Horrible experience. DO NOT USE THEM EVER. If anything is wrong, they ignore and give you the run a round. Absolutely terrible. And, I never write reviews. Emergency number says they will assist and then does nothing. read more

I am deeply disappointed with CIEE's handling of my child's recent travel experience, which has left us questioning the organization's ability to manage the safety and wellbeing of minors. Despite multiple texts and calls to CIEE's emergency hotline, the response was delayed and inadequate. The lack of urgency and concern was distressing, with the staff member I finally reached being unresponsive and dismissive, leaving us feeling unimportant and abandoned in a moment of crisis. If you want to know more details you can contact me. I highly recommend NOT sending your child abroad with CIEE. read more

This company does not even deserve a star. We took in an exchange student and gave this student an incredible experience. Unbeknownst to us the student was critiquing our family and my children requesting a new placement. They did not once reach out until they showed up at our door 4 months in stating our family is under investigation. The student lied and embellished things and we were not aware. Had we known we could have helped but most likely would have encouraged a new space due to protecting our own kids. It's a shame. We were given no compensation, no guideline and no family support. They are not taking the crude comments the student made or the lies he said seriously and now are searching for a new home for someone that has caused great harm to our family. And to top it off they asked us the next day if we'd be willing to keep him. I do not recommend taking on a child through this company. They don't care about you. read more

Update - October 2023: still never heard from the agency at all. Update - December 2023: I learned the student's mother wants her to go home since the second home she has been in didn't work out. But the agency insisted in putting her in another home. I'm really wondering what they told that family. CIEE could care less about the students and seem to only care about the money. It is clearly in her best interest to go back home. read more

This agency is the most dishonest and disrespectful agency I have ever dealt with. They don't respond to their phone calls sometimes having to wait up to two weeks. They do not care about the hosts or the host family's. There are other companies out there and I highly recommend that you do not choose this one. They don't communicate properly, they are uncompassionate and it's unfortunate for the families and the children. read more

Worst ever hiring experience. Complete disaster. Zero organization and accountability for that. Also, still getting emails because they "can't take me off the list" after nearly a year. read more

All this "sponsor" care about is money and the hotel name. They do not care about the students/participants. They had a J1 participant who desperately looking for a new host with only 5 days left before the participant had to leave the country. And they denied the host hotel only because the hotel has 3 stars instead of 4 stars. Horrible "sponsor"! read more

If I can give a one star. I would. I 100% WOULD I went with CIEE to Japan for high school aboard and the lack of professionalism is baffling. Students pay an insane amount of money to be late to classes because the coordinators fail to navigate properly, get lost in metros, and being treated with passive aggressiveness. Even when all the students show up on time, the coordinators GETS LOST AND THEN WE ALLL ARE LATE. (Which by the way, we paid money for these courses) They are so poor at communication it feels like talking to a wall (which honestly, a wall would be more entertaining to look at) None of them seem to know what they are doing and when asked, they always reply I don't know which for a student aboard, it's very concerning (I would love to know what I am doing). They always reply to QUESTIONS insanely passive aggressiveness and get confused when students don't want to ask questions (of course I don't want to when the answer I get is something like I don't think it will change we said it earlier even if you ask the teacher it will stay the same you should've listen). I am done. I am at my wits end. I feel like I wasn't treated properly on this program at all and my money is wasted. Even though we were promised an inclusive art experience, we only had one art orientated class planned within the schedule. ONE ART CLASS!!! The housing is also not so great for a program so expensive. I struggled to sleep consistently and genuinely felt like a dog bit into my brain and ripped a part of mental stability away. Sometimes they get us back late and we don't have time to get an official meal and only eat off of convenient stores. Then they question why we don't sit down and eat at a restaurant. Yeah right if I get back at 1:42 and my class is at 2:15 the time to eat is SILM for sitting down, ordering, waiting, and eating. 6000 dollars that could be used towards anything BUT THIS. If you want to feel like dogwater, no achievement nada, go ahead. The frustration I have harbored is impossible to put within words and worst of all, I approached this opportunity with enthusiasm and excitement. Instead I was met with a pool of disappointment. read more

