Most high schools call a two-week trip abroad a “global program.” Brooks School has been sending its own students to live with real host families and in real dormitories at partner schools on four continents every year since 1986.
Quick Answer for Busy Parents
Brooks School’s Exchange Program, running continuously since 1986, sends students to live and study for four to five weeks at partner schools currently in Botswana, Hungary, Peru, and Scotland, a genuine draw for international families evaluating U.S. boarding schools. Most exchanges happen over March break; the Peru exchange runs after final exams in early summer. Students apply in the fall, and selection is handled by a faculty-and-student Exchange Committee.
How the Exchange Program Began
Founded in 1986 with an exchange to Kenya, Brooks’ Exchange Program has evolved over nearly four decades, at various points including partnerships in South Africa and Morocco alongside its current roster. The throughline has stayed consistent since day one: full immersion in another school’s community, not a supervised tour.
That consistency matters. Exchange programs at many schools come and go with a single enthusiastic faculty member or a grant cycle; Brooks’ has survived multiple heads of school, changes in international relations, and even a full pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming as soon as travel allowed. A program with that kind of institutional staying power tends to be genuinely embedded in a school’s culture, not a marketing feature.
Where Brooks Students Go Today
Brooks currently partners with four schools: Maru-a-Pula School in Gaborone, Botswana, a boarding and day school of about 600 students where Brooks exchangees join community service projects alongside their coursework; Deak Ferenc School in Szeged, Hungary, where students live with host families and study Hungarian language and English; Colegio Trener in Lima, Peru, where a homestay anchors the summer exchange; and Glenalmond College in the Scottish Highlands, a 180-year-old boarding school on a 300-acre campus where Brooks students join the full academic and athletic program. Families weighing the visa and timing logistics of a March-break exchange should plan well ahead, since three of the four current partnerships run on that same timeline.
| Partner School | Location | Format | Timing |
| Maru-a-Pula School | Gaborone, Botswana | Dorm stay | March break |
| Deak Ferenc School | Szeged, Hungary | Home stay | March break |
| Colegio Trener | Lima, Peru | Home stay | Early summer, after exams |
| Glenalmond College | Scottish Highlands | Dorm stay | March break |
What an Exchange Actually Looks Like
Exchanges run four to five weeks. March-break exchanges to Botswana, Hungary, and Scotland are timed so students miss minimal regular Brooks classes; the Peru exchange runs after final exams in June, extending into July. March programs are open to fifth-form (junior) and sixth-form (senior) students, plus fourth-form (sophomore) students who turn 16 by mid-January; June programs are open to fourth- and fifth-formers. Applications go in each fall, reviewed by an Exchange Committee of faculty and past participants that includes an interview as part of the process.
Students describe the experience as genuinely disorienting at first, and that’s by design: keeping up with Brooks coursework remotely while taking a full course load at an unfamiliar school, in some cases in an unfamiliar language, while representing their school and country as an informal ambassador.
Why This Matters for Applicants
A program that’s survived, and grown, for nearly 40 years says something real about institutional commitment that a one-off travel partnership can’t match. For families evaluating boarding schools with genuine global programs, it’s worth asking how established and how selective the destination partnerships actually are, since a 1986-founded exchange with the same four core partner schools for years running is a very different commitment than a newly announced international partnership.
It’s also worth noting what the Exchange Program isn’t: it’s not a study-abroad semester for everyone, and it’s not automatic. Spots are limited, the application includes an interview, and the Exchange Committee weighs fit as much as interest, the same reason boarding schools value authenticity over polish throughout the admissions process generally. Families who see global engagement as a real priority, not just a brochure line, should ask admissions directly how many students participate each year and how selective the process actually is.
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