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

My daughter paid $30k for a semester abroad in Dubai. 18 weeks. Due to Covid, CIEE shutdown their programs after 9 weeks but refused to refund any money stating students can continue their classes online and receive their credits. Study abroad is about more than credits. She could have stayed home and received her credits much cheaper. Unable to speak with anyone, have called several times and they won't put you through with anyone. Program is billed through the college so you can't seek help from your credit card. read more

They cancelled the program and sent us home before the halfway point of the trip because of COVID-19 and refunded nothing. Other programs quickly and happily announced reimbursement plans and rates, meanwhile we heard nothing for months until they said we could submit a refund request. I did this and months later was once again told no refund will be given. I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous and I'll never recommend CIEE after this experience. Whole time I had hope they would do the right thing but clearly they couldn't. read more

What a terrible experience overall, I'm already too generous with 2 stars. If nothing specials happens to you during your internship, you may not have any problems with them. Unfortunately, this was not my case and they only cared about their money. I spent 10 days at the hospital and had a brain surgery. One of the customer representative in charge of my case called me at 7 a.m. the morning of my surgery directly in my hospital room!!! Who does that?! Once I left the hospital, they wanted to know all my appointments, treatments, etc. just to know how much it's going to cost them. It was a nightmare, I had them on the phone every day as I was receiving a heavy treatment... I will pass a lot of details but later on, I had a lot of issues with the payments of the bills (very expensive of course) and they didn't want to call the providers to solve issues so I was the person in the middle calling CIEE, then the provider, then CIEE. I spent hours and hours doing that to make sure that they paid what they had to pay so it wouldn't fall on me. If you don't investigate and fight, they screw you. Now, 2 1/2 years later, I have one pending bill that went to a collection agency. Nobody is able to help me or give more more info (e.g. they can't confirm if I reached the maximum of my benefits of not). My request went to a Manager who is not able to help me, now I'm supposed to call the VP of Participant Services who actually just hanged up on me when I tried to call him. Long story short: don't expect a good customer service, I hope nothing will happen to you so you don't have to deal with them. read more

We recently have been hosting an exchange student from Germany. A few months into hosting we realize that she had an eating disorder. After months of trying to get a diagnosis for her we did, she has anorexia nervosa. When we could no longer ignore her mental illness we ask that she be removed from our home so that she could be sent home and start treatment immediately. Not only did CIEE not send her home to get treatment, they are currently trying to place her with another family in our town, but not disclosing any of her mental illness to them.They have let us down and more importantly let her down every step of the way. This girl needs help, and I believe that it's only because it's mental illness that she hasn't been sent home. I think that if it were leukemia should be home for treatment already. Beware. read more

I went to Valparaíso, Chile, with CIEE on a 4 week language & culture program. It was absolutely amazing! I recommend CIEE to anyone looking to study abroad. Also, if you aren't looking to study abroad, you should be! CIEE staff were friendly and helpful, especially in making sure that I would be alright on this trip as someone who is a Type 1 Diabetic. The activities, excursions, and on-site staff were amazing and I miss Chile very much. The host family placement was perfect and my hosts and host sibling were all great. Thank you, CIEE, for my first study abroad experience. read more

DO NOT participate in this program!! We have spent 6 months of a 10 month program with a wonderful young lady who has become like a daughter to us, only to have her ripped away from us for unknown (and probably false) accusations of her personal safety being in question. All while other kids in this program can be irresponsible, emotionally abused by their host family, and just treated poorly but those kids are forced to stay with their host families. JUST DON'T OPEN YOURSELF UP TO THE HEARTACHE if you are a good person. read more

I came to the US on the 12 month grad J1 through USIT, who I can't fault at all, they were responsive and helpful every step at home. Since coming to the US I haven't been able to get an internship, not CIEE's fault, but they are entirely useless. When I contacted them for some help or even tips on getting work, it took them several days to respond and their response was a copy and paste of the internship section of their website. They make it seem as though they will provide help every step of the way and make sure your experience will be great, but they offer absolutely nothing. read more

Shawna Busey and the team at CIEE ruined a teenage boys dream to be an exchange student in the US. He never even got to start school despite him arriving in the US and everything being in order. Shawna will not pick up the phone and speak to a person, instead sending passive aggressive emails of a few words to a sentence or two reiterating her prior email. Then, like all passive aggressive, she turns aggressive and tells her superiors that others are being dishonest, in an email without citing facts, and her superiors then accept that as true and also won't pick up the phone. I'm an attorney and this sort of behavior is only done by brand new lawyers, who quickly learn it only makes resolution difficult to impossible so they quickly learn to never behave this way. No matter how many times you call or how many times you ask Shawna for a time to talk, she will email back demanding the subject of the call instead be in an email and then if that bait is taken she will repeat her prior communication. When the bait isn't taken she will put you off and not answer the phone when called. She forms an opinion as to what a problem is and then will not take a phone call to better understand why she is wrong and how simple it is to fix the problem. Lawyers quickly learn how easy it is to shoot darts from behind the safety of a computer and then when the cyber-world meets the real world they cower, which is why she won't pick up the phone. This is who Shawna Busey and those who in her organization who tolerate this behavior are. My experience was such that Shawna Busey and CIEE should be avoided. read more

CIEE is great. Ive been on two trips with them to Japan and both were absolutely incredible. The staff works hard for you and they make sure you get what you pay for. If I could afford it I'd go with CIEE every year :) read more

