I’ve hosted and repped exchange students for over 12 years now. I think I can correctly answer all of your questions and give you some good advice as well.

1. YES! Thousands of high school aged students do exchanges each year! For Americans, I recommend your junior year if possible. That makes it easier to arrange your credits AND you will come back for the fun of your senior year and graduate with your class.

2. YES! Don’t go to these crazy websites though. You need to go through a legitimate exchange organization. Many offer scholarships (for example Kikoman offers one — used to be through YFU, not sure if they still use that program). There are several others to Japan as well. You should also look into Rotary, which is the cheapest, but most competitive program.

To find an exchange organization that’s certified to operate in the U.S. go to www.csiet.org. Also, you should ask your high school counselor for a recommendation as any organization is only as good as its local representatives. For example, AFS might be great in one place and not so good elsewhere.

3. NO. Reputable exchange organizations will NOT permit you to return home (unless there is an emergency, nor will they allow your family to visit you until late in the exchange. This would be extremely disruptive to the bonding process with your host family and your language immersion.

4. Cost could range (without scholarships) $7,000 – $10,000, depending upon the organization and/or the length of stay. Rotary is cheaper, but I’m not totally familiar with how that one works.

Hope this helped! For tons more information on being an exchange student, go to http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

That’s a website written by former exchange students for exchange student and covers everything from getting the idea to coming home. There is also a diary feature for students to share their exchange!

Good luck!

1) Do you reccomend it? Or do you think it is too early for high school students to go abroad.

I think you are old enough to study abroad when you are in high school. As for Japan, that is a great country to study. Here are some other places you might want to visit:

http://www.studyabroaddomain.com/locations.aspx

Here are some good sites that offer study abroad programs for high school students. Many of these programs also offer scholarships:

http://www.highschoolprogramsabroad.com/search.cfm

http://www.ayusa.org/

http://www.asse.com/

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

http://www.ciee.org/

2) Are there scholarships for this? (if there is, please explain)

There are thousands of scholarships available to study abroad. Scholarships are the best way to pay for these programs because they are free and you don’t have to pay them back. You can read more about scholarships 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

3) When you are in another country, will you be able to visit your family?

This depends on how long the program lasts. You usually do NOT visit your family because most programs last only a couple of weeks. But if there is an emergency and you need to get home, programs will allow you to leave.

4) Around how much would it cost?

All programs have different costs. You can look up these prices on the programs listed above.

Good luck!

“1) Do you recommend it? Or do you think it is too early for high school students to go abroad.”

That depends on your maturity level and on your knowledge of the language of the country involved.

2) “Are there scholarships for this? (if there is, please explain)”

Go to Google,Yahoo or other search engines and run a search. Use term such as High School Scholarship + Japan + foreigners”

3) “When you are in another country, will you be able to visit your family?”

Yes if have the air fare and use whatever vacation periods there are in Japan. Your family could also visit you.

4) ” Around how much would it cost?” That depends on whether you can obtain a scholarship and your living arrangements. People who I have spoken to and have visited Japan have said ta ht it was expensive.

It sounds like a interesting and informative experience. Make sure that the classes that you would be taking in Japan would receive credit from your High School in the US and it would not hinder or delay in obtaining your diploma.

Goof luck and you are welcome.