How to choose and apply for a youth exchange?

What do you want in your youth exchange

First, it is important to know what you are looking for. Are you seeking the experience itself, meeting new people, and creating lasting relationships? Or are you interested in a particular topic? Or maybe all of these? Knowing what you want is crucial to finding the perfect youth exchange. In fact, it is useless to apply for every youth exchange you come across. If you are accepted but not genuinely interested in that youth exchange, you might have a bad experience. If you do not care about mental health or if it is a triggering subject for you, it is better not to participate in a youth exchange that focuses on that. Therefore, the first step is to list everything you are interested in. The location can also be an important criteria, as well as the profile of other participants (do you want them to be close to your age, or do you prefer interacting with people who are very different from you?). It can also be helpful to list everything you do not want to participate in (topics, locations, etc.). Once this is done, you can start looking for the right youth exchange.

Where to find youth exchanges

But where to find them? Youth exchanges are mainly organized by two types of organizations. First there are youth exchanges organized by schools for their students. As a young adult, these youth exchanges will not be for you. The other type of organizations are NGOs. These organizations, like SOYA, are either organizing these Erasmus+ projects, or they are participating in them as a sending organization. You can thus find youth exchanges on their website and social media… Another way to find youth exchanges is through Facebook groups, that specializes for Erasmus+ projects.

Which youth exchange to choose

Now that you know where to find youth exchanges, it is time to choose the ones you want to apply for. Every project is different, and there are different criterias that you have to be mindful of. Furthermore, you have to make sure that the project you will apply for interests you (remember the list you made!). All of this information can be found in the infopack of the specific project. Each project has one, and it describes the objectives of the project, where it is located, when it is organized, a rough idea of the organization and the different criterias. Checking the infopack is necessary to know the details of the specific youth exchange. Only apply if it interests you! Be mindful of the criterias: even if organizations can accept people who do not meet all the criterias, they will always prefer the one that does. Criterias include age range, nationality, background, experiences… For example, for a youth exchange about arts, usually people who has an art background or experience are preferred.

What to focus on for the application process

Once you have found the project you want to participate in, it is time for the application process. Usually, you have to complete a questionnaire with basic information about you, plus a part where you have to explain your motivation and expectations. For this, do not hesitate to write a lot. Obviously, the content is more important than the number of words, but the more developed your motivation is, the more likely you will be accepted. Your motivation must be about the theme of the project. Don’t write in your motivation that you only want to party.

Explain your interest in the project, what you would like to learn, how it will help you when you are back home, and how you will be able to share it with others. In summary, your motivation must make organizations feel that it could not have been any other youth exchange, and that a youth exchange (meaning meeting and discussing with other young people) is necessary to tackle the subject. What organizations want in their youth exchange are people ready to interact with others on a specific topic. Once your application is sent, you just have to wait for the answer.

Conclusion

Finding and applying for a youth exchange when you are new to it can be a bit overwhelming, but it is not difficult. There are a lot of different types of projects, so you will find what you want, and if you are not accepted in one project, there are a lot of other projects that you can try!