My daughter went to Barcelona over the summer of 2019 for the CIEE immersion program and it was an amazing experience. The host family was incredible and I'm sure that made a huge difference for her, ultimately. She developed a ton of friendships and tried new things. She became more independent and confident as she learned to navigate the city on her own. This experience might be a little overwhelming for some teens, but it was the right challenge at the right time for my daughter. read more

AMAZING! Took the summer program in Toulouse. My host family was wonderful, the counselors are incredibly attentive, and I SWAM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN!! Would highly recommend! read more

I did the work and travel program in the US for the summer and had problems related to the accomodation. None of the people I talked to when I called CIEE helped me at all. The same happened to my co-workers and roommates who were in the same situation than me and had the same sponsor. The people answering our calls spoke to us like a robot does, reading what the computer screen was showing them to say. I felt completly alone and hopeless, I didn't see any kind of support from them and they didn't give me an answer to any of my questions. Every time I called I received different ways to tell me "that's not my problem". I certainly don't know what I paid CIEE for. read more

CIEE's negligence is egregious in both selecting students as well as supporting both students & families. I would NEVER send my child on exchange through CIEE and would NEVER recommend hosting a student through CIEE. We have been hosting a 17 year old high-school exchange student from Mexico for the last 10 months in MA. His 15 year old brother is also on exchange in CT with another family. We wound up with a reasonably nice kid who had undisclosed (but not undiagnosed) significant learning disabilities including ADHD, severe dyslexia, unbelievably slow processing speed, and significant deficits in word retrieval and working memory. Despite 6 years of English classes at a good private school in Mexico, he could NOT speak English and couldn't understand a damn thing for more than a month. Fortunately, my Spanish was good enough to get by. My own daughter has the same types of learning issues albeit to a much lesser degree so the issues were "easy" for me to suspect but extremely difficult to address given the language barriers and the complete LACK of information and support from his family and from CIEE. CIEE literally told me that this is a "cultural exchange" program not an "educational exchange" program and that they could not provide any recommendations or support for any tutors or help in resolving any learning issues. Just unbelievable. Quite literally, he could not read a page from a 3rd grade novel and explain what he read. Until the student was already placed/committed to our home, CIEE withheld the recommendation letter written by his English teacher which felt tremendously unfair as I never would have taken the kid if I had been given that information. Even after 4 months here, the kid's inability to understand English and follow simple directions created significant safety issues. For example, we took him skiing (1st time) and explained the advanced "Black Diamond" slopes which he absolutely must not go down. He didn't "get it," took off, and wound up alone in an extremely dangerous area. After 6 months, I took him jogging in a nearby state park around a small lake. Instructions were, "Wait for me at any intersection, but just in case, you just go in a circle around this lake." Simple, right? He wound up 5 miles in the opposite direction, alone, with darkness falling and temperatures dropping and in an isolated area. He couldn't communicate with a random passerby to figure out where he was. It was a nightmare. The most infuriating part is that, bit by bit, it's come out that his learning disabilities and ADHD were quite well known. He had tutors in most subjects to get C's ad B's, had a special reading class for a full year after school, and was even on ADHD medication for 2 years (but now "he's cured and doesn't need it anymore" -- are you kidding me??). His parents didn't disclose ANY of that info. I was left alone to figure out the crazy disconnects I was witnessing. They just shipped off both kids for a year and enjoyed a lot of golf and travel after dumping a HUGE problem on our very busy, 2-career family. I'm furious and resentful and feel very taken advantage of. Despite being a very social kid, he couldn't make friends because he couldn't communicate appropriately and was so woefully unable to keep up intellectually with ANYBODY at the school. He never had weekend plans with friends which created more burden on our family to "keep him company." Our student's brother had a horrible, emotionally-abusive situation in CT which CIEE failed to resolve. In month 5, after being hit repeatedly by the host mom, the kid finally called 911 and the police intervened by telling CIEE they would not permit the 15-yr-old to stay in the house even one more night. For both kids, CIEE's negligence bordered on criminal and was actually cruel. Being an exchange student is hard and the selection process MUST screen out kids who don't have basic capabilities and potential. It's not fair to the families who VOLUNTEER their time & resources to host. It's not fair to the kid, either. It was an awful experience and tragic waste of time and energy. read more

