Not for people who value transparency or honesty

The only thing that I feel like I was able to appreciate as an outcome of this program was the kids I met, which I can get from any other gap year program. My biggest gripes stem from 2 main categories: Housing and Support and Communication from the program.

Housing:
The housing is very hit or miss. Some of the apartments are in very nice areas and are up to the standards one would expect. Other apartments, like mine, are on the border of a nice area and a very sketchy area. It's not uncommon for me to walk outside and see prostitutes and drug dealers on the side of the street if I am more than a 5-minute walk from my place. On top of the location, the apartment itself is very lacking. We were given the bare minimum in terms of cooking supplies, which we were told would be given to us. Our singular pan was so warped that it couldn't get hot because it didn't touch the stove. We have mold growing in our bathroom because the shower door doesn't stop water from coming out of the shower, frequently resulting in a flooded bathroom. Our building is also home to a drug-addicted squatter. It isn't uncommon to be walking down the stairs and happening upon a woman with all of her stuff covering the stairs, including numerous crack pipes and needles.

Support and Communication:
The support system for all of the kids on this program rests upon the madrichim; a group of staff members in their early 20s, charged with supporting a group of 15-20 kids. It's clear that the madrichim are doing as much as they can to support us, but they just don't have the capacity to deal with the issues of each one of us to the degree that we need. The one thing that they fall short on is their support towards us on the weekends. Each weekend, one madrich is "on-call" and they are tasked with dealing with any issues that come up over the weekend between all of the madrichim groups' kids. During this time period, it feels like the madrichim are trying to do as little work as possible. For instance, I had a sinus infection and asked for help with it on the weekend and I was told to wait until the weekend ended unless I needed to go to the ER. While I didn't need to go to the ER, I felt like dealing with an infection sooner rather than later is the right thing to do.
One time I was having an issue with my madricha about communication and when I talked to her about it, I was basically told that the problem was my attitude. When I brought this up with my community manager, I was told the exact same thing. I felt like I was powerless because every support system that was supposed to be in place for me, wasn't supportive.
The things that the program chooses to focus on don't make it feel like they care about the kids, rather they are only focusing on making money and bettering their public image. For instance, there was a week where I was really struggling with roommate issues as well as having trouble sleeping, which resulted in me missing a few Hebrew classes. All week I had been asking for help with the issues I was having but was met with no help at all. I was later called in for a meeting with my madricha, which I assumed would be when I was finally going to get the help I had been asking for. The meeting ended up being about my absences from class. When I explained that the other issues I was having were a large part of the cause for me missing class, it was ignored.

We are constantly being told to have open communication and to foster trust with the program, yet we are receiving nothing from their end except for lies or a lack of important information until the last minute.

The program always seems to be looking for ways to take our money as well. They offered extra overnight trips that we have to pay in cash for, they refused to replace the broken kitchen appliances we were given, forcing me to pay out of my pocket because I needed to eat, and they offer us nothing more than the bare minimum in terms of food. On the mandatory weekly trips, we have to buy our own food or bring our own lunch.

Overall, I would strongly urge anyone considering this program to reconsider. If you want anything besides the bare minimum, you have to take initiative and get it yourself. Getting help from Aardvark is very unlikely. I had a great time meeting new people, but every other aspect of this program is lacking to the extreme.