Participants volunteer with local organizations that address community needs such as helping street children lead healthier lives or developing training programs with human rights workers. During the program, participants are exposed to new customs and values that challenge them to reflect on their own cultural norms. This intercultural learning process develops in participants not only a deeper understanding of another culture but, perhaps most profoundly, a richer awareness of their own background.

The School Year Program runs for one academic year and begins in July/August/September or January/February /March depending on the country. AFS students live with a host family and attend a local secondary school as a full-time student. Candidates for AFS school based programs should be between 16 and 18 1/2 years old on the date of arrival in their host country. Age requirements vary country to country.

REDISCOVER HIGH SCHOOL ABROAD.

Get fully immersed in the daily life of a local high school student, far away from home, in one of 14 amazing destinations.

SEIZE THE SUMMER.

Explore a different culture in more than 30 amazing destinations across the world. Choose to focus on language learning, service and leadership, or content studies.

BREAK FREE WITH A GAP YEAR ABROAD.

Build your perfect pre-college experience and focus on language learning, service, or professional development.

(YFU) American Overseas programs offer US high school students and recent graduates the opportunity to experience the world firsthand. By going abroad with YFU USA, you will live in a totally new culture - not as a tourist - but as a member of a family. Choose from over 100 programs in more than 30 countries to learn a new language and global perspective while on an academic year, academic semester, or summer program.

First and longest-running independent gap-year counseling organization in the United States. Interim has designed creative gap-year opportunities for more than 5,700 people of all ages and built relationships with organizations worldwide. Our database encompasses over 5,600 program opportunities.

The opportunity and need for enhanced global understanding is greater now than ever. AIFS is proud to serve this end through the programs described. Our programs teach young people from all over the world to understand each other's qualities, their similarities and differences. AIFS program participants learn vital language skills as well as the ability to function indifferent cultures.

Founded by Stanford alumni in 2000, Abbey Road’s study abroad summer programs continue to deliver excellence. Our mission is to provide quality academic summer programs that facilitate cross-cultural understanding, personal growth and academic enrichment.

Abbey Road was created through a collaboration of the best young professionals and educators from top schools and esteemed institutions.

Our curriculum developers and staff come from places such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Cambridge, La Sorbonne, the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Parliament and the State Department ….. just to name a few.

ASSE was established in 1976 as the American Scandinavian Student Exchange by the Swedish Government to organize student exchange programs between Sweden and the United States. Soon Denmark, Norway and Finland elected to participate. Since then, the program has grown to include: Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada (French and English speaking), Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, South Africa, Poland, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Mongolia.

Rustic Pathways has been the leader in global teen adventure travel and community service programs since 1983. Through purposeful design, we create culturally-immersive travel programs for students ages 12 to 22, customizable teacher-led trips for school groups, and gap year semesters for recent high school grads.

VERTO A BETTER FRESHMAN YEAR

Spend your first semester of college discovering yourself, and the world around you with Verto Education — where academics and adventure collide.

Verto Education provides an affordable and innovative way for students to incorporate travel into their four year college experience. Spending a few months abroad before diving into the typical college grind allows students to show up on campus rejuvenated with a better understanding of themselves and what they want to do with their lives.

Click HERE for more information and to view the list of Colleges that participate.

An experience that prepares you for life

The transition from high school to college is one of the most important ones we’ll ever make. Before college, our whole lives are planned out for us—in the form of gold stars and grades, swim meets and SATs. But the future is uncertain and complex. The future has no roadmap, and it’s filled with big, life- changing decisions. Are you ready for it?

At EF Gap Year, we believe the surest path to growth is stepping off of the path you know and venturing outside of your comfort zone. It starts with the little things, like boarding a flight by yourself or learning how to navigate a new city. It involves seeing new ways of life that could inform your vision for your own. And it means gaining the courage to face life’s challenges and make your own choices, charting a path that feels true to you.

At the end of the day, taking a gap is about building the tools to pursue a fulfilling life. And who could say no to that?

Check out the EF 2021 Gap Year & Summer Programs HERE.