ISSOS Reviews

Name: ISSOS
Rating: 4.87

4.9 Rating 142 Reviews

98 %

of reviewers recommend ISSOS

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4.9

Based on 142 reviews


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About ISSOS:

The exclusive ISSOS summer school program offers high school students from over 70 nationalities (aged 13-18) the opportunity to combine learning, creative enrichment and action-packed adventure in one of three amazing, historic and picturesque university towns of St Andrews, Cambridge and Yale. Our three week program welcomes students from all over the world, mixing native and non-native English speakers and limits the number of students from one nationality to 10% in order to guarantee a truly international experience.

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03300777247

Email:

georgienicholson@issos.com

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ISSOS 5 star review on 30th September 2022

Siti Lailatulnorain

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Helpful None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“The summer school itself was a great experience for my son, who came to ISSOS (at Saint Andrews) for the first time. He liked the activities, the school lessons and the teachers a lot. The booking process was unsatisfactory, as there were uncertainties about the status of the application and reminders were sent for payments, that had already been made. There is room for improvement. During the Summer School, food on campus was a big topic: My son went out for both lunch and dinner because the food (according to my son and also according to his colleagues) was inedible. Since the Summer School has its price and the cost of food is included, it would be desirable to improve the quality of food.”

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Posted 4 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to leave us your feedback and we're really happy to hear that your son enjoyed his summer with us. We welcome constructive feedback as it helps us to improve our services, so we will take your comments about the food and aspects of the booking process into account and work on making things even better for the future. Thank you again, Team ISSOS

Posted 4 years ago

“My daughter had a great experience at the summer camp. She made life long friendships and she loved learning about different cultures. Her time at Cambridge nourished her passion to learn and be the best person she can be.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“nous trouvons que le rapport est trop succinct, et nous estimons pas normal du tout de lire " trop d bavardage ", à vous de faire la discipline pendant les heures de cours. Sentiment de trop de laxisme et rigolade alors que le matin ils sont à ISSOS pour travailler”

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Posted 4 years ago

“We did not have a good experience at ISSOS Yale in summer. The program was hosted on the Yale campus but did not have any association with the university. The teachers were students from regular colleges like any other local community camps. One of them was a mom who wanted to be close to her daughter at camp and was not even a professional teacher. It was lesser quality than a local park district camp with 10 times the price and the additional expenses of travel and stay. Even the last day of the parent get together was held in the open grounds by student counselors who were not even adults themselves and felt very sub-par with the feedback. We have better universities with much more robust programs in town for half the price of this camp. The only half-attractive part was the students coming from different parts of the world and even that was an open enrollment with no selection process. It was a camp for people who had money and want a different experience...not for learning or anything to do with Yale! Sorry to be very critical on my review but had to be honest with my feedback. Thank you.”

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Posted 4 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to write us a review, and we're sorry to hear that you feel this way about the experience. We can't argue against your personal opinions of other programs in the area, but what you have said about our company and our staff in your review is not entirely accurate and we would like to clarify some points. Firstly, we absolutely never claim to be a program that is run by Yale University. We do use their facilities and house our students on campus but we always make it clear that the program is run by ISSOS. The few teachers that you refer to who may be studying at university do already hold degrees but are now working towards completing Masters or PhDs. We pride ourselves in finding highly qualified professionals who also have real-life experience in their fields. The teacher you refer to who, as you correctly said, had a daughter at ISSOS this summer is in fact incredibly well qualified (she holds a Masters degree in International Education and a BA in English Literature). She has been a professional teacher for over 20 years with experience teaching international students in the USA, Japan, Chile and Costa Rica. With regard to the parents reception, this was not held by the counselors. It is hosted by our Program Director (in the case of our Yale campus this is our Company Founder and MD, Jen Munro), the Program Assistant and our Head Counselors. The Teachers and Group Counselors do attend this event but we can assure you that every single person on our staff is an adult. You are right in saying that we don't have a selection process to attend ISSOS as a student, but we don't see this as a negative. We don’t ask to see students grades prior to coming to ISSOS because we believe in education in the broadest sense, educating both hearts and minds - so everyone can have a chance to experience our program irrespective of their academic grades. With all that said, we are sorry again that you did not feel that our program was a good fit for your daughter but wish you both all the best for the future. Best Wishes Team ISSOS

Posted 4 years ago

“Courses are well structured. Instructors are very good. Trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh very good: they give students independence, chance to explore. The 4 o’clock activities and the Sunday workshops should have been optional from the very beginning; there is not enough free time for students to rest, chat or wander around town. It was extremely tiring. Clan activities were mostly athletic and very repetitive, they could have included nonathletic activities. Facilities (dorm rooms and bathrooms) not great.”

