International Student Exchange - ISE

I am writing to provide feedback on my experience as an exchange student in the USA. While I am very happy with my host family and appreciate their support, I have encountered several issues with the local coordination and the organization overall that I believe need to be addressed.

Firstly, while my local coordinator is kind, she has not been able to provide the level of support I expected. Many of my questions have gone unanswered, and when she does respond, her advice has sometimes been problematic. For example, she once allowed me to travel to Mexico without ensuring I had the necessary documentation to re-enter the U.S. This could have led to serious complications.

Additionally, my local coordinator often seems unsure about her responsibilities and has to consult the regional coordinator for even basic questions. This not only delays responses but also gives me the impression that she is not adequately prepared for her role.

Another concern is the high cost of trips offered by the organization. While I understand the importance of safety, there are other organizations that offer the same trips at a much lower price, and they include chaperones. However, I was told that participating in these more affordable trips is not allowed. This restriction feels unfair and limits my ability to make the most of my exchange experience.

Lastly, I have reached out to the organization directly regarding these issues, but I never received a response. This lack of communication is frustrating and makes me feel unsupported.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely, Juliane

A bad story " A Italian boy who dreamed"

Think carefully before entrusting your children to this organization! My son, instead of being hosted by a normal American family, went to the house of an Ise employee, his local coordinator was a friend and colleague of the host mum and it is easy to imagine how in this situation he was not at all protected whatever could happen, he was helpless, his word was worth nothing. At the slightest misunderstanding, they decided to "get rid" of the boy as one does with a "disposable" handkerchief and, if for 70 days everything seemed to be going well (no warning from the coordinator during the meetings with the boy, no warning from the host mum in the many "serene" messages he sent to us in Italy...)..suddenly in 48 hours they built an ad hoc relationship for an expulsion order in 72 hours without the possibility of appeal, cause: violent behavior ( ???)They did it during the weekend so as not to even give us the opportunity to be able to legally defend ourselves or ask for help from the competent bodies to suspend this absurd measure (all the offices were closed!) Thus my son's American dream was shattered and he will return to Italy psychologically destroyed. Thanks Ise
#Darla Moyer ise usa
#Luke Davis ise usa
#ise usa
#gayle criteser iseusa

Si todavía estáis a tiempo de elegir NO ELIJÁIS ESTA AGENCIA. Al pedir el cambio, la coordinadora hizo que la host family se enterara del traslado (a pesar de q la propia agencia nos dijera que no se lo dijéramos). Al enterarse, la Host Family nos humilló en un grupo de 8000 personas en Facebook, lo cual hizo que nos quisiéramos ir cuanto antes de allí. La Segunda familia, por creencias que tenían me hicieron sentir incómoda por mi forma de vestir (entre otras cosas) dado a sus costumbres religiosas algo anticuadas. Les hice saber lo incómoda que estaba, y la coordinadora principal, en vez de ayudarme, me hizo llorar y amenazó con mandarme a mi país si se lo contaba a algún estudiante de intercambio. Después de estar bastante tiempo allí a disgusto, llorando a todas horas, se lo hice saber a una amiga americana. Gracias a ella, pude mudarme a su casa por el tiempo que quedaba. Pero desde luego no fue gracias a International Student Exchange. Después de pagar una buena suma de dinero por los “malentendidos causados”, ya que la familia lo organizó todo no la agencia, finalmente me fui a casa de mi amiga. Encima de que ISE metió la pata, y luego la volvió a meter, tuve que pagar más y más por poder estar CÓMODA en un país que no es el mío siendo menor de edad. Conclusión : si podéis elegir, lo reitero, NO ELIJÁIS ESTA AGENCIA. No mal recuerdo, pero si mal sabor de boca por culpa de esta agencia. Mala organización y poca empatía.

La peor compañia que podeis elegir. Por favor si aun estais a tiempo no vengais con ellos. Si tienes suerte y te colocan en una buena familia no pasara nada, pero si es como mi caso que no tenia ni de lejos la mejor. Que tenia problemas con ellos, no me hablaban y nunca me hicieron caso. Las representantes solo me llamaban y me hablaban de malas formas. Negandome en absoluto un cambio de familia. Cosa que prometen que si tienes problemas con la familia o simplemente no se adapta a tu estilo de vida que te buscan rapidamente otra familia. En mi caso no se creieron nada de mi version y simplemente me dijeron que me fuera a casa. IMPOTENCIA. De verdad si aun estais a tiempo NO os vaiais con ISE por favor.

