STS Education Reviews 284

Had a great year with STS!

I got help when I needed it! I was happy that the application process was simple and the staff was very helpful.

Great placement, communication and support. I reccommend an exchange to every young person open to it!

Our son was an exchange student for one year in Italy and had a fantastic experience and now also have learned Italian and has made fantastic friends an feels like he have an extra family. I think overall there was :

1) Good information before the trip with experienced people from STS preparing the kids and also nice to meet all the other exchange students that were about to go to hear their questions and thoughts

2) Well organised with families , and while being in Italy there was local staff that helped out with organised trips to see the country and having meetings with the other exchange students to share experience and have fun

3) When there was problem , the organisation helped out to solve them in the best way and also giving a status monthly how the progress was in school and to learn Italian

4) Also good staff at the office in Göteborg to support us parents when it got into some challenges or when we had questions

Thanks

STS is a great company for students who want to study abroad. Before I started my exchange they really helped me prepare and also while I was there I was in touch with my agent.
I also think that it is good that students have the opportunity to post on social media for STS.

I did an exchange year in Canada 2024/2025 and had a wonderful experience! Through sts, I received a thorough preparation, could always ask questions and felt guided in everything from packing to my visa application. As a person always worrying a bit about things such as documents, flight tickets and immigration at the airport, I really liked sts because they answered all my questions and even sent an arrival guide for the airport when I arrived for the welcome camp in New York.
During my stay in Canada, I didn’t have any problems, I was placed in the best host family I could’ve imagined and always had my local coordinator at my school in case I had a problem or wanted to talk about something.

I had an amazing exchange year (2024/2025) with STS Education and couldn’t be happier with my experience. From the very beginning, STS helped me with all the preparations and documents: all the information was clear, organized, and made me feel confident going into my year abroad. Every time I had a question, STS responded very quickly.

What stood out the most for me was how personal and supportive the experience was. STS is a smaller organization, which means they really get to know you. My local coordinator during my exchange year was amazing and was always there when I needed help or had questions.

Everything was taken care of and ran smoothly throughout the year. Because of this, I was fully able to enjoy my time abroad. I would 100% recommend STS to anyone considering an exchange year. It was the experience of a lifetime and something I’ll carry with me forever.

I really liked the experience great, because you get always help and the employees are really friendly and supportive. I felt safe durning my whole exchange, and like everything is good planed. I am really happy that I chose STS for my exchange year.

I went on an exchange year with STS to America in 2023/2024! They made me feel like I mattered every step of the process and did not at all make me feel like I was just a number. They make sure to get to know you and your parents personally and not just before you go on an exchange but also during! They made my dreams come true, and even during though times and cultural struggles they always tried to help me out, find solutions, and never made me feel alone. They have monthly checkups with you, and your hostfamily, even visits to make sure the living situation is ok and still safe, they send the reports to the parents afterwards to make sure they are up to date too! I highly recommend picking this organisation if you’re planning on going on an exchange year!

Going on exchange to Costa Rica with STS was honestly the best six months of my life. I had the chance to experience a completely new culture, meet amazing people and grow so much as a person.

Throughout the whole experience I always felt supported — not only by STS in Sweden, but also by their partner organization in Costa Rica. I had constant contact with my local coordinator who was always there for me, and I also had great communication with the staff responsible for my program. They were all super engaged on a personal level and truly cared about making sure I had the best experience possible.

If you are thinking about going on an exchange with STS, do it! I can’t recommend them enough!

As a parent, sending your child across the world naturally comes with a lot of emotions and questions. For us, STS was a huge source of comfort throughout the whole process.

Their communication was always clear, professional and personal. We always felt that we could reach out with any question, big or small, and got quick and helpful responses every time.

It was obvious to us that STS has a lot of experience and genuinely cares about both the students and their families. From preparations before departure, to the months in Costa Rica, and even after coming home — STS made the whole experience feel safe, well-organized and very positive for us as parents.

The STS-Team was very helpful with the application and answered all my questions. There was always someone checking in on me, even after I returned back home. I can totally reccomend STS for an exchange!
There are also many activities for returnees to connect with each other or support new exchange students. I would especially like to thank Melisa from the Swiss Bureau, her supportive attitude and reliability have been a great help whenever I faced difficulties

Always someone to contact, they wanted me to make me feel save and welcomed. I loved the check ups from my local coordinator, she was great.

I went on an exchange year in 2023-2024 to Sweden with STS and it was amazing! The staff was really nice, they helped me through the application process step by step and I recieved clear personal information about the plan for the coming year! Everything from the start till arriving back home to my family again was planned well. We did so many cool things in the welcome camp and there were many trips and activities we could sign up for during our exchange year. I also recieved good personal guidance during my exchange year with a local coordinator!

