Location
Multiple Locations +4
  • Thailand
  • Morocco
  • Ghana
  • Cambodia
Length
26 - 52 weeks

Program Details

Activities
Hiking Sightseeing Trekking
Timeframe
Academic Year
Housing
Host Family
Primary Language
English
Age Min.
17
Age Max
20

Pricing

Starting Price
32500
Price Details
Program tuition is $32,500, including all costs except for airfare. Airfare is estimated at $5,000, though it varies based on fuel costs. Need-based scholarships and work-study options are available. Learn more on our Financial Aid page.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Meals Transportation
What's Not Included
Airfare
Oct 04, 2021
Apr 30, 2020
70 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

We believe that a gap year should offer more than just travel or service. Our Global Gap year is our signature program. You'll live, explore, and learn in six countries over two semesters with new friends who'll be with you for life. This is the ultimate program for students who want to make the most of their gap year and yearning to discover how they can create meaningful change in the world.

Explore the challenges and solutions to critical global issues in communities around the world.

This program is no longer offered. View more programs from Thinking Beyond Borders.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Living with Host Families
  • Fieldwork with Local Experts
  • Academic Study
  • Language Learning
  • Exciting Travel to Guatemala, Panama, Thailand, Cambodia, Ghana, and Morocco

Related Programs

Program Reviews

4.94 Rating
based on 49 reviews
  • 5 rating 93.88%
  • 4 rating 6.12%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Housing 4.6
  • Support 4.85
  • Fun 4.95
  • Value 4.75
  • Safety 4.75
Showing 17 - 24 of 49 reviews
Default avatar
Erin
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Everyone Needs to Do This

I have learned more on this year than I ever could have anticipated. There were definitely times when I missed home, but getting super close with my host families, having adventures like skydiving and bungee jumping, participating in really reflective conversations with my friends at any hour of the day or night in and out of seminar, really distracted from feelings of homesickness. My perspective has widened drastically and I am so much more ready to go to college than I was before I left. I highly recommend this program to anyone who is interested.

What would you improve about this program?
Definitely making sure the people signing up for this trip are genuinely interested in learning and reflecting on the world around them is a really important component to making this a positive experience for everyone. I think some of the disinterest in the program coming from a few people made it hard for everyone else to feel good about participating.
26 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Mara
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

BEST GAP YEAR PROGRAM OUT THERE

Thinking Beyond Borders is hands-down the most self-aware, balanced, and socially/culturally conscious gap year program I have ever heard of. I have loved every moment of my experience, from connecting with my indigenous Tsa'chila host family in Ecuador, to shadowing health care professionals in the townships of South Africa. I will forever cherish the stories I've collected and the friendships I've forged over the past 7 months. No matter what your background or your interests, as long as you are a passionate and curious person who seeks out learning, you will love this program. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

What would you improve about this program?
Longer time spent in each host family.
29 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Nelsen
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Best Decision of My Life

Before TBB all I new for sure was that I needed TBB. I knew, that it would be the thing that allow me to become more of who I am and that I would be doing that with a potentially amazing group of people in places far away and exotic. Like many things I knew these things were filled with assumptions. Mostly correct in how amazing TBB was, but I didn't truly understand what I would learn to be. That I would learn to understand the world for more of what it was, that I would understand who I am and how the personal and the social fit together. That I would learn to question everything, assumptions everywhere.

I can only say that it has been the best "gap time" if my life.

What would you improve about this program?
I have a lot of food restrictions that make any travel hard, which is why I understand that our travels didn't always run smoothly, but it would have been nice to have more consistent and reliable support on occasion. Other than that, it would perfect in the fluctuality that it is.
28 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Hannah
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

TBB is unlike anything else

TBB is unlike any other gap year program out there. Through this year I have learned more about myself and about the world than I ever thought possible. TBB taught me about development, identity, and more and it's hands-down the best gap year program you could go on. This gap year was very challenging and could be hard at times, but I learned so much and made friends for a lifetime. Being away from home for so long had made me feel better prepared for college than I ever was before.

28 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Maggie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Too good to be put into words

My experience with TBB has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and I know that a lot of my new friends and family can say the same. The hardships you see, experience and live in, along with the liberating education you receive, is un imaginable until you have done it, and for each person it is different and unique. What I love about TBB is that, it is an environment setup for personal growth, that way you can help the growth of the planet. You become aware of many new things in your self as well as your role here on Earth and with other people. Now that my trip is done, I miss the people I was with and I miss the community feeling that we had between the 20 of us. The last thing I will add, is that I did not choose this trip for personal growth, I wanted to travel and learn. But the most important part of my trip turned out to be that TBB gave me a space to process and see the importance of reflection and talking about events that taken place in my life. If you don't take time to process and discuss what is going on, you never truly learn the lessons that life is putting before you.

