Camp America- Think logically!

So last year, the day applications opened for Camp America, I logged on, payed and filled out all that it asked me to do, I had been waiting for months and had never been so excited for something. I had known for months I wanted to apply to do this, so I had considered all of the different companies that do it, I decided to go with Camp America, even though they are the most expensive, they just seemed to be the best option, boy was I wrong!

It took FOREVER to get my interview date, and when I finally did, the interviewer was quite intimidating, but interviews tend to be that way for me anyway, so I never thought anything of it. I was applying to do cheerleading/tumbling coaching (along with singing, photography & dance (3 types)), I knew cheerleading would be hard to place at a camp but was worth putting down as my main skill as I attended it twice a week with over 3 years coaching experience. You get told you interviewer will be there to answer any questions you may have throughout the process and you are given their email address. About 2 weeks after my interview there was an issue with cheer and CA conflict, my coach told me to choose cheer or Camp America, I was panicking as I did not know what to use as my skills now, I thought I had nothing. I contacted her a good 4 or 5 times and got 0 response, so I was completely alone, any questions on how to improve my application were left unanswered.

I paid all my moneys the day they were due and update my application as I was told to ASAP, basically within like 2 days of being notified. It took them weeks, nearly months to improve anything, and I applied at the beginning of August, I was not on Ready to Place until like November.

Also those who live in Scotland, they ask you to get a police check form done, you send them down the official certificate to London and keep a photocopy for yourself. I sent my Police Check, which has ALL personal details, Address, NI number, Passport number, literally everything on it recorded next day delivery to the CA London office.

About a week later I got an email saying they had no police check form for me, I assumed this was simply a glitch in the system and replied saying of course I had sent it and got the notification that somebody signed for delivery at the office. I then got a reply saying they definitely did not have it. They had lost a form with all of my everything on it, which could of been in the hands of anybody out there!! I had to go to the trouble of emailing royal mail for them to backtrack and get a copy of the signature of delivery at the CA office, to screenshot and send them in an email as they were adamant it was MY fault that I did not send it. Eventually they found it, after quite some hassle.

To end the ordeal, I actually never even got placed this summer. I did everything my interviewer told me, made a video with has 5K views on youtube, which took me weeks to create and I worked extremely hard on. However I can't help but think Camp America do not promote your application as much as they say they do!! It annoyed me how thousands of people were still unplaced yet CA were still begging people to sign up.

In all honesty I regret choosing CA, I wish I went with Wildpackers, CCUSA or particularly Ameri-Camp. They seem to be a lot more helpful and down to earth, I know this since I emailed all of them to ask a few of my queries and they were beyond helpful every single time, particularly Ameri-Camp on twitter. Camp America just seem to be money grabbers.

I am not bitter that I did not get placed, in fact I kind of expected it since I did JUST turn 18, but Camp America's service really really let me down, I feel like I wasted a lot of time and effort on something that right from the beginning was hopeless.