This program was falsely advertised. On the website, it is listed as "Study Thailand Khon Kaen: Development and Globalization." After having been through this program, I can accurately claim that this program is neither about development nor globalization. These topics are only barely touched upon, and in an incredibly biased way. The site reads: The CIEE Study Center in Khon Kaen helps you to understand the complexities concerning development and globalization issues, and the role you play as global citizens. You'll learn about development and globalization from both an academic and a grassroots community level and its overall effects on a developing nation. This is entirely incorrect. In order to understand the complexities of development and globalization issues, all sides of the issue must be considered. However, lectures were entirely one-sided. I understand that it is difficult for any professor to be completely objective, but I believe in an academic setting, a professor has an obligation to present more than one perspective, and if only one perspective is discussed, it should not be that which aligns with the professor's personal values. When I raised my hand to ask for an alternative point-of-view, my request was dismissed. It was very clear that the program had its own agenda that was beyond objectively educating the students. We hardly discussed the World Bank and the IMF, which is astounding considering their significance in the realm of globalization and development. Looking at the issue outside of the perspective of one small village in Thailand did not happen. We talked about how a mine has negatively impacted a village in Thailand, but never discussed what the alternatives are. And even if we work to "help" this one village, how does that solve the bigger problem? What can we do to solve the bigger picture problem? Questions like these were rarely raised. We barely looked at the bigger picture issues surrounding development and globalization. Exchanges were our primary form of education. I understand this is an alternative education program, so I have no objection to this. However, the exchanges were clearly arranged in a strategic manner. We began listening to the struggles of the villagers and of the NGOs working with the villagers before speaking to the "other side", the governmental agency "inflicting" this "plight" upon the villagers. Because we stay with the villagers, we become emotionally attached, and students enter into the other exchanges on the attack, forgetting that they are there for their own education and rather attempting to "crusade" for the villagers, all encouraged by the staff who sit in the room and do nothing to prevent this from happening. They also never discuss this behavior after the fact to change it for future exchanges. Furthermore, the opportunity to speak with the "other side" was not present until halfway through the semester, and only the stories from the villagers are heard until that point. This was not the only example in which the program was completely unprofessional. Much of my classroom time was spent discussing the group dynamic and the feelings of the other Americans in the program with me. Frequently, it was suggested that the individual needed to change oneself to "fit" the group, and this expectation was uncomfortably forced upon us. This crossed a serious ethical boundary for me; an academic program should be about teaching the material and not inflicting one's personal views upon the students. When I was not willing to compromise my own values for the "group", my opinion was dismissed by staff and I was not given equal consideration to the other students. At one point, I was even threatened with having my grade lowered for not doing what everyone else was doing after I was given the option not to by the staff. And I watched another student get literally screamed at by David Streckfuss for not going along with the group. I was told that the point of the program was the "group process", an incredibly ambiguous term, and that the subject matter was interchangeable. How can the subject matter on an academic program be interchangeable? If the program is going to be about how to work with others, then it absolutely needs to be advertised that way. I feel like I paid money not to receive an education, but rather to be a guinea pig in David Streckfuss' social experiment. This program was falsely advertised and severely poorly managed. I have left with a great understanding of Thai culture, but little comprehension on the subjects I expected to learn about. I chose this program for the subject material, and any student looking to invest a large sum of money into an education program should be able to expect to leave with an education in the advertised subject material. Additionally, any student should be treated with respect and should not expect to have the values of the staff forcibly imposed on him or her read more

I'll be honest and say it was definitely a flawed program, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. I was in the first session they ever launched in Bonaire for high schoolers abroad, so that was expected. It was frustrating because it was very disorganized and there was definitely a lot of false advertising in the description online for the trip, mostly because they didn't know what to write I guess. The best way to hear how a trip through CIEE is would definitely be to take advantage of their willingness to connect you with alumni to hear alumni experience. But once again, I wouldn't trade that trip for a world. Yes, it was disorganized but if it wasn't for CIEE helping me through finanical aid I would not have been able to attend, or meet some of my greatest friends on the trip. And no, it is not a flawless company or program but they hired great people and enlisted some of the best people I've ever met to work with the students on the program. The people they enlisted to run every aspect of the trip made the trip the most memorable time of my life, and I met my closest friends on that trip. Because of CIEE I'm good friends with locals now, and I even went back to spend the holidays with them last year. If anything, I would highly recommend the Bonaire program whether for high school or university students because there were university students there as well, and I don't know a single person that regretted that trip. So yes, it's far from perfect and the higher ups don't seem to care much about the students but they did something right in the hiring process of the people that interact directly with students, and really do try their best to help fund people to travel when they can't fully afford it. I recommended CIEE to many people, and gave them a warning that it will be frustrating at times how flawed the program is, but they do take care of a lot of the complex paperwork and processes for things, help you settle into a new country extremely well. If you go into it with an open and flexible mindset, you won't regret it. I know someone that traveled to Brazil this past summer with CIEE too and I keep their water bottle because strangers actually come up to me and say they traveled with CIEE too. I've met people that went to places such as Brazil and Eastern Europe (I can't remember specifically where in Eastern Europe, it was a brief run in with a stranger at a Starbucks) and we've all made lifelong friends and had the programs change our lives. read more

Our family has hosted high school children from Australia, China, Georgia, Slovakia, and Brazil. This was my second year with CIEE and the students were great, interesting and interacted well with the school, our family and sports programs. Some people create their own problems- we had none! We have thoroughly enjoyed the past 5 years of hosting International Students and find it very rewarding. CIEE is GREAT! read more