I am a teacher and we had two female students placed in my high school for the school year beginning 2023. The students did not attend regularly and appeared to be hungry. After trying without success to contact the host family I discovered that the host parents, ages 23 and 28, had a history of domestic violence and a criminal record. This was easily accessible and publicly available information. I also discovered from asking around that they had several very young children and had been reported to child protective services in the past. I contacted both CIEE and the local coordinator and they did nothing. After the host mother made what was supposed to be an ugly post about me, I was forced to file a complaint to the state police, which did lead to an investigation, and also to the J-1 Visa Hotline with the Department of State. I also called the girls' respective consulates. CIEE took two months to move the girls after I made these formal complaints, and only moved them when forced to do so; all the while accusing them of theft and of selling drugs in an attempt to get them sent home while being able to keep the money. Exchange students are not supposed to speak ill of host families to protect the family's reputation in the community, but I have learned that CIEE will use this to force students to not speak to someone who speaks out on their behalf and punish them for reporting concerns. The main company also seems to blame the local coordinator for their failures or at the very least they do not supervise the local coordinators well, so the character of the coordinator responsible for the students is critical. In our county and the county to the north of us, this was NOT the only incident, though this situation was arguably one of the worst as the girls both were depressed, bullied, and lost excessive amounts of weight. The host family also stole from them and stole travel documents from one of the girls. If you are a teacher, and CIEE students are in the school, AND you have concerns about their well-being please contact the J-1 Visa Hotline at the US Department of State, it is easy to do, and can help to protect students from being deported. Many host families are wonderful, but never assume they have been properly vetted. CIEE will often attempt to punish both adults who advocate for children and the children themselves. And the only reason I am posting this account now is that those girls are now safely at home and out of CIEE's control. Amy Farmer B.S. Education, B.S. Mathematics Regional Finalist 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year read more

These guys got a meeting at my kids school telling them they can all go overseas and scholorships are easy etc. Then asked for 7k for one month for my son overseas trip. What a joke. read more

I attended the High School summer study abroad program in Dublin Ireland for entrepreneurship. I attended my freshman year on scholarship and the majority of the students were older than me and from relatively wealthy families, although some of the senior students acted as mentors and I made good friends throughout the trip. The program was not perfect, but I would not give it up for anything. Before attending the trip, there was an online primer class which we were told we could not attend the trip without completing it. It was almost entirely busy work and mostly a waste of time, and found out from several students on my trip that they did not do it. When I arrived in Ireland, I found the trip to be great. I did not know what to expect, and would have loved to see the itinerary from the past year posted on the program page before I had applied and accepted. There were morning classes on Irish culture and business at one of the local universities we stayed at (although not taught by university staff). The staff was amazing and supportive, and wanted to make this the best trip possible for their students. The time in Dublin was nice although not super immersive as we did not visit the city often and ate at the college meal halls almost every day. We took a bus trip to visit other cities in Ireland which was absolutely the best week of the trip as we ate local food, visited important monuments and historical sites, and were more immersed in local culture. That week was life changing. My close friend visited China and she had a vastly different experience. She still found it amazing, but it was less educational and less organized. I would highly recommend discussing the program you plan to attend with a member of the staff that will be on that trip to lean about it. I can not remark on the college or foreign exchange trips through CIEE, but I would vouch for the specific program I participated in. read more

