Americamp 2012!! :)

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Hi guys

sorry to resurrect this thread but you guys seem to know everything about AmeriCamp! i'm planning to apply for 2013 and i'm working on my application. i was wondering whether a youtube video is really necessary? just my main skills are swim teaching and kayaking and i can't film me teaching due to child safety laws and i work in a council building which also doesn't allow filming! and my kayak club is in the same building until April so also can't film that either =\
thanks!

Reply 81

Evie463

Woww, sorry to sound totally stupid, but what is americamp? :O sounds so cool! :O

Reply 82

punsandneedles

Seems like a bit of a rip off to me, although I do say this with limited experience after a glance at the costs page. You're basically paying someone to work at their camp over the summer, and I have no clue why you need to pay anything other than your own transportation fees which should be discounted to make it worthwhile (as an american citizen, i was both paid and given free accommodation at the summer camp i worked at last year) and since you have to pay for your airfare + numerous other small fees, i think it would be easier to just go to america for a holiday, go where you want to and avoid paying to work. I would recommend going directly to some camps to ask about volunteering, as you may save a few hundred along the way.

Seriously, check out all your options. This seems like a cash-in on the whole 'American summer camp' fad. The reality is that you will be working with very young children, and the likelihood of there being anything other than a very small town nearby is slim, as America is huge (and by huge, I mean it takes two hours to drive to the nearest city in a lot of summer camp locations) and while you may think you're going to have an amazing summer in New York, you will in fact be in the middle of nowhere in a huge bloody forest looking after a crowd of 10 year olds. Summer camps are usually out in the middle of nowhere because almost everyone lives in a city and the point of a summer camp is to get to the countryside. While this may be your thing, if you go to states like NY, Washington, or any of the northern states, it will not be drastically different from English forests.

(also, alcohol, smoking and any *ahem* relations with the opposite sex will be outlawed. America's stricter on that than England is.)

tldr; do this if you have money to burn, love children, do not drink, are not a smoker, and want to keep very, very busy over the summer without having to do a lot of planning about where you're going or have a lot of control over what you're doing.

Reply 83

CallumG

Original post by punsandneedles

Seems like a bit of a rip off to me, although I do say this with limited experience after a glance at the costs page.

Yes, it shows.

Original post by punsandneedles

You're basically paying someone to work at their camp over the summer,

False - you're paying an agency. The camps you work at do not get paid, infact quite the opposite - the camps pay the agencies to find staff.

Original post by punsandneedles

and I have no clue why you need to pay anything other than your own transportation fees which should be discounted to make it worthwhile (as an american citizen, i was both paid and given free accommodation at the summer camp i worked at last year)

As above, you're paying an agency to enable a UK citizen to work at a US summer camp, if you're not prepared to invest some money - how can the agency/camp be sure you're not going to bail right before camp? (As people already do). The £200 you pay to the Americamp is nowhere close to the amount that the camp has to pay the agency

The other fees are 3rd party costs which nor the Camp or Agency have any control over - most of there is charged by the US Government for the VISA etc.

You also seem to be missing the point that the camp does pay you directly after camp and you still also get free food/accomodation. I made £400 after all my fees (including flights) in my first year, not bad for the best summer of my life with free food / accommodation.

Original post by punsandneedles

and since you have to pay for your airfare + numerous other small fees, i think it would be easier to just go to america for a holiday, go where you want to and avoid paying to work.

Really? So I'd instantly have lost £400 just getting to America, then I would need to pay for the accommodation whilst there and pay for my food.

Original post by punsandneedles

I would recommend going directly to some camps to ask about volunteering, as you may save a few hundred along the way.

As above - if you did this and the camp agreed to pay ALL the fees (Incredibly unlikely) you would've still made more to work at a camp...

Original post by punsandneedles

Seriously, check out all your options. This seems like a cash-in on the whole 'American summer camp' fad. The reality is that you will be working with very young children, and the likelihood of there being anything other than a very small town nearby is slim,

You're not going to work at a summer camp to be being in a big city, hence the name "Work at a summer camp"

Original post by punsandneedles

as America is huge (and by huge, I mean it takes two hours to drive to the nearest city in a lot of summer camp locations) and while you may think you're going to have an amazing summer in New York, you will in fact be in the middle of nowhere in a huge bloody forest looking after a crowd of 10 year olds. Summer camps are usually out in the middle of nowhere because almost everyone lives in a city and the point of a summer camp is to get to the countryside.

With the J1 VISA required for camp you're able to travel within the US for upto 30 days. In those 30 days I managed to do a road trip hitting up including New York, Boston, DC, Philly. Alabama, Texas, Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA, San Francisco, Seattle. (Not to mention on the way to camp driving from Seattle to New York visiting Yellowstone, Chicago, Mt Rushmore

Original post by punsandneedles

While this may be your thing, if you go to states like NY, Washington, or any of the northern states, it will not be drastically different from English forests.

You couldn't be more wrong.

Original post by punsandneedles

(also, alcohol, smoking and any *ahem* relations with the opposite sex will be outlawed. America's stricter on that than England is.)

You've shown your naivety in the rest of the thread, this doesn't require answering.

Original post by punsandneedles

tldr; do this if you have money to burn, love children, do not drink, are not a smoker, and want to keep very, very busy over the summer without having to do a lot of planning about where you're going or have a lot of control over what you're doing.

tl;dr Whilst this may have been well intentioned it's incredibly misleading and factuality incorrect.

Reply 84

Anz

Original post by CallumG

I'd have to disagree with it being anything to do with "personal preference" both have incredibly similar application processes, one makes you more money than the other...The only difference really is with Camp America you don't have to book your own flights, and really if you struggle with that then you shouldn't be working at any job really....

I went with Americamp last year & am going back to my same camp next year, if anyone has any questions or is placed at CECBR hit me up!

hey callum, I wanna apply for Americamp this year but the recruitment fair is a day before an important chem exam at Uni.

Do you think it's worth going anyway for a higher chance of being recruited? cheeers