This program is such a scam, if I could I would give them 0 stars. While I did not personally participate in one of their programs my cousin did and I had the horrible experience of dealing with them. My cousin participated in a work abroad program with them this summer and they treated him with complete and utter disrespect. I am appalled that there is an organization such as this still in business. Let me explain what happened first. I live in the states, however, my cousin is a student from Eastern Europe and he came here for a summer job to earn some money. He was enrolled with the CIEE program and placed in Alaska. A week before his departure for Alaska he was told that the job was no longer available because they had over hired. He was told this AFTER he had bought a close to $2000 plane ticket and paid the agency a few hundred dollars for this "opportunity". They were finally able to find him a different job, however, as he discovered there was no public transport there (a golf course). Also the job started at 4am and public transport in Anchorage, Alaska starts at 5am. His employer had to drive him back and forth after work. Ridiculous. He then contacted CIEE and they told him that that was not their responsibility. I had the unpleasant experience of speaking with Keith Stone there and he was extremely rude and unhelpful. He had no idea as to what was going on and was reviewing the file as we were talking. He refused to find any solution as his response was that my cousin simply had to leave the country since he could not work there. This to me is absolutely appalling. This is a student who paid you for a service and in return they humiliated, degraded, and disrespected him. They have no human courtesy and cannot be bothered with what happens to the students. Do NOT spend a dime on this quite falsely advertised program because you will be sorry. They have now revoked his worker's visa and are telling him to leave the country within a few days. He now does not even have the opportunity to make money to even pay back his debt from the plane ticket amount. In short this program was so "helpful" and "life changing" that it put my student cousin in debt of over $2000. read more

This is the WORST college program I have ever dealt with and thank goodness I have videos and testimonies to prove it. My daughter went to Rome and I wouldn't have my dog stay in the quality of the apartment she had. In the states we have laws against these kinds of accommodations. I wrote to the company and they did NOTHING. Find any other program please!!! Mom D. Lee read more

This review is for the CIEE program that places foreign high school students in American high schools. CIEE does about as good a job as can be done considering the structural flaws in the very concept. We had a German foreign exchange student last year, and all the people we met from CIEE were very sharp and committed to their jobs. Our local coordinator really did everything possible to ensure the success of her placements. She didn't shortcut anything, and genuinely cared about her kids. We're familiar with a number of other organizations that just want to take the money and run. That being said, there are serious headwinds that host families have to contend with. First, remember you're inviting an approximately 17 year old into your home. This a challenging age. These kids generally are very socially active, and quite mature for their age. Many countries don't count the class grades in America, so basically these kids are on vacation and get bored quickly. Be prepared to become a taxi service. The last month can be especially frantic, as the kids try to cram in every experience possible. Ideally, host families should live within three miles of school. Most of the foreign exchange students we've seen, and we've seen a lot, come from affluent families. There's a whole set of expectations and attitudes that come with the package, and saying that a lot of these kids are high maintenance is an understatement. Some of these kids won't succeed under anything less than pampered conditions. While the contract clearly states that students are responsible for all of their personal expenses, the reality is that hosting one of these kids costs more than you think it will. If you can deal with these realities and want to host, look very carefully at prospective students' applications and read between the lines. We feel very fortunate to have added a German daughter to our family. read more

I participated in the Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion program last summer in Seville, Spain. I come from a low income family and received a full scholarship. I had searched hours for programs, but I found that CIEE is the most generous with scholarship opportunities and gives low income students all around the US a chance to experience a program that otherwise be made impossible to participate in. Without the scholarship, studying abroad wouldn't have even been an option for me. If there was only one statement I could make about the program it would be: I had an experience that exceeded beyond my expectations. But, since I have more room I'll give a more detailed review starting with pre-departure. I think that even offering a pre-departure orientation/course was very helpful. It was stress free and did the best it could to educate us on what to expect. It was honest in informing us that there would be situations in which we'd be slightly uncomfortable and would be pushed outside of our comfort zones. And even this "being uncomfortable" led to tremendous growth and understanding. I didn't have much questions, but when I did I got a very quick response. We were given the chance to take our placement test in a physical location or online, which made it easier for kids who lived outside of those given cities. The packing lists that were given to us were very helpful since they were specific to our program. They checked up on us frequently to confirm flights and were very organized about it as well. When I arrived at the airport in Seville I was greeted with a smile by CIEE staff :---). I was nervous, but they were very nice and conversational and were ready to answer any questions I had. When everyone arrived at the airport we got on a bus and went to the hotel for orientation. We all got to know each other and I also met my roommate there. There was a survey that we had to fill out before being matched with our host parents, and let me say, I think me, my roommate and my host mother were matched PERFECTLY. They took both of our dietary restrictions into consideration as well. The day-to-day schedule for the program was given to us in advance and any changes were quickly communicated. I thought the schedule worked and balanced class time with immersion really well (that might also be because we got time of in the afternoon for a Siesta). We were constantly pushed to practice our Spanish locally which I think is the most important when learning a language, especially with Spanish, because it helps you decipher the different dialects among different regions/countries. Practicing locally was part of what they called 'Into the Community'. I do think there could have been even more time made available to practice speaking locally because at times it felt rushed. But, my friends and I were able to communicate that to the staff and they implemented changes right away. Even during tours, all the team leaders were prompt in answering any questions about the language. Classes were during the evening because of the heat which was nice and our teacher was great! He was very interactive and was ready to answer any question we had. After classes we had plenty of free time before curfew to walk around the city, eat good food, try new things, and form close bonds with other students and local teenagers. We were also given local phones for immediate contact in case of emergency. My host mom was also part of this amazing experience. She had so much to share about the culture and there was never a dull moment between us. She was really open minded about what we had to say and was always intrigued with our lifestyle back home and our native cultures. She took us out to experience local music and food and always kept our interest. The structure of living with a host family taught me a lot about independence and made me an overall more confident person. Another great part of my experience was the people that I met. It seemed like everyone found their place within the program, and having us do actives with the Film making students helped in that process as well. It's a really nice feeling to be surrounded by people who think like you and are just as curious as you are. There's was something about being in a totally new area with totally new people that led us to create bonds that were so raw and genuine. Having local teenagers with us during these outings really enhanced that feeling of being a local. I got to understand the lifestyle that students my age live, which was fascinating. Overall, my experience was incredible! I had the time of my life! It was magical, life changing, educational, it answered my questions and left me with a whole new set of curiosities. Not to mention my Spanish improved immensely, I even found myself thinking in Spanish when I got back. I would recommend this program to anyone who's looking to learn, experience, be immersed and grow as a person. read more

