Junior year when most students do. AFS has 60 years of experience in international exchanges and they have one of the best student support systems. They don't require that your grades are superb or that you know the language of your host country. AFS has 24 hour local and international emergency services and a local AFS volunteer support network for each host community as well as orientations for the exchange students through out the year. I highly recommend this program.

Good Luck!