Change the World Academy Reviews 173

If I could give 0 stars, I would.

This organisation consistently overpromises and underdelivers, but the worst part is that I paid 250 euros for a cancellation insurance and when I exercised it, I was consistently lied to (they say it takes months for an inter-eu transfer and that they already sent it) and eventually ignored. I never received my money and never participated in their event. Terrible.

This organization is unprofessional and does not refund any money.
Together with dozens if not hundreds of other students we are waiting for our refund because our conference did not happen due to COVID (which is understandable). What is not understandable is how the organization CWMUN is handling the situation. They are not refunding the money and thereby doing fraudulent and criminal activity. There are clear contractual agreements that state we have a right to receive a refund and they keep on telling me and many others that they will transfer the money back and nothing happens. It's hard to get on the phone with anyone because they simply do not pick up or tell you that they will call back which they never do. Overall this organization is unprofessional and a huge scam. Please do not transfer them ANY MONEY. I usually don't write bad reviews but now I felt this is the only right thing to do as we are all desperately waiting to get our money back from this scammy organization.

I can only agree with what has been said by others, here's my personal experience in addition to that.

From the beginning I was uncertain if this is a legit and professional organization. Now, after the conference I know better, I would not do it again and I would not recommend it to anyone.
During the application process there where many irregularities with my documents, I paid the full amount including an insurance, but when I asked for a confirmation they said that I don't have the insurance, so I sent more e-mails explaining the subject and asking for a refund: no answer for 1,5 months. The excuse was that all my e-mails ended up in the spam folder.. So they're telling me that they're organizing an international event and for 1,5 months no one checked the spam folder?! Of course, I also tried calling them, but even after I've left a voice mail, no one called me back or ever answered any of my calls. So I mentioned that in one of my many emails, the answer: This is not possible, we always answer the phone.
During the conference I also noticed that everyone receives the scholarship, I haven't met one person who did not receive it, so it's just a marketing strategy...
The sessions weren't very educational, the timetable was changed often with short notice and no official information.

So long story short: You'll pay a huge sum of money for ending up in a room with 100 others, a chaotic organization and no possibility to speak, learn or improve your skills.

I hope that associazone diplomatici finally takes our feedback serious and works on improving their organisation – just as they promise.
The idea of the CWMUN is great, but the organization and communication is as bad as possible.

I applied and also was given a scholarship even though I did not properly answer all the interview questions. Turns out everyone gets the scholarship and then they try to pressure you into paying with in two days and when I did not they kept emailing me saying it was not to late to still attend. The people I know who attend had pretty negative experiences. Not sure if it is an actual scam but clearly they are incredibly disorganized and there is little to no educational value.

The organization has a great intention, and the world needs legitimate programs that are designed to empower youth to change the world. But after experiencing CWMUN NYC, paying nearly $4,000 for travel, food and program costs, experiencing massive stress and disappointment from the program and having my feedback and questions either ignored, criticized or explained away, I do not endorse this program and would highly recommend my younger self not to spend the money on CWMUN. The organization has a LOT of work to do and reception to student feedback have not been reassuring or inspirational. In fact, I feel more depressed and have lost some hope in the world since CWMUN NYC 2022.

Observation: The scholarship is not a scholarship because everyone gets it. The explanation we received was "only the students who pass admissions are granted the scholarship. Those that don't pass don't get to attend." This is a manipulation of language, and by design, the advertisement for this program is a sales funnel that leads youth toward an ultimately disappointing and stressful experience. An example is the video summary of our first MUN day. The video looks so inspiring, but in reality, we sat for 2h waiting for everyone to sit down in a hotel conference room, then listened to random people talk in Italian and ask football players about Ukraine (this was then called the opening ceremony for the world's most prestigious youth forum)...

Experience: NYC 2022 students had the doors barred during conferences, physically prevented from leaving, even for water and bathroom access. We had to line up to use the washroom, a friend of mine was physically pushed from leaving by a staff member, and we were only let go after telling them that we did not pay to have our rights taken away and violated, & the program was not what was promised. Slept in the same beds as random strangers without warning, people had their hotels changed, we didn't use the UN building, schedule changed repeatedly without much warning, segments of the program were dropped without notice, communication before, during and after was sub-par, female representation was negligible, the staff was non-receptive to feedback, choosing agression or avoidance as an alternative to listening to and respecting concerns and questions (aside from the Executive Director, but only after people in our committee stood ground and told him that the treatment of students was unacceptable). Students were yelled at, intentionally not selected during MUN sessions and thus unable to speak even once over the two days, kicked out of the sessions for not having visible placards, etc. Keep in mind that everyone participating in the MUN paid thousands and travelled from various countries, requiring visa applications and other expensive pre-travel processes. During COVID times, no less.