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I was supposed to study abroad in Seville, Spain in Fall 2019. CIEE states that it ,"offers a variety of study abroad scholarships and study abroad grants to college students who need assistance to make their study abroad dreams a reality." I requested to submit a scholarship appeal since I was denied scholarships the first time (and mind you I'm a low-income student) and they still denied me from receiving any funding. I told them how it was very significant for me to receive funding or else it would be a hardship to survive in Spain for the entire four months. I even applied to the Gilman scholarship and I wasn't selected as a recipient so I was heavily depending on CIEE. I worked all year to save up money for Spain but I didn't even reach at least half of my proposed budget. CIEE didn't have my best interest and I'm extremely upset that THEY DID NOT make my study abroad dream a reality. Oh yeah, plus I wasted $160 on a Spain visa I can't even use and they threatened me to pay the $300 cancellation fee, or else the $300 would've been turned to collections. Collections, meaning that my credit score would have been affected dramatically if the bill wasn't paid. Yeah, CIEE took all that money away from me and I can't go even go to Spain. Thanks for disappointing me. I should've selected a different study abroad program. You guys messed up my opportunity. Now, I can't have the experience during my last year of Senior year...... Maybe taking away money from students like me is how they fund scholarships for other students. Not fair. From a dissatisfied student, Savannah R. read more

Beware of CIEE, They don't read the students applications and they ultimately place applicants in programs that the applicants did not apply for - to the detriment of the applicant and the class - as suits CIEE's needs. This is a classic bait-and-switch tactics, as CIEE is seeking to increase its profits by populating its unpopular programs, to the detriment of the students. Also beware of their scholarships. While their website states that all programs offer scholarships, CIEE will revoke scholarships based upon the program chosen. In sum, CIEE prioritizes its own profits over students' well being. There are money other programs out there that will better serve you and your child. read more

This is possibly the worst I could have expected coming to this program. Upon our first arrival, our program director was on a paid vacation and this was her first job working for CIEE. On top of this they had to find housing for us directly before we got here and put 24 people in a suburban houshold with young families as neighbors. They constantly expected us to not make a sound after 9pm and would have camera's to "watch" us during the night. Truly the house owners did not like us in the first place and used the cameras to get us into more trouble and to look for problems. The program does not even offer trips to cool places or let you actually explore Sydney Australia. Half of the classes are online in Singapore time because they could not even find teacher to work with us for the second block. Our house does not even have good enough wifi to support all of us being in zoom class at the same time. Overall, the CIEE Syndey program was worse than I could have ever expected and it made my trip abroad significantly less fun, explorative, and academic. I would not recommend this program to anyone and hope that people look at these posts before deciding to go abroad. read more

Host families receive no compensation when they are the backbone of this program. They are charging these poor kids 19,000 a semester. In addition, they recruit families by offering $500 to those that refer a new family. If you are giving bonuses to people to give you leads on families, there is something wrong here. The family doesn't even get $500. Teachers emails are being bought so they can spam them about finding families. read more

I would give a 0 if I could. There is horrible communication and they cancelled my program and tried to offer a non credit transferrable class. After they cancelled my class they wanted to charge me read more

How do I sum up four months into a single Yelp review? I have no idea. But here it goes... My second year at the University of Missouri, I decided to study abroad. There was a HUGE list of countries offered and also a plethora of programs to choose from. After talking to some counselors and looking up the programs online, I made the choice to study with CIEE for the first semester of my third year of college. Once I decided on the program, there was a huge list of countries to pick from. I chose to select one of the more affordable countries that didn't require me to spend a significant amount more than if I was at school in Missouri. I saw the European programs getting a little pricey so the African programs attracted me. Also, the fact that I would be surrounded by Black people for the first time in my life really made me excited. I had the choice between Senegal, South Africa and Ghana. I narrowed it down to the last two since I decided my French wasn't good enough to survive in Senegal. I was told South Africa was going through a lot of racial tension so I picked Ghana. My parents were a little concerned about the price but after it all added up, since this is a cheaper country, the whole experience wound up costing us about the same as a semester at Missouri. I know the program does offer scholarships for students from lower income backgrounds. Traveling with CIEE was absolutely the best decision I could've ever made. At 19, I needed to get out and see the world but it can be scary. Traveling with a study abroad program was the best option because they watched over us, cared for us, showed us the ropes but didn't keep us on a leash. The CIEE program leaders in Ghana encouraged us to mingle with locals, even taught us the local language! They introduced us gently to Ghanian society with an informative orientation that was at an isolated boutique hotel and taught us everything we needed to know before school started. They helped us register for classes, took us around the country on weekends, served as a resource and scheduled frequent group activities. I will never forget Kwesi Gyasi-Guamere (spelling is way off I'm sure), the most amazing program director/tour guide/host. He welcomed us so warmly and made sure we were always taken care of. This sweet soul had a young family but always treated us as priorities as well. Delta airlines even lost my bags the first two weeks I was there! Kwesi and the other ladies in the CIEE office helped me by calling the office everyday and driving me to the airport to retrieve my bag when it finally arrived. We had the option to stay in a real world house with other students in the program, stay with a host family or stay in an international hostel --rooming with upper class Ghanian students. I chose the international hostel and was very happy I did! I met so many people from all over the world, learned about their culture and actually also learned alot about myself. The cool thing about CIEE is the program gives the students FREEDOM but also NECESSARY RESOURCES. I never felt alone or lost or scared because I knew my program directors were just a phone call away but I also got the space to learn and grow and explore the city. This was the first of my many international solo trips. I have CIEE to thank for igniting the passion within. read more