What would you improve about this program?
If I had to change one thing, I would change--hmm well honestly my experience was so great and I am grateful for every thing that happened. Even the hard parts or the parts that might have been unorganized taught me something.
29 people found this review helpful.
Read my full story
Default avatar
Jordan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Thinking Beyond Borders Global Gap Year

Taking a gap year with Thinking Beyond Borders is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I applied for TBB because I knew that going to college right after high school was not the right path for me. I was leaving my family and friends for seven months to immerse myself in new cultures, further develop my passion for helping others and to find something that makes me want to get out of bed every morning. It didn’t really hit me that I was embarking on this trip of a lifetime with TBB until I was checking my bags at the airport. My TBB journey has been one of great highs and a lot of lows. Most of the time I wasn’t giving myself what I needed and the new living environments posed quite a challenge for me. Though it was not always easy and the environment was not what I was used to, I was able to question critically the assumptions I had about the role my society plays in global development because of TBB which is something I am eternally grateful for. My peers were in the same position as I was and this created a bond between us that is like nothing I have ever experienced. The unconditional love, support and protection that radiates from my peers each and everyday is something that I have realized I could not live without. Thinking Beyond Borders has changed the way I look at the world and the way I look at myself. I am forever grateful to have had this experience and become a part of the Thinking Beyond Borders family. Taking a gap year with TBB is something that has shaped my life and hopefully you take the opportunity to join its amazing community!

What would you improve about this program?
TBB is amazing however we were pampered at times. I feel that the program would improve if we were living in solidarity with the individuals we work with while abroad.
29 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Aaron
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Travel opportunity for change makers!

Thinking Beyond Borders was an incredible opportunity to be humbled and awed by the beauty this world has to offer. My learning process with TBB was deeply personal and was nourished through a curriculum that is both flexible and democratic. Whatever ways people learn best is accommodated to every learner or traveler. I was a little nervous traveling the world as gay, but the TBB program leaders, US staff, and my fellow students gave me support I needed to feel safe and proud of myself. So don't worry about any part of yourself holding you back from experiencing this gap year with intention!

32 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Emma
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The Best Learning Happens Far Beyond The Walls Of A Classroom

I had known that I wanted to take a gap year for quite some time when I came across Thinking Beyond Borders. I was a bit burnt out from school, and I was also hoping to learn more about myself and the world as a whole. I did not really enter TBB with many expectations as I am not a huge fan of them, but the program ended up being more than I could possibly have imagined. Looking through the website, the amount of countries covered initially jumped out at me above everything else, but I came to the quick realization that the travel aspect hardly skimmed the surface as to what was to come. Do not get me wrong, the travelling was great and absolutely eye-opening. I lived with an indigenous community in Ecuador, I hiked Machu Picchu, I saw the lantern festival in Thailand, I farmed rice with my host family, I walked through the killing fields in Cambodia, I taught in schools in India, I jumped off of a bridge in South Africa, I most definitely experienced the world. The travelling was great, but that coupled with the individuals that I travelled with and the in depth discussions we had together made the program incredible. During our seminars eyes were opened and perspectives were changed. Everyone always had the opportunity to share their ideas, thoughts, and questions with the entire group; people brought up ideas that had never even crossed my mind before. We were pushed to think deeply and in completely different ways day after day. The program staff always emphasizes that this is our program, so we have a say in what we do. They take our input seriously if we want changes in the curriculum or in the work experience or in the homestays. They have a rough guideline as to what we should be doing, but we stray from it over and over to our benefit. It is also important to know that everything is optional; not once were we forced into doing something we were not up for or comfortable doing (all about consent culture). During this gap year I not only learned about environmental problems, sustainable agriculture, problems in the educational system, and healthcare, but I also learned how to question authority, how to be my own source of truth, how to be part of a community, and how to be who I am as an individual.

What would you improve about this program?
Some of the homestays could have been better. They were all pleasant experiences; It is just that some of the homestay families were a bit distant and I was not able to connect with them to a great extent. Saying this, I think that they are making changes to homestay families next year because of this.
26 people found this review helpful.
Read my full story

Questions & Answers

Hi there! Thanks for reaching out. We are anticipating offering 3 different college courses for our full year program and 2 courses for the semester programs. Each course is worth 3 college credits. The semester programs will have courses in environmental issues and education for a total of 6 possible credits and the full-year program will have the same two courses in addition to a third course on...

During my Gap year experience, I lived with three different host families. Each one of them came with different experiences, and they are experiences I will not forget. Experiencing a new culture and new lifestyle is made easier when living with a host family as opposed to staying in a hotel with other tourists. It allows for an better opportunity to understand how different cultures work.