There is a specific number of volunteers that we can send to each country, determined by the host school(s). That number is based on things like housing and the number of students attending that semester. Even after a country is fully assigned out, volunteer spots can become available for a variety of reasons (maybe a volunteer defers to another semester or we open up a new school in that country), so we utilize a lottery system to assign out newly opened spots.
When you apply, you’ll complete an online Orientation where you’ll have the opportunity to let us know:
- Your top choice country
- Additional countries you’re interested in if your top choice isn’t available
- Countries you don’t want to be considered for, if any
When it comes time to make your location assignment, if your top choice country is available, we will assign you there. If not, we’ll assign you to one of the other countries you’re interested (if there is an assignment available). If there are no spots available in any of those countries, we will add you to the lottery for each country you’ve listed as being open to volunteering in.
When a spot becomes available in a country, we will do a random drawing from the lottery for that country. The person who is randomly drawn will receive the assignment to that country.
A couple of things to keep in mind if you’re in the lottery:
- Being open to volunteering in one or two particular countries increases the chance that you’ll be in the lottery. The more countries you’re open to going to, the more likely it is that we’ll be able to get you a spot.
- Being in the lottery is fairly common and does not mean you won’t get to volunteer that semester. Spots do become available, but again, the more countries you’re open to going to, the more likely it is that you’ll get a spot that semester because you’ll be in multiple lotteries.
- Some countries have fewer spots than others. In some countries, we may send only 4 volunteers, which means it’s much more limited than a country where we send 20-30 volunteers+. If you’re placed in the lottery and worried about getting a spot, chat with your rep. We can help you understand your options for increasing the chance of getting a spot that semester. A lot of times volunteers in that position will increase the number of countries they’re open to in order to increase their chances.
We will do our best to help you receive a volunteer spot that you are excited about while also remaining as fair as possible to all applicants.