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I can't say enough great things about CIEE! We hosted a girl from Latvia last year and it was the best experience our family has had! Our Local Coordinator Kathy was a huge support and checked in on us and the student all the time and even went to her racket ball match! Thank you CIEE for giving us a life long connection with a girl from Latvia who will forever be apart of our family!! Can not wait to host again!!! read more

I would have given a 0 if possible. Please be aware of the horrible experience you will have if you engage with this company. I was so excited to have this experience, to learn from the student and the student learn from us. Shortly would I learn that the student would not be held accountable and that while communication seemed transparent at first I would learn it was not. The student made horrific accusations that were found to be untrue including feeding and access to wifi which was not true and evidence provided. I was the second placement for the student in less than 3 months and I would quickly realize it was the student and the horrible and lack luster management of the company. Run, Run, Run. if you truly are interested in a exchange program please choose another company read more

DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM. I wish I read the ratings before sighing up, this program is absolutely horrible. The housing, staff, organization and not to mention the education is an absolute scam. I did 2 blocks with the Open Campus program in Rome and pretty much the whole thing was a disaster. 1. They lied about the housing and put 6 girls in a two bedroom apartment and made the living room a bedroom of its own with almost zero kitchen applianced. It was in an unsafe area where one of the girls of the program got ASSAULTED right in front of the building. 2. The staff were so self-righteous and treated (me and others) like we didn't know anything using repeated phrase of "no you don't understand" "this is not how it works" "we can't this...we can that". 3. The education. Dr Konstantinos Melachroinos is the absolute WORST "teacher" I have ever had. He does not care about his students and neither does the program. The most unprofessional man I have ever met. Example: After asking him repeatedly about the material he got visibly upset and ended the Zoom call without any notice. Please don not waste your time and money with CIEE. It was an absolute regret and mistake of mine. read more

Absolutely awful organization, they make a tremendous overhead, they make false promises saying that they provide full grade reports and communication between Portland and the site staff is god awful. Please, save your money and your future and go to any other program. Particularly students going to Japan, they will make you pay for uniforms and lunches, airplane tickets, and everything out of pocket and it leaves you wondering, "where did the 20k I just spent on tuition god." It's embarrassing that they call themselves a non-profit. EDIT: I was speaking with my school counselor, this is also something that has caught her off guard as well. She decided not to work with CIEE before because there is a reputation of ciee at my school not delivering what they promise and comprising students from graduation. Please don't listen to what CIEE staff says, they just lie and try to trick you into spending money! read more