I have direct experience with the CIEE Work and Travel Program. I strongly discourage students and families from being involved with this agency. They are not the advocates for students that they pretend to be. Students come here from other countries and deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity. The student I knew was not cared for well by the employer but treated even worse by CIEE when she sought assistance with the situation. What transpired in my experience was truly appalling. It's not so much that the problems could not have been resolved. CEII was unwilling to be an advocate for the student and acted more as a broker for cheap, compliant labor. Something is rotten in this agency. Don't go anywhere near it. read more

I had the opportunity of studying abroad with CIEE Summer of 2015 to Ferrara, Italy. I also applied and received the Global Navigator Scholarship which covered the entire fee of the program. As a first generation college student with low family income, this was truly the best experience that I could've ever asked for. To this day, I go back to my high school recruiting other students to go through the high school summer programs and so far, 9 students have gone and absolutely loved their experience. While in Italy, I interacted with my lovely host family, locals in the city, and strengthened my Italian language speaking and reading skills. The other students in the program were just as excited as I was about the activities that were planned for us like making pasta from scratch, touring an archaeological museum, pottery making, photography workshop, many more and visiting cities like Venice (where I was able to ride a gondola!), Modena, Ravenna and even San Marino. It was truly an incredible experience that changed my life forever! I now plan work in study abroad outreach after finishing at university. read more

We were a host family for 9 months (the entire school year) for 2016-2017. The local coordinator was obviously in this just for the money. When we ran into serious issues with our student (to include illegal activities), it was all just swept under the rug. I ended up calling the company who was more responsive, but still drug their feet and did nothing but issue several "warning letters" which came over a month after the fact. Our exchange student continued to violate laws and their visa, Ciee knew about this and did nothing. All they seem to care about is the money. The student obviously has some serious personal issues going on and should have never been on an exchange to begin with. This should have been seen during the screening process, if there was one. Additionally, if you are a host family, be prepared for having NO idea when your student is coming or leaving- at least not until the very last minute. Also, you will have no say in the matter so just cancel all of your plans at the end of and beginning of your summer. (when they arrive and depart) Will NEVER consider another student from CIEE. read more

Although my time teaching English abroad in Thailand with CIEE was horrible, I'd like to preface my review by stating that I studied abroad with the company and had a good time and felt supported. That being said, everything went haywire with my teaching abroad experience. It was not immediately evident that participants could be placed in remote districts in Thailand far from cities and little was done to assuage those fears on CIEE's part. I wrote to the head of the program stating that I was nervous about being placed rurally, as I'd grown up in a city, and she was unsympathetic. When I got my placement, it was in a town so remote I couldn't even find it on google maps. It was about 5 km from the border of Laos and about 2 hours to the nearest city. It was evident that CIEE and its Thailand partner OEG (overseas education group) had not taken my background or my concerns into account when placing me at this location. I decided to give it a try. Fast forward to orientation in Thailand, which was 5 long days of in-class lectures and other activities. We were barely let outside after landing in this completely different country and it was difficult to focus as the lessons started up right away but most of us were either jetlagged or struggling from sickness or digestive issues. On the last day of orientation, our Thai school coordinators came to pick us up and take us to our placement. Me and the girl I'd been placed with were told we were about 6 hours from the city of Chiang Mai, but ended up traveling almost 9 hours to get to this tiny town. We got to the house we'd be living in at nearly 11 pm and were horrified by the state of it: no running water inside, a layer of dirt and dead bugs in the kitchen, black mold all over the bathroom, dirty mattresses and sheets from previous occupants, dirty dishes, old garbage, a roof that wasn't attached to the house and a clan of cats desperate to climb in from the space between the wall and the roof. Everything was filthy, and it was obvious no care had been given to prepare the house for us. The next day, the waterline broke in the backyard and flooded the area. We were also unable to keep the cats out. The wifi was down so we spent most of our time in the nearby Internet cafe. It was extremely isolating and the town had very little amenities and very few places I could eat (vegetarian). At this point, we checked into a small hotel about a mile from the school (out of pocket) where we tried to compromise with CIEE and oeg. We were told that there was not a lot of accommodation in the school's town itself and that if we were able to find it, we'd have to pay out of pocket. They seemed largely unsympathetic to our complains and did not respond accordingly when we pointed out that accurate information about the location of the placement and the status of the accommodation was sorely lacking. In the end, they sort of took us on a guilt trip about our responsibility as teachers and as program participants, which I understand. However, I really believe that accurate information about the placement and a consideration of participants' backgrounds and dispositions was really lacking in this program. The girl and I ultimately decided to break with the program and go back to Chiang Mai. CIEE and OEG gave us notice and a brief window to leave and re-enter the country on a tourist visa before ultimately cancelling the visa we'd come in on. If you are considering this program, I'd strongly recommend against it. After we left the program, we heard of about 5 others who dropped out early and also have since heard multiple horror stories from other participants. CIEE/OEG is not extremely helpful, sympathetic or responsive to these issues once you're in Thailand and that can be really frightening to feel alone. It's also an expensive program to be dumped in the middle of nowhere without basic clean and safe accommodations. The head of OEG, who I CCed on all emails to various employees while trying to deal with the issue, never responded to or addressed any of my or my friend's concerns. Again, I had a good experience studying abroad with CIEE in 2015, but they (alongside their partner OEG) have seriously dropped the ball when it comes to placing and organizing participants looking to teach abroad in Thailand. read more