The common response to concerns and expressed frustrations by students (many of whom spent the money they needed for education and living expenses for what was promised to be a life-changing experience) was "send an email" (to no specific email address). So, students gathered together and sent over 1,000 emails...

Links aren't allowed in reviews. Will try and find a way to provide the letter.

I was one of the people that signed and sent this email.

The response to this by the program was the Executive Director coming to each committee in turn, and telling everyone that the "anonymous emails" were invalid, that the names of the people who sent the emails had been tracked, identified, catalogued and sent to the legal team (how can the emails be anonymous if you have the names of people who sent them?? Also, the email was a culmination of lots of people discussing concerns and frustrations together, & to make things simple and organized, it was written as a summary of everyone's frustrations. Anyone who signed it agreed with the statements), and that CWMUN would be taking LEGAL ACTION against anyone who tried to defame their "good name"... The email was literally a direct message stating various things that students were confused and frustrated by, with several clear requests for action by the program. And the response was a differently worded equivalent of shut up or we will sue you...

I hope the program can change. Students don't need such hassles, and we have a world to change.

The only way a program or product can improve is by taking and applying feedback from the people paying for it. It doesn't bode well when the organizers choose to file lawsuits against kids instead of reflect and adjust course.

Also, choosing to keep my name anonymous cause CWMUN will likely say everthing here is a lie and threaten me with lawsuit.

Save your money like I should have.
Also i think the rating is glitched.

Were to start... the only times we have fast or any response is before paying. After that, the online classes are done in a western centered approach, with not up to date data (for ex. Still say that USA is n1 country in the world which has not been the truth for the past years). After that, we have also the promises that are not fulfilled (I was assigned Marriot Marquis in NYC and then, a week prior, they changed my hotel without even telling me or fiving justification - which resulted in stress when applying for VISA because the infos were not true).

WORST PART - PRESENCE: We were specifically promised a MUN in the UN Headquarters - it did not happen and the justification was first based on covid 19, which did not stick, since the program was advertised during the covid pandemic - and, afterwards, the war between Russia and Ukrayne - which is also false, since the UN HQ were open and, if the Prime Minister of Portugal knew about it 5 months in advance, the UN did as well.
We were told that there would not be mixed rooms, but it was false. Minors and adults from different countries had to share rooms and beds, not knowing each other at all.

The presenters were almost all Italian, white and male - no representation. Instead of us actually being able to talk with the guests, they brought pre recorded videos of them.

On the third day (day of Bill Clinton) because we were so let down and responding to the organizarions' lack of organization and transparency, Alessandro from Associazione Diplomatici came, room by room, threatning us all of legal consequences for "defamating" the good name of the organization. I think this was also to prevent us from booeing them like we did on the first day, live on broadcast. Bill Clinton showed up, but what has he made to make the world a better place? Wars? For the money that they spent on his appearance they could have brought people like Malala, John Volmink, etc.

After that, we were blocked from their social media, as everyone who posts real comments about their disorganisation.

After, we created an Ig called @cwmun.ny were we posted real reviews of the CWMUN and stresses, which was immediately responded with another civil suit action threat.

Spare your money, don't do it.

PS.: You see their reply under. Good thing is, I have all the proof with me. Sad thing is that I cannot share all the documents and photos that I have saved in this website.
You speak about representation, but who was on the spotlight? We only saw a woman interpreter and a student who was part of the organization (no leading roles). Also, what about the UN envoy for youth? We saw a video of her speaking to us on the last day.

Really wish there was more transparency, as we were promised that Associazione Diplomatici would send an email with a survey by Easter, but haven't received anything yet. Don't know why the tardiness on answering our emails.

Very sketchy vibes. Admittance process is way to easy for such a big amount of money in scholarship. I am not going to risk loosing a 1000€ to a probable scam. This is not the real Model-UN.

I warn against this firm. I received a 1000 euro scholarship, but still, you have to pay at least 875 euro within 2 working days (!!) for participation. The scholarship doesn't include the obligatory online courses, even though they advertise with free participation if you should receive the scholarship. Such a waste of other peoples time, especially if you are a dedicated student with limited funds who has a true desire to change the world.