A Scam. I have never left a review on a company before or quite really used yelp before. I am specifically making a new account just to warn ALL parents and students to avoid CIEE. This company is for profit. After collecting my thoughts and reading other reviews on sites including yelp, Google, etc. I am so saddened I gave this company my time and money. They say that things are included in your price which are not. My son was in a previous program for Japan this "organization" offers. This company has no idea what it means to be organized. They told families uniforms would be included in the already expensive school tuition fee however, they ended up not covering what they said they would and families ended up paying an unexpected $500 for uniforms in our student's first weeks abroad. Any school trip prices were also not included in the tuition, so that was easily thousands more in untold fees we ended up paying. Students were placed all over the area of Tokyo and while that might seem great, because of this, some students as I've heard from other parents, had to pay ridiculous monthly commute fares for their student and CIEE seemed to not consider these expenses when making choices on where children would live. This company treats it's families who are trying their bests to work to make their children's dreams come true like they are wealthy. We are not wealthy. I would rather not get into the mental health issues that my son also faced when abroad and how little this company's "support" you are paying for did to help as that is still now ongoing for my child, but please note that my son was a bright happy child before this program. If he wasn't we would not have sent him and I am sure CIEE would not have accepted him as they say that your mental health record must be good. They were awful to contact and unorganized. A staff from their Japan office quit abruptly (I can now understand why) and in general it felt like the office was quite a mess. When trying to contact them directly I was instead directed to a staff member in Maine who seemed to want nothing to do with our case regarding the support my son was supposed to be receiving and in general was not great to talk to. Also from my child, I heard there were rumors in the office and the Japan staff were private messaging and venting to students about personal matters and these rumors being terribly unprofessional. I understand this review is quite unorganized but it is hard to organize anything for such an unorganized "organization" like this. If you are a parent, stay away and warn schools and other parents. If you are a student, don't just read the good reviews and save your parent's money. There are far better "organizations" it should be going to. CIEE is even doing damage control and replying but I do not think they know who I am as I am a step parent. But it just shows that they only try to fix things now when it is already all over. read more

BTW this student's new host mom tracked my info from the school's registry and was having all of the same issues w/disrespect and cleanliness (student was leaving bloodied pads open faced on her antique furniture after repeatedly being asked not to). GROSS CIEE didn't care about that or about the threatening email I got from the birth mother (sent WHILE her daughter was still under my roof). read more

I was accepted into the London Global Internship Program. I paid all the excessive fees, did multiple interviews and was all ready for my internship in London. I got news mid-April that they could not find me an internship. Due to the 4 month long time from acceptance to this news, I lost all other opportunities for summer internships. The lack of communication during this process about internship placement was infuriating and helped in screwing my summer. Dont Trust CIEE! read more

My daughter worked with CIEE during her sophomore year at university. She was able to spend the Fall semester in Paris at CIEE's Global Institute Open Campus. What a wonderful experience! CIEE paired her up with an awesome host family, with whom she still keeps in contact. Her CIEE sponsored trips to Strasbourg and Brussels were informative and transformative for her. Her mother and I naturally were nervous about sending her off on her own, but we quickly became extremely comfortable with how CIEE handled everything related to her experience. I heartily recommend CIEE for study abroad programs at the high school and university levels. Her experience with CIEE was so positive, that she is now in France working as an English teacher. Thank you, CIEE for providing such a positive experience! read more

My son just went on the trip to Santiago Dominican Republic . He is 16 and had the time of his life . He loved everything about the trip . Just make sure your child is responsible and trust worthy because if not this program is not for them . My son loved every minute of his trip... There is not a lot of communication from ciee and family during the trip but internet works fine and I spoke to my son whenever I wanted to but honestly he had so much fun he never wanted to lol . I am sure if I called they would of spoken to me but never had to call them. Please if you have a responsible kid and they want to go please you won't regret it . Don't listen to every negative review. I did that and almost canceled his trip . I am so glad I didn't cancel . Thank you ciee for everything hopefully my son will be able to go again !!! read more

