<p>dodgersmom - Thanks. I read through that thread. Very interesting to see the outside perspective.</p>
<p>Some of those concerns were certainly valid at the time and others were, frankly, somewhat uninformed or taking a negative viewpoint. Perhaps, we haven’t always done the best job of communicating exactly what we’re up to and we’re working to change that. Like it was mentioned earlier, every school has to start somewhere. We’re not going to be for everyone but I’m trying to encourage those who are intrigued but skeptical to reach out and start a dialogue with us to get the facts.</p>
<p>As for some of the valid concerns, yes, we’ve had our share of staff turnover - which is to be expected in any startup and we learned a great deal as an organization from our first year’s experience. However, despite any challenges we may have had, 13 of the 15 students who were accepted the first year returned. To me, that speaks volumes more than anything.</p>
<p>Moving forward, if you review our website now, you’ll see that many of the valid concerns that were raised in that thread have been addressed. In particular, look at our faculty, staff, curriculum and admissions pages. We’re definitely working on building out this information more so if there any questions that aren’t sufficiently answered. Let us know… we’re always ready for questions!</p>
<p>With regards to safety & supervision: This is of the utmost concern to us. We have a close to a 2:1 student-onsite staff ratio. We have 3 full time staff members dedicate to Residential Life (yes, this year all are college graduates 
) plus all faculty have residential life duties. Students are very closely supervised and a significant amount of prepwork in each country is done to ensure that we have quick access to local hospitals & medical care. In every location we also hire a host city specialist who helps to establish safety protocols. This is just a start in how we approach keep our students safe where-ever they go. </p>
<p>As for the cost, we try to say it in as many ways as we can: it’s very expensive to do what we’re doing in the way that we’re doing it but we are well funded and offer significant scholarships.</p>
<p>I hope members of this forum understand, I’m not trying to “sell” the school here. I’m not in PR and not in the Admissions department. I’ve spent nearly 3 three years working with some very dedicated people to make TGS a reality and I wanted to help set the record straight somewhat. :)</p>
<p>Come, check out our website, talk to us and then decide for yourself. Happy school hunting!</p>
<p>Mike</p>