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I was a Regional Director with this company. I have been in this business/​industry for about 8 years and I have not seen anything like it. The rules changes every day and nothing is written in stone. In the 7 months that I lasted there, before I found work elsewhere, I saw my co-​workers resign one right after the other. These were highly trained, intelligent and experienced Regional Directors that had worked at other organizations. It only took me two weeks to realize that I would need to be finding a new place to work. The money suckered me in, as it did the others, but I was putting out my resume daily for months before my self-​respect told me to just up and leave. While I as employed there for the 7 short months that it was, 6 of my co-​workers left, without any other leads for work. Each person wrote a note to the CEO, I know because I read most of them, and to date, nothing has been done to change the structure. We could have all just copied each others’ resignation letters because our reasons for leaving were the same. Exactly the same. No exit interview was offered. It’s a poorly structured company that is small and will not accept advice from those who have much to offer. They had such a gold mind of experience right at their fingertips and they let it slip. It’s really quite sad. I would hesitate to do business with them until a change is made at the upper management level that is based in Arizona. I did find some professionalism from a few of the office staff in Portland, Oregon, but I would be very cautious and do my research if I ever went to work with a foreign exchange company again. On a deeper level they want to do well, but there is one manager in Arizona who impedes any progress that is made among the «volunteer contractors and field staff». I KNOW there are coordinators who are good, and some are bad, but I am talking about the upper management here. There are some real issues at this level and a few blind visionaries who won’t embrace growth. Lee Iacocca was once quoted as having said, «I hire brilliant people… then I leave them alone» It’s this one concept, that carries with it the expectation of trust and value and respect, that is THE missing element at ETC and it is THE reason I left. I encourage you to go to another company until changes are made at this level because it just simply cannot help but to trickle down to other processes and procedures and well, they are so haphazard and unorganized, I would want to see this change before I did business with them. A company with such high turnover should be investigated. Exchange companies with good reputations are out there, just keep searching and you will find them, but for me, I do not recommend ETC at all.

I have hosted 5 exchange students in almost 4 years. 3 have been year long, one for a semester and one for a month in the summer. The coordinator that I use has worked for two different agencies. I can tell you that this agency is top notch. I have had the best experience with ETC. My coordinator has planned monthly meetings and activities so that the students get to know each other. She plans social events for the host families so we can share experiences and knowledge that we have gained from hosting. Every time I’ve had a question the coordinator or someone from higher up has been there to help me. They offer welcome packs so you can help your student during their transition from their home country to here. It tells you what the student might experience so you can help them get used to their new country. They also offer a departure pack when it’s time for them to go home so you can talk together about the time they were here and the feelings they are having about leaving and re-​entering their home country. That’s something the other agency did not offer. All in all I’ve had the best hosting experience with this agency and the local coordinator. I’d highly recommend them to anybody.

We’re new to the exchange student world, and the expert guidance and leadership we’ve received from our local ETC resources have been indispensible. Without exception, every suggestion has been spot-​on. Every mention of a potential pitfall has been perfectly timed. Every call and email have been supportive and informative. The orientation session really allayed my concerns and made me feel more confident in being a host. And I continue to feel like they understand the specific situation in our family and they sincerely care about us, both our exchange student and his very satisfied host family!

We’ve hosted 13 exchange programs through three different organizations in three states, and I have to say ETC has been the best.
Our local coordinator (here in North Carolina) cares deeply about her host students and does everything she can to make sure they settle happily into their host families, from meeting them at the airport (yes, with some other orgs they don’t do that), to hosting parties, to being easily accessible by phone and e-​mail.
From what I hear, the orientation was very helpful, and the optional trips (to the Grand Canyon, etc.) have been great.

I had a wonderful experience with my exchange student who I still keep in contact and plan visits years later. However, this agency was unorganized, made irresponsible decisions and were absolutely terrible to work with. If I could give them negative stars I would! Clearly they are more concerned with numbers of placements than the actual progress and safety of the students (at least the AZ people). My coordinator did not do what she was supposed to and her mistakes her trying to «cover her tracks» and make up stuff to make it appear like she was doing her job caused us a lot of grief. I had to cover her mistakes and complete tasks that should have been done by the agency. I would say definitely be a host parent — It was a wonderful experience; but chose a different agency.

I am a former exchange student of ETC and I definitely do not recommend this organization to both students and host families. First of all, they don’t have any idea how to manage students or host families. In my case, I was placed in a welcome family, which is supposed to be only a month long or less. ETC did not find a permanent host family for me, which was supposed to be planned before they even brought me to America. I ended up with a family who lived out of my high school boundaries, so I was forced to make a decision between making a 25 minute commute to my high school bus stop every morning or transferring in the middle of the school year to a nearer unfamiliar high school. ETC doesn’t treat their host families well either. They do not appreciate their host families for hosting exchange students at all. Overall, I would say this organization is unorganized, unprofessional and uncooperative.

I had a sad experience with this program. The girl we hosted from Brazil decided she did not want to continue here because she was unhappy with the school because there were too many Mexicans! She came to America to be with European Americans. We had her for half the year and then behind my back they gave me a week’s notice she was leaving and going to a different state and school. I did not think that was any way to treat a host family who invested so much heart and expense into an exchange student. Nor did I think it was cool to allow a racist attitude to be the main purpose of someone changing. The director was supposed to call me and never did. I will never host again as a result.

I had a very bad experience with this organization’s lower management/​coordinators.
However, at the corporate level all of the staff were a-​ok. Regardless, I have to give this company a low rating because of their lack of professionalism.