CIEE - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Portland, Maine

As a former host family, local coordinator and as someone who sent their son on an exchange to Chile. I would not recommend this organization. First our son's exchange program was great or good. He enjoyed his time there and learned a lot. We had a bit of contact with him but it wasn't too bad. It was what we were excepting and he had no complaints. 4-5 stars We have hosted as well. We have hosted 11 kids total. Being a local coordinator there was a hint that due to the global economy they had to open up to more kids by loosening up the qualifications. Boy did they as one of our students was basically a flunky, the other felt that his studies here did not matter and thus grades were neither her or there. We would let CIEE people in Portland know and they never did anything and then when the problem came to a head they would blame us for not doing anything. Even though we attempted to contact them and let them know numerous times. Mentioning the above, as a local coordinator I usually did my best to work with families. I did not local coordinate for the money since I don't need the extra income. Sadly though the things we dealt with our host families had the same frustrations. Even at times as a host family ourselves I wondered how other parents were getting along if we were treated how they treated us. There are some great Local Coordinators but they have left and the ones there are fighting to keep a positive outlook. The office staff and the people at the head office are a failure to the whole exchange program. read more

Our daughter is participating in CIEE's semester program in Rome and so far it has been horrible. Here are the biggest reasons: 1) The in-country staff did an extremely poor job screening and preparing her and her roommates' apartment, including: not having enough beds for the girls living there, adding a 7th student last minute to a 6-person apartment, no hot water upon arrival for days, an unclean apartment with bugs and roaches, an absentee and discourteous landlord, and being over 40 minute train ride from the actual school. Note: Our daughter has heard from others that are experiencing the same, 2) Were provided a very poor orientation upon arrival that she and her peers felt did not even come close to adequately informing 250 foreign exchange students on what you need to know when visiting, getting around, and studying in Italy. 3) Lack of communication from the local, administrative CIEE staff to both her and us about remedying some of the living and traveling challenges. From discussing our concerns with other parents who have kids there, no one is getting either any or adequate responses from CIEE leadership. We have left messages and emails over the last week that have not gained any reply. She has been there 2 weeks now and we have given thought to her coming home and trying a different international program next semester. Would NOT recommend CIEE read more

Awful from beginning to end. No help whatsoever regarding the COVID situation, no one to give feedbacks to, no follow-up, nothing. Their insurance was useless and made me pay 400$ as a student to get tested in order to go back to France. With CIEE, no money means no help and they don't care if you stay stuck abroad without any resource. Stay as far away as you can. Thank God my company was a lot more helpful and supportive during this exchange. My experience in Chicago was amazing but CIEE has absolutely nothing to do with that. Actually, they made it worse as far as I'm concerned. read more

I was super excited to participate with CIEE before the COVID-19 outbreak. I had my advisor, bought my plane tickets, and everything was good. Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak, NOT A WORD about anything was sent out. I emailed to check because obviously, the programs would be cancelled, but I wanted to be for sure. I email my advisor and get an automated reply that she's no longer with the company and have heard NOTHING SENSE. So, I cancel my tickets and want to deffer my program to another one, but after reading the reviews here, am choosing to cancel altogether after lack of responses. I DO NOT recommend them. Lack of care for their students as well as little to no responses??? Completely unprofessional and will never start another experience with them ever again. read more

