[andreaellamaria]

Anyone been to or know about the Global young Leaders Conference (Congressional youth Leadership Council) ??
I have been accepted (my teacher applied for me without me knowing) and it all sounds very fancy but I don't really know what it is.
Can anyone help?

[IBer_101]

Wow, I was going to make a thread about this some time soon and then I found this in the recent activity box =D
I got accepted and I'm going to the June 27th - July 8th session in NYC/Washington D.C. I've heard from a friend of a friend (who's been to the China session) that it was an amazing experience. I don't actually know a lot about it. I wish I can get some more information from someone here too.
EDIT: a link to their forum

This post has been edited by IBer_101: May 10, 2010 - 17:39

[Mahuta ♥]

Hey, I got accepted last year too, but I didn't really go.
I found it weird that they sent this very fancy letter complementing you..then they ask you to pay some thousand dollars.

[andreaellamaria]

.. yeah thats what I'm thinking at the moment...

[Daedalus]

I've heard that it's a massive scam for your money. Think about how much money they want for two weeks (!!)

[IBer_101]

Aron, on May 20, 2010 - 04:19, said:

I've heard that it's a massive scam for your money.

I guess I'll be the one to check for that then.
I'm quite sure that it isn't a scam though. If I didn't know a guy that's been there, I wouldn't say so. I've been across money scams in the mail before, but this isn't the same.

Anyways, I'll be bumping this thread after the trip, and we'll see how it went. xD

[masochist]

Define 'scam'. It's not a scam in the sense that you pay them money and then they disappear off the face of the earth. But it is a scam in that they make you believe its this special prestigious thing when in reality they send the letter to essentially everyone and charge insane prices for 2 weeks with a bunch of like minded idiots.

[Mahuta ♥]

True, In the beginning I thought it's a certain people who are selected by teachers since they kept complimenting you in the letter, but then I figured it out 50 people out of 75 recieved the letter.

If it's not a scam and it's really going to benefit out generation in the ways they mentioned, they wouldn't ask you to pay thousands of dollars for it.

They want to make us feel like adults, that's not really happened, adults don't have to pay thousands of dollars to attend a conference. In fact, even if they did, we shouldn't since it's probably our first time, and so we shouldn't have to pay.

Does anyone have any idea if the MUN requires you to pay? As far as I have seen from my friends who attented, you don't, but I am not sure that's how it is in the rest of the countries.

[IBer_101]

It isn't a scam in the sense that people, whom I personally know, who did attend it before said it was an amazing experience and that it was educational and helpful for them. Also, last year, there was an article in the national newspaper reporting the conference's Jordanian attendees and what they did there.
It also isn't a scam in the sense that the organization itself is known organization and organizes other conferences, along with this one all year round. If it was a scam, then their cover would be blown about the second time they tried to organize a conference.
Also, the "thousands" you're talking about are only the reasonable amount of money expected to be spent considering two weeks' stay in hotels in NY and Washington, in addition to the field trips planned out.

These are my personal reasons to believe it isn't a scam.

[Mahuta ♥]

Absolutely, no one said your reasons aren't reason and that you really shouldn't go. :)
I was just saying why I, personally, didn't think it's right.
People in my school didn't say it was super interesting or anything, whereas people you know did, so you got no reason not to go.
Haha, go and get back to us. :D ;)

[andreaellamaria]

Well I talked to people who have gone and researched a bit and got a big positive response. My parents love the idea so they're willing to pay, and now I'm going!!
At the moment I'm chatting to many different people on the Facebook group ( many IB students!!) and it seems like it will be a great experience (I'm going to China by the way).
But we should definitely chat here afterwards and share feedback ;)

Thanks for your advice, everyone, its been really helpful :D

[ibmonkey]

im going to be attending the june 27th-july 8th session with the additional days in the US. the main idea of the conference is to basically

heighten our awareness to the field of politics and global situations.

They want to show us how cultural aspects affect decisions made by real governments.

We will be going to see different cultural sites in NY and Washington D.C. not to mention guest speakers and going to the department of state.

its an experience in which you get to meet lots of people from all over the world and network.

[fire.realm]

GYLC sounds kinda interesting, but I don't know what exactly you do. Anybody wanna explain to me please what it's about? :D

[Jason08]

My friend also got accepted to the program and she's going to the one in L.A in mid July i think

[JoeGuff]

ibmonkey, on May 30, 2010 - 16:32, said:

im going to be attending the june 27th-july 8th session with the additional days in the US. the main idea of the conference is to basically

heighten our awareness to the field of politics and global situations.

They want to show us how cultural aspects affect decisions made by real governments.

We will be going to see different cultural sites in NY and Washington D.C. not to mention guest speakers and going to the department of state.

its an experience in which you get to meet lots of people from all over the world and network.

I was sent a letter to this thing, but couldn't join because of the price. :( .
Anyways, I find it kind of humorous that my country has any cultural sites at all lol.
Just be careful in New York City, you might get mugged if your in the wrong part of town.

[andreaellamaria]

Well I went to the conference in China, and to let you know I thought it was completely worth the money. For what you get - the conference itself, the hotels, the site-seeing, the dining and everything that is organised, its pricey but worth it. The experience was amazing - meeting so many interesting people from all over the world, and the conference itself was very well run (especially being in China where communication is quite difficult!)
It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm very glad I did it :)

[Center Field]

Mahuta ♥, on May 10, 2010 - 17:58, said:

Hey, I got accepted last year too, but I didn't really go.
I found it weird that they sent this very fancy letter complementing you..then they ask you to pay some thousand dollars.

Yeah...the money kept my parents from saying yes to letting me go!

A friend of mine went who said it was very fun, however

[your idiot self]

My experience with the NYLC and CYLC have been very positive. Very expensive, but VERY positive. If you enjoy spending time away from home with random people then by all means feel free to spend your money if you want to. I do not regret a single moment I had during either of the two programs.

However, when I received a GYLC invitation I thought twice about signing up for the program. I chose not to go and instead spend the money towards a car. A nice car seems much more worth my money than a trip.