Which organization should you choose- EF Pro's, and Con's

Good Morning Guys!

Today I wanna talk about the experience I've had so far with        

the organization I went to the United States with.

Its name is EF and it stands for Education First. 

Once you started researching for your exchange year and for organizations that could help you with that, EF probably popped up within the first ones. 

There are many people that went and still go with this organization just because it is really popular and there are many positive reviews. So, let's get it started!

Pro's

• There is always support, no matter when, or where! EF has many several types of employees who are each responsible for you depending on what point you are on your application. They are more than welcoming to help you out and answer your questions. Once you are in the country you wanted to study abroad in, there is always a number you can call whenever there's an emergency or similar. Besides, there are also people who are responsible for you called your IEC's. Those will stay in touch with you and your host family to make sure everything is going alright and you're good!
• You can list three of the states you would like the most to live in. On your application you'll be asked in which states you would like the most to live in. Once you admitted the entire thing they will start looking for a host family, especially looking for matching host families in the states you listed. This doesn't necessarily mean that you will end up in one of these states, however they will try to find one there.
• They let you decide whether you want to go to the family they found or not. Mostly, they have several matches. So, what they do is they will introduce the one family that they think matches with you the best to you. For example, it will be like "We found a family who lives in Nebraska. The parents are married and they have three children. Two boys who are 7, and 10 years old, and one girl who is 15 years old." With that there will be sent a short letter by the host family where they introduce themselves to you, also information about the school you would be going to. If you're not happy with the family, the school, or both you can let them know and the organization will look for other families.

Con's

• If they have several families, they tell you but ONLY introduce one to you. When EF finds one ore more matching families, they introduce the one that they think matches the best with you to you. They tell you there are other potential families but won't say anything about them unless you tell them you don't want to stay with the first family. Then they will tell you about the second family. I personally think, it would be better if they showed you all the several families at one time and they gave you time so you can choose the one that you think matches the best with you.
• You don't know your flight date back home until the week before. The organization doesn't tell you when you fly back until the very last week. SO, what basically happens is that they will tell you your date and time pretty much seven days before you actually leave.

Overall, I would definitely recommend EF! Their organization is great and so is their outline which means it's easy to go through the application without getting confused. There are more positive things about this organization than negative ones. Also, the negative ones aren't real heavy arguments which makes EF even better.