My son enjoyed a fantastic and wonderful experience in the Summer 2017 Dublin Ireland high school study abroad program. The Maine staff were helpful and provided quick responses with any questions. The local staff in Ireland were well qualified and provided guidance and support throughout the program. The program agenda was well balanced with classes, team projects, lectures, activities and travel in and out of the city. My son enjoyed a unique experience with meeting students from across the US, made life long friends and speaks very fondly of the program. CIEE offers a tremendous opportunity for high school students to travel abroad, experience classes overseas and travel in foreign cities in a safe and supportive environment. Truly a life changing experience as CIEE provides a global perspective to young teens to be independent and explore life and the world outside the comforts of home. Highly recommend. read more

I had a very pleasing experience in Madrid, Espana thanks to CIEE. I was very well-received by the CIEE representatives in Spain, as well my host family. This program is very student-independent, which means the student is allowed to explore the city/country with permission. The trip is mainly used to test the independence of each and every student. If any negligence is present in CIEE, then it is all on behalf of the student. I had great experience participating in CIEE, and I would gladly recommend this program to other students.This review is coming from an alum who participated in 2017. read more

I am writing as an alumni of the Summer High School Language Program, and my experience was AMAZING!! To this day, I still constantly think about my once in a life time opportunity. CIEE offers an abundance of support to students while abroad, as well as information about the area itself. All of the program leaders were extremely helpful whenever we needed it, and the teachers were very knowledgeable. I recommend this program to any high school student who wants to experience new things and step out of their confort zone. My language skill has improved immensely and my cultural knowledge is higher than before. The home stay experience was a helpful to practice the language with people who would help you improve. I also made friends from all over the US who I could share my experience with. There was a balance of class time, into the community time, as well as free time to spend with host families. With all the financial help available, I encourage everyone to give it a try. read more

I'll be honest and say that if you want to spend a year abroad, for your own sake DO NOT trust this awful organization. I'll tell you my story and I'll try to describe what I went through when two years ago I decided to do an exchange year in high school in the US (I'm Italian). I applied with an organization from my country called youabroad (they were seriously amazing, helpful and cared about the students); the problem here was that for the exchange in the United States they had CIEE as a partner and they were responsible for almost everything, families included. I lived a nightmare and seriously thought more than once to go back home like my German and Norwegian friends did, because they couldn't handle the shit CIEE was putting them through. I (and most of my exchange students friends there) had to change family THREE TIMES because of really serious reasons and every single time CIEE not only didn't help, but made the situation worse. I ended up in North Texas and had to live in a family who's house was dirtier than any place I've ever seen, they didn't care if we (I shared the room with a german exchange student) ate or not, they didn't take us anywhere and their 13 y old kid was aggressive and violent among other things. Basically they wanted us to stay with them only to clean everything and babysit their four kids. When we finally managed to change family CIEE made it look like it was our fault and sent us a ''warning letter'' saying that if we ever did anything wrong again (what?) they would have sent us to our home country. After that we lived with the local coordinator for a while who was everything but nice, obviously pissed she had to take care of us. School wasn't even started yet so we could've moved anywhere in the country to a nice family that really cared to live this experience; INSTEAD, she wanted to keep us in the same town so she would've got paid. Then, I ended up in a family where the host father was always either drunk or mean to the host mum (or both). The school bus didn't come where they lived so every morning they would give me a ride at 5.30 am to go to school and I had to ask around random people for a ride home. I don't even know why the hell they wanted to host someone. A norwegian girl lived with them and had just changed family, they sent me there anyway. Went back to live with the local coordinator who was seriously having problems with all the students that needed to change families because she found shitty ones. Lived with her for a while and then found a family myself asking around in school (that's what they told us to do, because they were not capable of finding A SINGLE decent family). I lived with my friend's family for the rest of the year and slept on a couch in a little room but at least they were nice and treated me like a human being. In all this mess CIEE never really helped only made things worse, they always blamed you for not trying hard enough to make something work but the truth is that I know too many people that lived a nightmare because of them. Seriously would not recommend them to my worst enemy. After all I still enjoyed my year abroad because I was like enough to meet really nice people and great friends, some people that had nothing but still tried to help me in every way they could. It's one of the most amazing experience you can do even tho it's never easy, it makes you grow up and learn a lot from yourself and others. BUT do not trust this organization because it's seriously one of the worst. read more

Not to worth your time or effort. I no that people can say that it is easy to make a complaint if you are angry at the time but it is also easy and worth the effort if you are happy with the service that you have received but I can truly say that CIEE is frankly a massive con. I singed up for the Camp America in January and paid nearly £200 and has ended up with no camp to go to. they were very unresponsive and made up every excuse for why they yet to find me a campsite considering that there are hundreds of campsites around America. They showed very little evidence that they looked for campsites for me and to me it seems they take your money and do nothing for it. They have ruined my summer for 2017 and if you are planning on going down the same route as me don't. Learn it from me. you are better off saving your money and travel round America yourself. read more

