I started the Peace Corps application process in April of 2010. I don't know where I first got the idea to pursue a Peace Corps post, it was probably somewhere between thinking about the daunting task of apply for med school, taking the MCATs or graduating in December with absolutely no plan for the future. I have always loved traveling and the more I thought about it the more the idea of spending over 2 years in a 3rd world country appealed to me. I have to admit, when I started the process I had no idea what I was in store for...
I started with an online application: name, address, all the basic personal information. Next I filled out an employment history, education history, submitted a resume and requested 3 letters of recommendation (personal, professional and volunteer). I wrote 2 essays about my personal experiences and any difficulties I imagined I might have overseas. There was also a medical questionnaire about every physical and mental condition a human being could possibly have. I filled out a "romantic involvement" and "vegetarian" questionnaire and attested to the fact that I had no arrests, misdemeanors or parking tickets on my record. Finally, I swore that I wasn't in any way involved with the CIA, secret service, FBI, military, etcetera. I guess there are no spies allowed in the Peace Corps ;-)
Once I submitted the online application in July, I received a phone call from a regional recruiter and scheduled an interview where she asked me a bunch of personal questions to try and decide if I was a good candidate for service. At the end of the interview she told me that she was happy to inform me that she would be offering me a nomination and I would be receiving an email in the next few weeks.
A week or so later I got an email telling me that I had been nominated for a position in North Africa/the Middle East leaving in early March 2011 and doing work in the Health Outreach program. In subsequent weeks I received paper work for completing a back ground check (I got fingerprinted at the local police station for ten bucks, expensive ink if you ask me) and for medical, dental and eyeglass examinations. Two months later after a blood draw, peeing in a cup, 2 booster shots (one for tetanus and the other for varicella (chickenpox)) and a visit to a gynecologist I was medically cleared for service.
In the beginning of December (after I was medically cleared) the placement office contacted me requesting an updated resume and a rewrite of one of my essays. I was told that I should hear from a placement officer in the next month....... aaaand I waited..... and waited
Finally, last Thursday (2/3/11) I talked to a placement officer who asked me more personal questions, many of them repeats from my original interview and at the end of the phone call told me that I was cleared for service! She told me that my original nomination position had been filled and that she was now looking at a placement in Sub-Saharan Africa leaving in May or June.
So, that's where I'm at. I don't know exactly where I am going or when I am leaving but I do know that last Thursday a package was put in the mail that has that information in it. After a 9 month application process I am a few days away from being an official invitee, from knowing where I will be spending the next couple years of my life. (Cross your fingers for Madagascar or at least a coastal country for me!)
Come on giant envelope, land on my front steps!
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