There is nothing positive I can say about CIEE. I graduated and wanted to go to New York, paid my money (€3,000), had my visa approved, arrived in NY and started my programme. I found my dream internship working with a designer. However, things went south from here. He had had issues with CIEE in the past and wasnt able to sign off papers. Unfortunately, I had to leave them and find another internship, which I did. Following this, I spent a month emailing CIEE as I could not log on to create a training plan. Their suggestions? Condescending at best: Try different laptops, phones, different browsers. No avail, and very slow replies. I eventually just send them the details. My new host signed off the papers. Two weeks passed, and I recieved an email telling me I have 3 days to leave the country as my plan has been denied. I contact them to ask them why, and they tell me that my host has too many interns (they had one!!), that they recognised the situation was beyond my control, but there was nothing they could do. I have a Fine Art Degree. Unlike business degrees, opportunities do not come in the form of giant business with hundreds of paid staff; they are small design teams. Therefore, NO INTERNSHIP I COULD GET WOULD HAVE MET THEIR CRITERIA. The worst part? When I told them this, I was told "we hear this a lot, it's a very common problem" to which I asked "if you hear this a lot, and know it's a huge issue, why are you offering this program to creatives?" Knowing they have a huge chance at failing and losing a lot of money. My program which was initially 12 months, had become 3-4 months, excluding the one month of back and forth emailing of login credentials and browsers. There was no consideration, no cooperation, and frankly, the staff are rude and unprofessional; at one point, I had a member of their team repeatedly talk over me so I couldn't ask questions, and I was not alone in my experience; people I know on the same problem faced all of the same problems with no help. The constant barrage of emails are borderline threatening, in my opinion, and their tone is incredible pointed if you accuse them of being unprofessional or question how genuine they are to help and answer questions. That's before you consider the fact that the concept of a "paid internship" is inherently flawed as they do not exist, and if they so, are incredibly rare. I signed up with full intention of doing what I had intended. I left with little experience gained, down money and with an incredibly sour taste in my mouth. Do not choose them, do more research and save yourself the hassle. One star is generous read more

I also regret enrolling my daughter here and spending thousands of dollars for Paris program. They put my daughter and 2 other girls from NYC with a host family that condors of couple and 2 late 20's children. Thought they must have a big flat. The 3 girls are in one bedroom with bunk bed and there is only ONE bathroom for 7 adults. One bathroom. How can you volunteer to be a host if you have one bathroom and accepts 3 girls. The bathroom has old door with no proper locks. So disappointing!!!!!! read more

Going on a high school summer abroad program with CIEE was hands down the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm not being over dramatic or cliche, spending a month in Barcelona was the best experience of my life. I made a group of friends that I will be friends with for life. It's February now, half a year after I completed my program, and we visit each other monthly. I still talk to my amazing host family that I love with my whole heart. Barcelona will always be special to me, it made me fall in love with Spain. Everyone should go on a program with CIEE, it's truly amazing. read more

If there was a negative star, CIEE would earn it from this host family. We were excited to accept two girls, one from Italy and one from Germany; the Italian girl is a perfect exchange student and lived up to what she put on her application to come to the US. BUT the German girl filled out her application with what everyone wants to hear, and CIEE did NO vetting to confirm what she said. She is emotionally unstable, and we have tried everything to give her autonomy, have tried everything to make it work, but she is causing us so much stress that we asked for her to be moved. And CIEE basically said too bad, we won't dismiss her and don't have anyone else who can take her. We think this must be a monetary decision, not knowing what the girl's family paid (we get nothing of course). CIEE gives host families Zero support when a crisis occurs, and the local coordinator is basically a volunteer who lives outside of the area and got no support either. The girl needs to go home, and now we must face every day not knowing when the next emotional outburst will occur. DO NOT HOST students through this organization. read more

I am SO SORRY I allowed my daughter to participate in this horrendous program and, like others here, STRONGLY urge parents to avoid this like the plague. My daughter did the research and chose this program because it offered a high school semester in Ireland as an option, and others did not. I was so proud of her for doing the work & raising the money, that I didn't do my due diligence as a parent & I feel awful about it. We were very, very close to filing a lawsuit against this organization, and I'm not entirely convinced that we won't still. This program will gladly take your money ($13k for one HS semester) and then leave your child on their own, to fend for themselves with ZERO opportunity to actually travel within the country. They provide no support and no cultural immersion programmatic opportunities. DO NOT USE THEM. read more

