Youth For Understanding (YFU)

I definitely would give YFU an A grade in their exchange programs. I was completely immersed in the German culture - living both with a German family and attending German high school. Needless to say, my language abilities improved very quickly. Sometimes it could be difficult to get in touch with YFU administrative persons - especially for my parents at home -- but each student was assigned to a counselor who they could contact at any time to talk with about homesickness, host families, school, etc. They were a great support system. This was an overall good experience.

My experience was fantastic during my junior year of high school. I was integrated into my family very quickly and still maintain contact with my host brother. School was more about cultural experience than in class work which made it very fun. I also had the opportunity to spend a month on safari in the outback.

I was looking forward to my study abroad in Germany for a year and a half. I applied in April of 2014 and waited for my interview until late September of that year. (I left for Germany in January 2015). Since YFU was late in finding someone to do my interview (which was probably not hard considering that I live in a metroplex with 6 million people) they were therefore late in getting my decision to me (the deadline was supposed to be October 1st). In addition, the price originally stated on their website was $10,000 for 6 months. They later changed it to $11,000, and when I got my late decision it was suddenly $13,000, and we only had two weeks to pay because of the late decision ($2,000 more!). Originally we had been told we could pay up until 6 weeks before my departure, which was apparently also false. Then when I arrived in Germany I found out that my departure date was July 3rd. Which was contrary to their website which stated that I was to leave at the end of July. I then had to pay hundreds of euros to change my departure date to what it should have been in the first place. After everything I was finally in Germany and all was well for awhile. There were optional trips we could go on so I signed up to go to Amsterdam and later received an email saying that the trip was cancelled. So I signed up for another trip. Later the Amsterdam trip wasn't cancelled so I was going to go on two. The night before my second trip my host mom said that she wasn't sure that I was going because I hadn't received any further information in the mail. I then texted my counselor and asked if I was still going and she said probably not because I had already gone to Amsterdam. YFU had never given me notice that I was not to go on this trip, and my mother had already payed 300 euros. She had payed them and I expected to go on a trip yet the organization told me nothing. This was not okay. I already packed and looked forward to it. So please, to go on your exchange year, I kindly urge you to pick another organization that actually tells their students correct information. Thank you.