high school foreign exchanges?
currently i am in 8th grade, my lat grade in middle school. next year i will be in 9th grade. I would like to apply for a foreign exchange program to hongkong or china during the 2008-2009 school year. i will be 14 years old. what would be the best program, concidering my age and the program prices? please dont say i am to young- ive heard that enough times to know that i am not. if you have ever been a foreign exchange student please tell about your experiences.
Studying Abroad - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
well, first of all u should know a little about the cultures in china and a little of the language. i have a foriegn exchange student from germany at my high school and he's a junior. he's very popular(only cause he's from germany), but ifeel the experience would be great for you. just not right now. you should try your softmore year when you've gotten the hang of high school.
2 :
More commonly students (from what I've researched for foreign exchange programs myself), students should usually be around the 15-18 year old range. Program prices? You'll have to consider what it covers.
3 :
While you may not like the answer to this, the fact is that no reputable company certified to operate in the US will send you at age 14. The youngest you can go is 15 AND you have to have some high school. Besides, you are most likely not mature enough at your age, whether you believe it or not. However, you CAN take the next couple of years to truly prepare yourself to go. First, it's expensive! You will need to find a way to pay for it. You will also need to find a quality program. You can find a list of all those certified to operate in the U.S. at www.csiet.org. You should also ask your HIGH SCHOOL counselor for recommendations as an organization is only as good as its local representatives. Rotary is generally the cheapest, but most competitive. AFS, Aspect, 4-H, and YFU can also be quality programs. The best time to go is your junior year. You will have the maturity you need and have the ability to arrange your credits so you have what you need. Your counselor should work with you on this -- you may have to double up on a class or two. It would also enable you to enjoy your senior year with your friends and graduate with your class. For lots of information on being an exchange student, go to http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/ It's a comprehensive site written by exchange students for exchange students. If you ask them, however, I'm sure THEY will also tell you that 14 is too young. I'm sorry if you don't like hearing that, but one of the things you must learn in life is that people with experience often really DO know what they are talking about and a sign of maturity is accepting that.
4 :
Go to www.ciee.org and check out their programs for studying abroad. Most of the time, you have to know a foreign language in order to go to that country. I have hosted foreign students through CIEE and they are a good program to work with.
Read more other entries :