I am so sad to hear of all of the horror stories of students that come to the US through this program. As a LC myself, I have been asked many, many times to see what I could do to help students that were placed in horrible or inadequate homes by this organization. It seems that the people they have hired to work with students and families only know one side of the story and that is the side against the student. These kiddos and their parents do not spend a lot of money to send bad kids over here. These student come for a once in a lifetime experience to find out what America is all about. When they go home thinking that all of us are like the homes they are placed in, and treated poorly by those who are to help keep them safe, that gives them a very bad taste of how wonderful most Americans are! Please, if you ever want to send your children to the US, don't use this program!! Already this year, I am trying to help two sweet young girls who need another host family and they are being threatened that they will be sent home! THIS CAN NOT HAPPEN!!

We just hosted an exchange student for the last 6 months. The student was amazing, ISE was just terrible. They didn't communicate. They didn't care about the exchange student, quite frankly.
She came to us half way through her program because her initial family was a terrible fit for her and while ISE was not helpful in finding her a new host family, her parents found us and we agreed, unplanned, to have her.
ISE did not communicate travel plans to either the student or us, we just figured it out ourselves. To this day (she is now back home) I never got an updated return flight information from them. I did get an email that referenced her old flight back from Florida, not anything current.
ISE rushed us to get the paper work done, but took their sweet time to get anything done on their end to get her out of the bad situation she was in.
ISE needed a 'local support' person which they asked us if we knew someone who could do this - clearly I would only recommend a friend, but if it is my friend - how is that a person that our exchange student should feel like she could confide in if she had needed to?
My friend who signed up to be the local contact was rushed to fill out her paperwork, also she did not get paid to do this work to check on us. I quite frankly wonder where all the money goes these exchange students pay. Definitely 0 service/support is available.
The 'local person' only had to come once or twice over 6 months to 'check on the house' to make sure the living conditions were satisfied. There wasn't even a requirement nor did anyone check in with the exchange student here or there to make sure SHE is actually okay beyond having a bed to sleep in.
Lastly, now she is gone and they haven't followed up how it was for us, how it was for her and just asking for a simple feedback on how they as an organization could improve. I guess they would rate themselves sadly 5 stars without need to improve.

I loved having her as an exchange student, she was amazing. But I'd recommend anyone looking into this to use a different organization that actually cares about the students themselves and the families that host them. For the student side of the exchange, look at the company you work with in your home country and the counterpart company they work with in the US. For our student, she worked with Camps in Germany (who wasn't that much better) and then they worked with ISE as the counterpart in the US. I cannot recommend this organization at all.

An absolute horrible experience with ISE. First they place you in a dangerous situation, where the mom only smokes marihuana all day long and never cooks a meal. When you complaint about that, they just drop you like a hot potatoe and put al lot of effort in sending you home. The rep does not speak up and HQ just does not do anything at all. Terrible people. They come up with other lame fexcuses, about misbehaviour at school. The intermediate ISE reports were all good, but simply pushed aside after the complaint was made. They do not care about the kids, all they want is the money. Someone should stop these people. They are damaging and destructive and they should be put out of business.

ISE DON’T GIVE THE STUDENTS PROPER ASSISTANCE ONCE THEY ARE IN A FAMILY. The reps are just interested in placing kids wherever they want because each family they find is more money for them. My experience was POOR. If I had the money I would sue all of them, this agency shouldn’t be taking care of your children.

Their Area Representative let me stay in a home which the woman PUNCHED A STUDENT. SHE PROHIBITED ME to TALK to MY FAMILY! They took my phone and made such an psychological terror with me.

If anyone wants to contact me, fell free.

please stay away from them! they ruined my life and the biggest dream of my life. they aren’t sympathetic towards kids at all. they won’t give you any support or help. they don’t care of students well-being. they only care about the money they get paid when they place a student. please if you care of yourself or your daughter/son stay in as far away from them as possible!