Let me start with the backstory of my situation. I am currently a senior and I decided to study abroad with CIEE because they offered a decent grant $11,000. (Nelson Mandela Global scholars Grant) After committing to the program (3 blocks:block 1 Madrid, Block 2 London, and Block 3 Rome).I found out I was pregnant. With this knowledge, and preplanning of how I would get my prenatal care I decided to continue with studying abroad in the Spring of 2018. I arrived in Madrid with great confidence and excitement to be studying abroad. First days of orientation were fine, but hen things just got progressively worse. Starting with the wifi not working to me being physically assaulted by another student that received no punishment or sanctions. 1st incident- A fellow student told me that if I was stressing about being pregnant, that I should just get an abortion. I was obviously offended and asked for the girl to leave me alone. After I told her this , she continued to harrass me, and I told the Madrid housing coordinator Rosalia that I felt uncomfortable. After Rosalia spoke with her, the girl saw me outside of the bathroom and pushed me as she walked pass. Another student witnessed her push me and spoke with Rosalia about what happened. Not even having a witness deterred Rosalia from thinking the push was "just a mistake", basically saying the girl didn't mean to push me because thats what she said. I expressed my concern for my safety and my unborn childs safety and they told me they would have to talk to her colleague about the steps they have to take because she was new.(wouldnt you think they would have training about how to handle situations like this?) . After this the girl continued to come to my house and intimidate to a point where I couldnt go into my own living room. The solution they came up was that I would have to make an agreement with my roommates for her to not be allowed in my apartment. And she still came to my place afterwards, and I emailed Rosalia and told her , and her excuse was that she forgot to tell the girl she wasnt allowed over to my apartment anymore. The way they hangmdled this was unacceptable and made me feel hopeless. 2nd incident- After this, I experienced alot of alienation and no support from the staff. I felt alone. The staff did not care about me or what I was going through. After days of isolation and slowly sinking into more depression, I decided to withdraw from the next 2 blocks. I withdrew one day later than the 15 day allowance, and they charged me 1,500 dollars for a penalty of withdrawing one day late. I submitted an appeal discussing my mental instability, and a letter from my home school psychologist verifying that I indeed needed to withdraw from the program for health reasons, and they denied it and gave no explanation. They also charged me for additional costs that they did not specify. They charged me for more than half a program that I did not spend one day in (3,850$). I emailed Katherine Pinchevsky(head of billing) and she refuses to respond to any of my emails regarding the specification of why I was denied and the additional costs I accrued. I also called her and she refuses to return my call as well. Also, if I received a grant, why wouldnt the grant cover these mysterious charges that I somehow accrued. In all, CIEE is a scam, they try to reel you in with their scholarships and grants, but thats just to make it seem appealing to students that struggle financially. They don't train their staff well and don't look out for the best interests of the students. They brush serious issues under the rug. And refuse to have any conversations with you once they have taken your money. I just really felt like I was in the twilight zone the whole time I was there. I would never reccomend CIEE for anyone. This was the worst study abroad experience ever. read more

I participated in CIEE's Gap Year program in Shanghai for one semester. I cannot speak for the high school or college programs, but based on my experience, I would not recommend CIEE to anyone. The word "scam" comes to mind in describing this organization. As soon as I began an application, staff members called me several times a week, seeming very friendly and supportive despite being overly pushy. I wanted to do the program regardless, so this did not seem like a major red flag at the time. However, it quickly became evident that CIEE wants your money, will do whatever they can to get it, and doesn't care whether or not you get a return on your investment. I was promised a language and culture program in China with a group of ten gap year students, with cultural activities twice a week and a multitude of travel and volunteer opportunities while on the program, as well as chances to take classes at the local university in addition to the regular language classes. What none of us were told is that it was actually a college study abroad program, with about one hundred students, and the gap students were thrown in with them and given no personal attention. I am fairly certain that most of the staff members did not even know my name. It was entirely grades-focused, and all of the attention was put toward ensuring that the college students enjoyed their study abroad program. This program costs thousands of dollars, and all that I was provided with was a host family, twelve hours per week of language classes, and two short trips. There were cultural activities, but they were by no means regular. These activities made up probably less than ten hours of the entire program of over three months. During the two trips, the group would often be taken to a historical site or museum just long enough to take a group picture for the website and promote the program for future participants. As for the volunteering, all of the opportunities were focused on teaching. This was not the area that I wanted to focus on, but I chose an online teaching program just so I could do some kind of volunteering. I completed one session and was never contacted again about doing another, despite my reaching out to the coordinators multiple times. The host families (both mine and other students') treated students as though they were simply renting a room. Mine took me places in the city a total of three times during the program. Two of these places were shopping malls. Like many other students, I was essentially treated as a live-in English tutor despite choosing a homestay so that I could learn Chinese language in an immersive setting. One of my peers had an abusive host mother and was denied any support from CIEE despite requesting to switch families before the deadline. CIEE's communication is a mess, and it is clear that students' concerns are not of any importance. While the teachers were kind and passionate about their jobs, CIEE's inadequacy in every other area has left me disappointed. It was a complete waste of time and resources. read more

