You are just at the right age to begin looking into this. Your junior year is the best time to do a semester or year (recommended) abroad as you can work your credits easier, double up in your senior year if needed AND still have senior year activities.

I’m not sure that you can join the Peace Corps at 18. Although you would be technically eligible, you would not have a lot of educational or work experience to offer yet. Your exchange would be a great benefit because you WOULD have language ability.

To find a list of all exchange programs authorized to operate in the U.S. go to www.csiet.org. Don’t use one not listed! Then check with your counselor for a recommendation. An organization is only as good as its local representatives. Good ones are Aspect, AFS, Rotary (cheapest, but most competitive), 4-H (if you’re active) and YFU.

You can also find a lot of information on the experience of being an exchange student at www.exchangestudentworld.com

Until then, my advice for you is to take a full year as an exchange student. The cost is not that much greater than a semester and you will have MANY more benefits. It usually takes 3-4 months to become comfortable in your new environment (especially for “language challenged” Americans). A semester really isn’t enough for good language capability.

When looking into colleges, bear your goals in mind and search for a college that has an overseas work and volunteer program. For example, Kansas State University has a class that sends international teams overseas for volunteer work. Many others do as well.

You are also correct that your exchange experience will help in college applications. Many colleges and universities offer preferred admissions and/or scholarships to former exchange students.

Good luck!

http://www.ayusa.org/

http://www.asse.com/

http://www.cci-exchange.com/programs_abroad.htm

http://www.ciee.org/

And to help you pay for the program you can apply for a scholarship. Scholarships are free sources of money that help pay for your school expenses, and you don’t have to pay them back. You can read about them here:

http://www.studentfinancedomain.com/financial_aid/college_scholarship.aspx

Here are sites that offer scholarships to high school students:

http://www.scholarshipworkshop.com/highschool.html

http://scholarships.fatomei.com/college.html

http://scholarships.fatomei.com/school.html

http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/average.phtml

http://www.collegescholarships.com/scholarship_high_school.html

Good luck!