CIEE has really great international programs- some are really unconventional and provide alternative learning programs. I experienced, specifically, the CIEE Khon Kaen, Thailand program so my review will be based on my satisfaction and expectations with the particular program. The online resources along with the pamphlet advertises the program as Development & Planning, Environmental Studies, Peace & Justice Studies, Sociology and Thai Language. However- I felt the majority of the subject areas were actually Group Process, Global Development Issues (like dams and mining- issues that you can study anywhere in the world) and of course Thai Language. A lot of the subject area that is studied is very one-sided and can be studied anywhere in the world- even the United States. We did not go into depth about specific human rights or social justice issues specific to Thailand, which was a real disappointment for me. Also, the program is really based on Group Process more than the actual issues. You are constantly with the same group of American students throughout the experience, having little time to then truly immerse yourself in the culture. The homestays provide a lot of cultural awareness, but the language barrier and busy schedule causes this part of the program to lack and not contribute much to the educational or cultural experience. Things I wish I was told directly before applying to this program: -There is no observation of any weekends, nights or regular school hours whatsoever. We were often in class (with all American students) for 12-hour days with only a 1-hour break for lunch or on village homestays that lasted up to a week. This means there is little personal time, little time for traveling throughout the country and no time to really get to know Khon Kaen, the city where the university is located. -Group process has a huge emphasis in the program- but it was not managed as well as it could have been. The majority of the time in Thailand will be spent talking about your feelings, reflecting and little action. Team-building is overdone and if you have ever experienced "getting to know you" activities- you will be doing more than what is necessary. Often the group goals take priority over your personal goals during the semester -The program likes to keep a lot of things in the dark throughout the semester. You get used to not knowing what is going on, where we are going or why we are doing particular things. -Often you feel like you are put into a situation where you are crusading for the villagers on a particular issue without hearing a clear perspective on the other side. -Globalization is barely addressed in this program. So I would recommend speaking to someone who has experienced this program before applying to ensure that this program is right for you. It was enjoyed by many, but also despised- if you are going to invest the money into a study abroad program, take the time to research the program prior to committing. read more

CIEE - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Portland, Maine

My daughter who just finished 10th grade participated in the CIEE Global Navigator program abroad program in Costa Rica. Overall CIEE team did an excellent job. They kept all the students safe, communicated effectively to parents regarding COVID concerns, facilitated the completion of all the required paperwork, and clearly outlined the travel requirements. My daughter had an exceptional experience in the Women in STEM program and made some terrific friends. I want to thank and acknowledge the CIEE team for doing such a great job in the midst of a global pandemic. I highly recommend the program. I am confident that we will participate in CIEE programs again in the future. read more

I am hosting a CIEE kid right now and have mix feelings about this program. If you get kids from Europe or other countries where they don't have live in maid, you will be better off. I found that the Asian kids in this program (not all but big portion of it in our group) lack independent and initiative. I am Asian too so I am saying this with all fairness. I feel that their recruiting partner in Thailand (they have a huge chunk of their kids from Thailand) is letting kids with not good enough English to come here. Mine was having problem with US History.. not only because this is a hard subject for non American born but also because he couldn't comprehend what he is reading at all. I spend around 10 hours helping him prepare for his test and we were able to raise his grade tremendously. But not every host parent has the time to do such thing. I strongly suggest for CIEE to review their selection process in Thailand and at least ask the candidates to read US Text book and explain what they are reading. If they get the zest of it.. then great.. if not, it is really is not fair for host parents, teachers and the students. My kid is having problem carrying conversation in English and it is very tiring for him. PS: English is a second language for me too so I understand the struggle but come on.. He needs to be able to talk to his peers and his host parents while he is here. read more

CIEE should stand for Captivating Inspirational Engaging Experience! Our daughter went to Portugal for the Global Experience and it was a life changing experience. The program, from the initial emails, to the travel arrangements, to the activities and other participants, was fantastic. She learned so much about the marine life and the local culture, and made lifelong buddies. Can't recommend the program enough. Thank you! read more

I studied in Japan in 1997 through a CIEE program. Overall it was very well run. The host family was wonderful, sweet and supportive. The courses were just challenging enough to allow me to still explore Japan without needing to sit inside with books all semester. The professors and content were captivating. The program administrator, Adam, and the CIEE staff were awesome. They were available when needed, and a great source of guidance and support. I was able to see the USA from an outside perspective, one of the best educational experiences of my life. read more