CIEE abandoned us during the Coronavirus outbreak. One of the main reasons to move abroad with CIEE is because they claim to offer continued support throughout your time abroad. When Coronavirus first arrived in Spain they were offering us occasional email updates about our position as language assistants and the state of the outbreak. Then, one day they sent us an email saying that they were suspending their program in many countries beause of the outbreak. The problem with this is that I was employed by the government in Spain as a teaching assistant, so I and my collegues were working from home and had decided we were not going to go home. CIEE could have worked at home and continued to send us emails since their permanent staff in Spain lives in Spain. The Coronavirus outbreak is a nightmare scenario and one of the main reasons to use a program to go abroad and they completely abandoned us in the chaos. read more

Was told the fee for hosting would be more than half of what they have in writing. I would go else where and if you enjoy hosting with a good agency look around first. read more

At this point I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED with CIEE. We are/were the host family for a phenomenal young man from Germany. As all 17 year olds he was not ammuned to finding trouble. We worked with him and discussed the rights and wrongs. We also have a great relationship with his natural parents who were in agreement all the way with our way of handling issues etc. Our "son" found a little trouble one weekend and we felt it best to report this to CIEE so he would get a warning and understand the importance of following the rules. To all of our surprise (including the local coordinator), our "son" was terminated from the program and is in the process of being sent back home to Germany. We have pleaded, begged for CIEE to reconcider the decission and even place him on a final warning and if he even sneezed wrong, I would be the first to say get him on the next plane out of here... I explained to them that yes on paper it looked bad, but they don't know the boy. I had to CONVINCE one of the support staff to call and speak with him. She did so finally... She returned the opinion that he was not remorsful for his actions... I would like to see her psych degree... The boy has been sick to his stomach, and weeping for the past three days!!! I have asked to speak with the "VP" who made the final determination to send the boy home, but to this point have been refused. I understand that there are rules that need to be followed. I recognize "zero tolerance". I recognize the importance of keeping the integrety of a program in tact. But there are exceptions to every rule (of which I was given examples from the co-ordinator directly), but they now say no exceptions ever. FIND A PROGRAM WITH EMPLOYEES THAT HAVE A HEART AND RATIONAL Ken B - Sparta NJ read more

Scam for application fees. I somehow stumbled upon the Volunteer in Spain opportunity, the timeline would've worked great for me as I've recently went back to school. I started the application, then my gut instinct said "yeah, scammy", the recruiter lady later emailed once a week for 3 weeks, "continue your application, you'd be a great fit, first come first serve etc", pretty much said anything to get me to apply (this is how they make their money). After applying I hadn't heard a word for 6 weeks, despite following up - then of course the deadline increased by a month and I got the predictable message "We've had an overwhelming response... all Full for Spain". Don't waste your time or money. read more

Extremely rude over the phone. Had absolutely no understanding of my friends working situation and how she was not earning money. Threatened to cancel her visa and deport her from the us. Meanwhile my visa company IENA just wanted the best for me and assisted me in every way to change jobs. Never use this company read more

I went on the Italian Language and Culture program in Ferrara Italy last summer. It was for 4 weeks and I stayed with an (amazing) host family. It was literally the best summer of my life! You meet and grow close with everyone on the trip and I'm still in contact with over half the people on the trip! CIEE tries their hardest to make the program inclusive and gives scholarships which helped me and a lot of other people on my trip travel. I also go to go on excursions every weekend (Venice, Florence, Ravena, San Marino, ect). This is program is worth every cent, go do it!! read more

We hosted our first student last year and have to say it was an amazing experience! Our kids have benefited the most, but we all learned about new cultures and a new religion, and both the local support coordinator, Jennie Duncan, and the support from the main office were way better than expected. (24 hours a day, seven days a week!) I was a little nervous about hosting a Muslim girl because we know nothing about it and are Morman in our family, however we were pleasantly surprised that our beliefs and values were very similar. In any case even if they weren't similar, we learned so much about each other, especially a mutual love for one another's culture and religion. And food! We feel like we have another daughter now, although she just doesn't live with us anymore. She didn't just change our thoughts about Islam, she changed the beliefs of every student that she went to school with, and every friend that she made that now says that they have a close personal friend who is Muslim. This is a great program that we would recommend for anybody! read more

I am writing as a host family of a CiEE student. We did not have a good experience, and I would never recommend this organization to families who wish to host a student. My student was very poorly screened and should never have been accepted into the program. This boy was very immature and obviously not motivated to participate in the program for the cultural experience. He had his own agenda in coming here (to stay in the U.S. permanently, go to Yale, and become a great actor), and after 2 weeks of living with us started to make excuses to not adhere to our house rules. He managed to insult and alienate my daughter when she came home from college during a break, and made only one lackluster attempt to get to know my son. The last straw came when he told me he was my "equal" and didn't have to speak to me differently than he would speak to anyone else. CIEE checked in on me very infrequently, and when I first sensed discord and reached out to them for help, I didn't get a call for a month. By then it was clear that a new host family must be found, and CIEE mis-managed that as well. They told him to ask around school (my other daughter went to school with him), but CIEE didn't advise him how to do that, so he announced to groups of people that we were kicking him out because we didn't like his culture, so now he has embarrassed and humiliated my 3rd child. Management at CIEE was ineffective and didn't help at all. I would have given them 1 star, but they had a volunteer who was terrific - but as a volunteer couldn't do much to help. read more