Application Timeline

The Peace Corps is a government agency and so the application process moves a little slower than in private industry.  The process from the time you apply until you are in a foreign country takes many months.  The shortest time line I have heard of is eight months.  It usually takes around 12 months for an individual going on their own.   It generally takes even longer still for married couples because of the difficulty in finding a spot for each of them in the same place.  I was anticipating that if we were accepted, we would not go until early 2011 — we left on April 1, 2011.

For a complete description of the Peace Corps application process, click here.

Here is our application time line so far…

Oct 26, 2009 Began the online application.
Nov 25, 2009 Finished the online application and pressed the “submit” button
Dec 1, 2009 Last of the three references submitted their comments
Dec 2, 2009 Received a packet requesting fingerprints, etc.  Learned that our recruiter is Kyle Jessop, a two-time Peace Corps volunteer himself.
Dec 4, 2009 Mailed the fingerprint packet back to the Peace Corps
Dec 10, 2009 Spoke with Kyle and set the date and time for our interview
Dec 18, 2009 Had our interview.  It went very well, Kyle said we were outstanding candidates but he could not nominate us at this time with our skill sets as there were no positions for couples.  He suggested we add to our skills by doing some English teaching tutoring in a volunteer situation.  10 hours per month for 3 months would be enough to qualify us as an English teacher.  This would make us available for more positions.
Jan 23, 2010 We began our volunteer service with English For Successful Living to teach ESL locally.
Mar 8, 2010 Our recruiter called with the good news.  We were nominated for positions in Eastern Europe with a departure date of March 2011.  The jobs would be for Tish to provide health care; and for me to teach English.  This would not have been possible had our recruiter not given us the good advice to do some ESL volunteering so that teaching English would be one of our possibilities.
Mar 19, 2010 We received our Medical/Dental packet.  It was full of forms to be filled out by us and our doctors and dentist.  This is a lengthy part of the application process.  I have no worries about passing the medical portion of the application– it is just a big hassle !
Apr 28, 2010 Tish has dropped her Medical Packet envelope in the mail.   I still have to get a few more things, but it will be soon for me.
May 3, 2010 I dropped my Medical Packet envelope in the mail.  The ball is back in their court now.
… Four and one-half months of waiting
Sept 24, 2010 We received notification that we were medically cleared and our file was moving on to the placement officer.   Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel?
Oct 15, 2010 We got a phone call from the Placement Officer.  After a quick interview she said they were considering us for placement in Sub Saharan Africa with an April departure date.  The job I would be doing would change from English teaching to HIV/AIDS Capacity Building.
Oct 21, 2010 We received the official invitation from the Peace Corps to serve in Botswana. Our service is to begin April 2011.
Oct 24, 2010 We emailed our acceptance of the invitation for service.
Oct 25, 2010 We received an email from the Peace Corps with this opening sentence:Congratulations and welcome to the Peace Corps! Your place in the Botswana program has now been confirmed.” (This email arrived almost one year, to the day, from the start of our application process.)
Oct 30, 2010 We have returned the completed Passport/Visa forms to the Peace Corps.  Also, we have created our Aspiration Statements and updated resumes and forwarded them to the Botswana desk at the Peace Corps.
Staging is scheduled for April 1, 2011, in Philadelphia, PA
Pre-Service training is scheduled to begin April 4, 2011, in Botswana

One Response to Application Timeline

  1. Susan Ballou says:

    Tish, you will be sorely missed!
    I’m sorry I didn’t get to say good-bye!
    Lots of love,
    Susan

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