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Posted 6 months ago

“No question that our teenager previously had a great time at an ISSOS summer camp, that part is not in question. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, understandably ISSOS canceled the 2020 summer sessions. Given that these were circumstances beyond everyone's control and certainly the control of the parents, we would have expected a full refund of our money. Regrettably, we were short changed on the refund by about $1000, between apparently non-refundable registration fees and currency exchange losses. How companies and other organizations treat their customers during a difficult time like this, tells you a lot about how the company is run and this has been a very disappointing experience for us. Despite ISSOS attempts to point back to contract terms and the fine print, companies should do the right thing and create some goodwill. Lesson learned...sharing with other parents who might be considering ISSOS for their children and young adults.”

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Posted 3 years ago

As you have chosen to post anonymously we, unfortunately, can’t respond to your comment with specifics, but we would like to strongly refute some of the points that you have made.   We have been very sympathetic to families in this crisis. We have students from every corner of the world and their health and wellbeing is incredibly important to us. As you correctly stated this is the reason that we chose not to run this summer, because it simply would not be safe.   Everyone who had booked and paid for this summer was offered a full credit note and a guaranteed place at ISSOS for summer 2021. Where attending in 2021 was not possible, despite the fact that our T&Cs state that our full fees are non-refundable in the event of force majeure events, we chose to overlook that and do the right thing by our customers and so we fully refunded all tuition fees, which is the overwhelming bulk of what makes up the price that each parent pays for their child to attend ISSOS.   Currency conversion loses on returning money are unfortunately totally out-with our control if you paid in your own currency instead of our currency as the service provider. This is dictated by international exchange rates that our payment provider has sole discretion to determine and we do not make or get any money at all from this transaction.   We’re really disappointed that this has affected your view of our company, having said that your son/daughter had a great time with us in previous years. However, we strongly disagree that we have acted in a way that is dishonest and are saddened that you have chosen to use this to try to discourage others from giving their children the same great experience that you openly agree your child had with us. Team ISSOS

Posted 3 years ago

“My daughter has attended ISSOS from 2016-2019 and has done the “HAT TRICK” of all 3 campuses and my son has attended at St. Andrew’s and Cambridge and plans on attending Yale this summer. My husband and I cannot say enough about how great Jen, her councellors, and her program is. This program helped my daughter into a mature, confident young lady and this past summer we were shocked how more self assured and mature my son(14) became. This year my daughter ( 16) is attending a boarding school and we believe attending ISSOS made this transition so much easier. All the academic programs they have choosen have helped them being leaders after camp. NOTHING BUT 5 STARS!!!”

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Posted 4 years ago

Thank you so much! They are both an absolute joy to have with us in the summer so this makes us really happy to know how much you think they get out of the time with us! Looking forward to another summer with your family in 2020. Best Wishes Team ISSOS

Posted 4 years ago

“ISSOS was the first summer school that I attended. I was so nervous before I got there but once I was there I didn’t want to leave! I made so many friends from all over the world and I still talk to them daily. The teachers and counselors are so nice and helpful. It really is an experience of a lifetime”

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Posted 5 years ago

“ISSOS, contrary to all other camps I have stayed at, has made me feel at home. I have met the most amazing people, most of which I am still friends with today. Over these three weeks you become so close to these people that it's hard to leave at the end of the camp. Every individual is so special and motivated that they have inspired me to do more of what I love and to strive for my goals. ISSOS was my first introduction to debate, I fell in love with it and after two years of debating both at issos and at home, I'm the captain of my school's debating society. It really was, without doubt 'The experince of a lifetime'.”

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Posted 6 years ago

ISSOS is rated 4.9 based on 142 reviews