My exchange semester with STS is the best thing I ever did. They helped me with the application process and I was placed in an amazing host family. Throughout my exchange semester a local coordinator from their partner organisation regularly checked in with me to see how I was doing and I could always ask them for help with anything. It was an unforgettable experience!

We contacted Sts with an inquiry that could have been clarified through an email. Instead, our child was subjected to a long interview and later received a disrespectful and condescending response based on information that was clearly stated in our initial email. An unnecessary belittling of a young, hopeful person.

Mike 717
Rice 294
KDC - 717-294
very helpful bringing the new sofa in, very friendly and fast service.

We cannot in any way recommend STS exchange student program.
Our son hosted a family in Missouri, and we had okay contact with them before he traveled to the USA.
He was dismissed from the family after 10 days because he had watched pornographic content on his cellphone. It was common on the school transit bus and in the high school to watch and share pornographic content. The only way the host family found out was by tracking his cellphone in their home.
He was removed from the host family one Monday after school without any warning or being confronted with the problem. After being removed from the host family he was suddenly also accused of having “sexually advanced” on the host family´s daughter among many other things.
Our son is diagnosed with Aspergers but is a very normal functional teenager and is aware of his diagnosis. The host family’s mother is a child psychologist, and the father runs an organization for families with diagnosed children, so we thought it could help our son to be in a family with awareness of the diagnose Asperger.
The family was late picking him up at the airport, for the first couple of days he was ignored due to the family also hosting last year’s exchange student, who had dropped by for a late holiday with the family.
The mother was working at home most of the time, and the father didn’t live in the house, but was only visiting his family on Sundays.
Before our son was dismissed from the family, we didn’t get any indication of the host family having any problems with our son, and after he was dismissed the host family has been silent and won’t answer our replies to get their side of the situation. We only got our sons side of the story, where all the accusations are false, besides he had watched pornographic content on his cellphone.
He was removed from the family by the regional director, who soon after began accusing him of not being very cooperative and then he suddenly harassed their daughters, so they didn’t feel safe with our son. Once again, it was false accusations according to our son, and an example was that they texted him when dinner was ready, while he was sitting in his room. And when he didn’t see the text message, so then he was not very cooperative. We asked for an online meeting with the regional director, but it was denied.
If that wasn’t enough, then he was accused of being harsh vocally on his political opinion towards his local director, which is another false accusation, since our son never raises his voice and is very balanced in any conversation no matter subject. The local director’s Facebook profile shows he clear opinion on what side he is on and what side he hates.
No matter if our son is guilty or not guilty in all this harsh accusation, then we think it’s very important to keep a dialog between all parts of this sad situation. We asked for an online meeting with the staff from STS in the USA, which was denied. All dialog and information came from STS Sweden and there from was no sympathy or respectful dialog. They only believed in the information they got from the USA and didn’t care about what we or our son said about the situation and the false accusations against him.
According to the STS rules it is forbidden to for the exchange student to access websites or watch films, in the host country, with pornographic content. Our son didn’t get a warning when it happened but got 20 minutes to pack and was dismissed from the host family. We didn’t get any warning either or notice of him being removed from the host family. All the details we got from our son as they happened were because of our daily contact with him.
We believe that our son was removed from the family because of something else and was the start of STS turning our son into a monster with all those false accusations, so they could dismiss him from the STS’s exchange student program and send him home. The more accusations, the easier it was for STS to send him home. And STS thought that we would believe in all of them and accept that our son was that monster they created. But we didn’t believe STS and therefore they denied any dialog with STS in USA hoping we would surrender by time.
Our son got 3 weeks in the USA, and we paid almost 20.000$, but STS refused to give us a refund. STS stole all our money without showing any rules and rights to do that. They don’t care!!!
WE CANNOT RECOMMEND STS
They are a sick organization without any responsibilities towards the exchange student or his family.
It is now 3 months since our son got home and we are still in shock over the way STS has handled this bizarre case.
We have written to the host family and the staff of STS in the USA several times to get their side of the story, but nobody wants to talk openly with us. We find that very suspicious.
Maybe its time for STS to take us seriously!!!

Emil, Jette and Svend
Denmark

I really recommend STS as a organization for your exchange year. They were one of the few that had the Nordics as an option and helped me a lot during the process of becoming an exchange student. It took quite some time until I got my placement, but I’m happy that they found an amazing host family in the end. Also during the year they offer a lot like trips for example. I had the most amazing year!

Amazing experience! I received my host family placement less than a week before I left and it was very obvious that they had tried to place me with the best host family for me. We shared a lot in common and I had the best experience ever. I received a lot of support throughout the entire journey, even after. I've already recommended STS to my friends who have asked and I hope you also choose STS. Best decision ever.