WorldStrides — Local services in New York

Absolutely Disgusting Experience: A Scam Disguised as Opportunity

This was, without exaggeration, the worst week of my life. WorldStrides should be ashamed of what they’re selling. What they pitched as a once-in-a-lifetime academic opportunity was nothing more than an overpriced scam wrapped in fake prestige.

They send you a fancy letter to make you feel special like you’ve been chosen. It’s all lies. Once you arrive, you’re packed into filthy dorms, fed food that’s barely edible, and forced to sit in boring lectures all day. Everything they promised about hands-on learning and real college experience? Total fiction. I’ve learned more watching random YouTube videos in my pajamas than I did all week in their so called program.

The staff? Clueless. Untrained. Completely uninterested in our well being. I had a full-on panic attack, and no one noticed or cared. They treat students like cattle constantly herding us from place to place with zero freedom, zero independence, and zero respect.

I flew across the country for this garbage. The rooms were disgusting. The bathrooms reeked. The food tasted like it had been scraped out of a dumpster. The schedule was exhausting, the environment was toxic, and the whole thing reeked of money grabbing fraud.

The only thing keeping me from walking out was the handful of other miserable people I met and we all agreed we’d been duped.

Do not fall for this scam. Do not give these people a dime. I wouldn’t recommend this program to my...

This is our 3rd trip with World Strides, and probably our last. Every trip they mess something up. Communication is non-existant. Our trip to Philly was a disaster with a bed-bug infested hotel that needed to be changed at the last minute and not enough tickets for the attractions. Our trip to Disney they were focused on making up for our bad experience the year before and "upgraded" our hotel for free and then charged us extra at the last minute because they upgraded our hotel. Now our trip to Boston is off to a horrible start. They put the wrong location for our duck boat tour on the itinerary, apparently noticed it yesterday, but did NOT TELL US and we missed our tour. Will we get refunds? Don't know. Will they reschedule our activity? Don't know. Are there any other changes that they noticed and haven't told is about? Don't know. They don't communicate. Unless you are planning a trip where they give you a personal tour guide for the entire trip, DO...

BEWARE!!! WorldStrides operates the Honors Performance Series. This program is a scam. They require a "deposit" of over $200 to INITIATE an application, not to submit the application. When I contacted this organization to request a refund for an application that was never submitted, it was denied. They told me the only way to get a refund was to complete the application and have it rejected. However, the deadline for applications has now passed. I tried to explain our financial situation had changed, and we could not afford the several thousand dollars for the performance. They did not care. My son has auditioned for and performed with several honors choirs in the past. They were all based on merit and completely free for deserving students. Stay away from this...