First, you may want to think about a definition for "diplomat": an official representing his/her country abroad, OR (in a broader, more colloquial sense) a person who can deal with people in a sensitive and effective way. To answer the question, you would probably consider both definitions.PRO: An exchange student coming to the US does represent his/her native country in many ways. How the student behaves and interacts with others in his/her host family/host commmunity/host school will reflect German values and German culture. The better a student can communicate and build relationships with American counterparts, the more profound an impression he/she will potentially make. Americans' image of Germany will clearly be influenced by such experiences with German exchange students in the US. In that sense, an exchange student is in fact a "mini diplomat" abroad.CON: Obviously, an exchange student is not an official respresenting his/her whole country. He or she will only touch the lifes of a relatively small circle of US people. Moreover, exchange programs tend to take place in small communities rather than metropolitan areas, so the effect these programs can possibly have on German-American relationships is limited to a very small, local scale. I hope this helps.German in NY