Step 1: Application

Applications for international trips are usually due at least 4 months before the scheduled departure, so it’s important to be thinking ahead about which Quests you are interested in. Domestic trips often have a smaller gap between application deadline and departure date, more like 2 months.

Though it’s tempting to wait until the application deadline, you make the trip leaders’ lives much easier if you apply early (it’s not that hard...just do it).

It’s difficult to get to know much about a person from a short application, but here are a few tips on giving us your best when you apply:

Show us you're really interested: Applications with answers that are so short that they don’t look like much time or effort were put in are easy to discard. We don’t need every detail of your life story, but think about the best way to show your interest and make it seem like you’d be a good group member. Good, concise stories that really show who you are will stick in trip leaders’ minds and make you seem like an exciting person to learn more about.

Show us you're open minded: Show us how you’ve embraced opportunities to explore new ideas and engage with people that are different than you. If you haven’t done this much in your life yet, explain why this is the time that you are ready to reach out and challenge yourself.

Show us you're still growing: Don’t make us think that you have no room to grow. Sometimes people who have traveled a lot, explored new religions and cultures, appear to think they have seen it all. We don’t want this Quest to be “just one more trip” for anyone, but a special experience that each person will grow from.

Step 2: Interviews

Crossing staff review all applications, and then set up interviews with applicants who they think would likely be good members of that Quest group. Interviews usually are conducted by the trip leaders and Crossing staff members, and are designed to be a relaxed and informal way to get to know you better. Trip leaders are not looking for certain answers, so don’t worry that you’ll say the wrong thing or that we don’t like who you are.

When we are composing each Quest group out of the all the people that we interviewed, we try to enhance diversity in religious background, year in school, home region, ethnicity, major, travel experience while selecting people we think are most likely to grow from the experience and contribute positively to the group.

Important note: If you are not selected for a particular Quest, please do not feel like you did something wrong. We’d often love to take more people than space allows on a particular Quest trip, and are sad that we have to leave people behind. Also, we occasionally have  students drop out of trips and then invite someone who interviewed earlier to join the group. You can always apply for another trip, or wait until next year!

Step 3: Make sure you have a valid passport!

Once your group is composed, the first thing you should do is begin the process of renewing or getting a new passport, if necessary. It takes several weeks to receive a new passport and you absolutely cannot travel internationally without one. Find the information you need here.

Step 4: Check your vaccinations

It’s worth informing your family doctor or University Health Services about your travel plans, and asking if there are any recommended preventative measures (e.g. malaria pills) for your destination or if you need any vaccination updates.

Step 5: Group meetings

Each Quest group meets several times before they depart. Usually groups meet about every two weeks on a regular schedule (e.g. Sunday nights from 7:00-9:00) to make trip preparations, do team-building exercises, and meet with professors and other experts who lead discussions on their destination location or the theme of the Quest

These meetings are a vital part of the Quest experience. It’s important that before each Quest group departs, the members have a shared body of knowledge about their destination, have established ties of friendship and cooperation, and have begun thinking about the theme of the Quest together. This preparation helps the group “hit the ground running” once their travels begin.

Step 6: Fundraising

International Quest groups sometimes decide to do fundraising to help minimize the out-of-pocket expenses for each traveler. The Crossing is committed to helping each Quest group to make their trip more affordable, but it’s up to each group to decide how aggressive they want to be with fundraising and what strategies they would like to use. Each Quest student is welcome to “opt-out” of fundraising if they would prefer to pay the whole trip cost on their own. Domestic trips are affordable enough that Quest groups have not chosen to fundraise for those trips, although the option is available. Check out the Paying for Your Quest page for tips on how to make your Quest affordable.