Deception and Lies
I rarely leave reviews, but I feel obligated to share my experience with USA Summer Jobs to prevent other students from making the same mistake I did.
It all started off with high hopes. I paid my initial deposit and quickly followed up with the remaining payments, totalling around €900. The urgency was heavily pushed by the team, they warned us that spots were "filling up fast" and encouraged everyone to pay as soon as possible to secure a place. It seemed like a great opportunity at the time.
In the early stages, we were contacted weekly for document submissions and general onboarding. During these calls, we were specifically told not to worry about finding a job just yet – that they would help with that part later. It all sounded reassuring, like they had a well-organised system in place to support us.
Fast forward to early-January, and my group (a total of 7 of us) started actively searching for jobs. That’s when the reality hit: USA Summer Jobs provides no real job placement support whatsoever. Their so-called “help from the team” turned out to be nothing more than a generic email list – many of which were either outdated, unresponsive, or outright told us they weren’t accepting J1 students. I want to highlight I personally emailed every single contact on their email list, and have a fairly comprehensive resume in terms of customer service roles.
This was the turning point. We were shocked – this was nothing like the support they advertised on their website. We expected guidance, connections, or at least some form of active placement assistance. Instead, we were left entirely on our own, sending dozens of emails and making endless phone calls, only to receive no offers at all.
Let me be clear: out of nine students, not a single one of us secured a job through this program. It wasn’t for lack of effort. We spent months trying, during term time no less, adding unnecessary stress on top of already demanding university workloads.
When it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to go, we reached out in hopes of a partial refund, or at the very least some understanding. We were quickly reminded of a small clause buried in the contract: no refunds under any circumstances. That’s it. No discussion, no empathy – just a cold reminder that we had signed away our right to any kind of compensation.
In total, my friends and I each lost over €1,300 – including the program fees and flights I had already booked. That's €6300 taken by this company from my groups alone, all for a summer job that never materialised.
TL;DR:
USA Summer Jobs promises support they don’t deliver. You’ll pay hundreds of euros, be left to scramble for jobs with minimal help, and receive nothing back when it inevitably falls apart. The entire experience added enormous stress to my academic year and left me out of pocket with nothing to show for it.
This program is not worth your time or money. If you’re a student hoping for a well-supported, reliable J1 summer experience, look elsewhere. I only wish someone had written a review like this before I signed up.
Reply from USA Summer Jobs
Hi Andrew,
We are sorry you feel this way. We have provided actual jobs for participants before, but the issue we had is that people turned around weeks later and told us they no longer wanted to work there, they wanted to work here instead, which can result in us letting employers down. We found people we're only really happy when they found their own job as they did it themself.
We only have a limited number of visa and its a program that works every year, with thousands of happy participants. We're sorry if you arent one, but there are people on Trustpilot who are very happy with it.
We are proud of what we do and on this occasion it wasnt enough for you which is a shame.