Little Closer and a Readers Question

We got the needed information to complete our file! All we need is to here from the Placement Office too see where we are going. Here are the email's received from our Assistant Placement Officer.

Dear Matt,
"I received the reference from _____________ earlier today. I’ve added it to your file, so it is complete for now, though you may hear more from my office as the departure date for your program becomes closer."

Dear Tanie,
"Thank you for the new essay. Your file is complete now and I have passed it on to your Placement Officer for the final review. You will hear more from my office as the date of departure for your program becomes closer."

Also there has been a question from one of our readers: "Once you receive medical clearance are you under the impression it is basically a sure thing that you'll be placed?"

This is a great question and something I have asked many times on different Peace Corps blogs and the answer is no. I know that's probably not the answer that everyone wants to hear. There are several reasons why there are no guarantees. First with the economic downfall there has been a ton of people trying to getting into the Peace Corps. For what have heard from second hand information is that placement is very competitive now. The only thing I can suggest is to put in an application and try your chances. Since the Peace Corps is a job, you have to treat it like one. You have to have a completed four year degree and experience in the field you desire. Volunteer experience is very valuable as well and it is needed to show that you are commited to working with people and volunteering.

If you want more information you can check the Yahoo group peacecorps2. That is the best site that I have seen yet when it comes to questions about the Peace Corps. Other than that thanks for the question and good luck on your process!

Matt

Needed More Information

Tanie and I both got an email from our Assistant Placement officer today. He needed Tanie to rewrite a Cross-cultural experience essay. He said that it did not answer the question that they were asking. For me I did not have a friend reference. So I asked a friend to complete this as soon as possible.

This is really good though because it hasn't only been a few days and they are already looking at our files. I was not expecting to hear anything for another couple of months. Hopefully this means that after we get this stuff done that they can place us.

Waiting is hard.

Matt

Placement Office

Today I spoke to our Student Aide of a Placement Officer. She was very polite and told me that our last date to hear something about our placement would be June 1st. It has need officially three weeks from when we got medical clearance. She told me that it might take as long as June 1st to place us but since we have everything already in and it is being checked over she didn't expect it to take longer than a couple of months. WOW! A couple of months seems like forever! Well at least it does being in this waiting period. I am trying to patient the best I can but this waiting is very very difficult. I will update you as soon as we hear anything about where we are going.

Matt

Still Waiting...

It has been exactly two weeks from when we have received medical clearance from the Peace Corps. To me this has been the worst part of the waiting. Two weeks has been forever because everything hangs in the balance. Where we would be going is the least of my worry at this point. I know for a fact that because of this economic down fall there has been an influx of applications to the Peace Corps.

According to blogs and other articles from a lot of places right now if you put in an application then you can expect to wait 16 months before you might get placed. This is a four month change from 12 which we the number told in September of 08’. Everyone is looking at something they can do now that jobs are very hard to find and people do not know what to do with their lives. I can understand this. I am now wondering if our original estimation is off and instead of June or July it is now November or later.

This would be okay but I would just like to know what it is we are supposed to do till then? I guess the only thing we can do is wait. Tanie has a better attitude then I do. She is confident in our placement and she expects it to happen soon. I am glad for her because sometimes I think if I didn’t have her as a wife my life would be a giant storm of worry at this point.

Matt

Peace Corps Timeline

Greetings
Down below this post is our Peace Corps timeline. It is obliviously not completed placement pending. This process I understand takes several months longer for a married couple for reasons that make sense. Things like instead of one person going through this process, now there are two. Two people with a medical history, dental history, legal history and whatever else they want to know. This process is not for those who do not have patience. The good Lord knows I almost freaked out because of the wait (again still pending).

Matt


Peace Corps Timeline

Early July – My wife and I spoke about maybe joining the Peace Corps.

Next Day – Started the application and talked to our recruiter for the first time. Tells us we can have an interview that weekend if we get all the paperwork in time.

July 12th – We both got all our paperwork in and had our interview. He told us that he could not nominate us yet because we were a married couple and he will have to check a few program areas and get back to us.

Sept. 16th – After a long wait we got a nomination in the mail for Youth Development and English Teaching.

Sept. 18th – Received our medical packet. Now the hard part starts.

Jan. 2nd – Dental Clearance – That was pretty easy.

Jan. 26th – Received a letter requesting more information and paperwork I did not seem to include :)

Feb. 13th – Received medical clearance! What a huge relief! I really did not know if we would get past this part.

Feb 18th – Received an email from my Placement Officer asking if we can send things like our updated resume and a copy of our final transcript from college.

Current - Now we are waiting for Invitation!

Medical Clearance

I got an email from the Peace Corps on Saturday saying, "A decision has been reached regarding your medical review. Please look for a letter in the mail." I was feeling so nervous about this because I knew this meant either medical clearance or rejection.

Today it is Tuesday and we got the letter! We both got medical clearance!! This is the biggest news yet when it comes to Peace Corps process! This means that we are on the last step: Placement!!! Now it is the waiting game. This could take a week or a month or several. I have been reading other peoples blogs and they get placed around one to three months. That seems like a long time but they have to make sure of a lot of things before the send you overseas. Things like making sure our skill-set matches up to the country they might place us. We are both so stoked!

Matt

Paperwork has been submitted!

This is Tanie typing.

I have finally come to the end of my Peace Corps medical paperwork journey and have mailed out every last piece. So my papers are now in transit to Washington D.C. to be looked over by "the government". Hopefully they will declare me medically clear along with my husband.

After that comes more waiting of course. The Peace Corps process is a lot like going to the airport; you rush to get there and then wait. Well, Matt and I rushed to fill out the application, have the interview and fill out some more papers (all of this done in two weeks) then we waited for months to hear anything. Finally we were nominated to Asia! Then we rushed to finish all of our medical papers and now we wait again. How long? No one can be sure. But the next step will be the invitation to a specific job in a specific city in a specific country.

It is an exciting and angst filled journey but we are very happy to be at this point.

We will keep you updated on when we are cleared by the government for different areas.
Thanks for reading!