I am an exchange student in the U.S and I am having a truly bad and disappointing experience with the ISE organization. I am struggling and dealing with issues with my host family and I have never received any help from the side of the local representative or the agency. Nobody cares about my interest and in the manipulative host family where we have lots of drama going on, I am just exposed to the stress most of the time and I am not having the experience I thought I paid for. I do not recommend the ISE organization because when a student needs help and is asking for some solution of the problem the local rep will blow the things out from the proportion and turn it against the student. Each complain that you have, they will turn against you and nobody will care about what you need to say. The host family is just destroying my whole experience here and the rep is not here for me to help me out.
Do not assign for the ISE, if you will be in the difficult situation with the host family, you are on your own dealing with all of the troubles. Some families should never host if they are not showing their interest in you and just picking on you and making fun of me. The host family is not devoting their time on me and I feel very uncomfortable and not welcomed to be there. In this situation the rep should help but I have already lost my trust in her. Again I do not recommend at all, waste of money and they have not even returned me money back for choosing the east coast and eventually I have not been placed there.

This Organization is so bad, although they seem to be a good organization, they are really not, They unorganized and not resposible at all. My dauther is in the US with them this moment. She has huge problems with the host family, but they dont even seem to care about the problems.. Even after her calling the local represntatives, that are supposed to help, nothing changed about her situation, because they dont care at all. When we tried to contact the organization, we had to conntact the organization in our country first, which took for ever, because no one would answer and even after that they couldnt reach ISE at all, because they are not doing their Job. We dont know what to do after all. We also dont know how there are so many positive reviews. Everyone that consides trusting their kids to ISE should under all circumstances reconsider and them with another organization, as this one is cathastophic. Every other organization is better.

I have worked for several foreign exchange companies in the past and have landed in a phenomenal organization. International Student Exchange (ISE) provides top support to field staff, host families, and students. As a Regional Manager, I feel valued and supported by the office staff and managers. I believe the agency truly cares for each student, host family, and staff. They have a great compliance team that ensures the safety of each of the students that come on the program. ISE is staying current of all the current COVID issues and navigating the issues to ensure the safety of everyone affected by this program. ISE finds new ways to overcome these challenges and continue to move forward. In a time when many foreign exchange companies are having to close their doors, ISE is currently hiring nationwide and preparing for a new year. I am blessed to be apart of International Student Exchange and to be a part of making the world a better place,

I have hosted 21 students from around the world and worked with different organizations all across America. ISE is the most professional, caring organization there is. The system to help these families, schools and students is well organized. It is the best.

I started hosting as a trial, just to see how it was going to go. That was 11 years ago and I've hosted every year since, sometimes two kids at once. My districts cancelled their exchange program for the coming year because of Covid and I'm miserable without a kid around. I love their energy, their enthusiasm for simple things and their generosity of spirit. The hard part for many of my friends and I who host regularly is, we always fall completely in love with these kids and then we have to give them back. The parting is so bitter-sweet. But I stay in touch with many of them and follow their journeys on into college. Some of them come back to visit, and a few have invited me to their homes. I spent two weeks in Shanghai and they complained I should have been there much longer. I also went to Heidelberg to visit the family of "our" David and was treated pretty much like royalty. I don't do this for the trips, I do this for the incredible good it does for our international relations. The trips are the seasonings on a prime rib. Here are photos from two exchange student trips I helped organize.

You can say I'm hooked. I will do this again as soon as Covid is under control.

I have worked with several student exchange organizations and ISE has been the overall best one! The support and resources that are provided to the host families, field staff, and students are stellar.

My name is Donna Bartlett and my husband and I are returning host parents. We have been so very blessed by hosting these students. We still keep in touch with our families every day. The program so easy to host.

ISE is a leader in High School Foreign Exchange programs. ISE changes the world one hosting experience at a time. Bringing the world closer together by melting cultures together through a volunteer host family receiving a foreign exchange teenager into their home where they become forever friend and family.

The ISE J-1 Cultural Exchange program brings people from around the world together so that they may learn, grow, and experience a new way of life together. Since World War 2, this program has worked diligently to increase the understanding between cultures and build bridges to international friendship.

Very professional and knowledgeable in student exchange. Provides lots of support to students and families.

Amazing organization! Their attention to detail is evident. Overall pleasure to work with.

ISE does amazing work in coordinating great host families, schools and international exchange students. They are very responsive and professional.

ISE cares about its students and always ensure that their area representatives receive the best support possible!

Great organization! Always professional and there to help when needed.

Amazing student exchange organization that connects host families and exchange students from around the world.

A top-notch company that cares about the students.

They take strangers and turn them into families - what a great way to create understanding between cultures!

I have volunteered with International Student Exchange for over a decade and it has been amazing! We have hosted numerous exchange students and have had a wonderful time. It is amazing learning about different cultures and making life long friends from around the world.