I agree with the other poster, if you limit yourself to just a summer program, you lose many of the benefits of being an exchange student — mainly the culture and language immersion. If you are just there for the summer, it’s more of a holiday and not an academic experience.

If you go for a whole year, or at least a semester, you will be studying in a different language — and you will truly learn it! Also, colleges and universities LOVE exchange students and often offer them preferred admissions and sometimes scholarship money. On top of that, the language you learn will benefit you in the workplace as well, with a higher salary, especially if you maintain that training through college.

All of this equals a much bigger “bang for your buck”!

As to finding a program, you can look at www.csiet.org. That site lists all the programs certified to operate in the U.S. You should also ask your high school counselor, as an organization is only as good as its local representatives. Generally, Rotary is the cheapest, but most competitive, and AFS, Aspect, 4-H and YFU are usually quality programs as well and offer scholarships.

The best time to go is your junior year. Then you can work your credits easier (your school will give you credit for some of what you do as an exchange student too, but get it in writing) and will have all the fun of your senior year and graduating with your class.

For lots of info on being an exchange student, check out http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/ — a site written by exchange students for exchange students!

Good luck — and PLEASE consider the longer program!

We had a foreign exchange student from Russia and he stayed August through April. He really integrated into our family and we are still close.

If you live in the US, there should be an AFS chapter in every states even in Alaska. Have fun searching.