More paperwork...

>> Monday, February 27, 2006

Today the packets from our recruiter did arrive. They included a letter, the fingerprint forms (and we promptly went to the police station to have our prints done), the National Agency security form, a "Joining Peace Corps as a Couple Questionnaire," info sheets and addenda forms for our qualifying activities--Paul and I both received sheets for Secondary Education English Teaching and Community Service. Woo!

Now the next step is getting all of this filled out and getting ready for the interview on Wednesday!

Read more...

A Toolkit to Call my Own

>> Sunday, February 26, 2006

Yesterday I received my letter officially acknowledging my application and containing my Applicant Toolkit information. I logged in and saw my application status and the checklist to nomination:

Our recruiter e-mailed us two days ago to say that he sent the supplement to the application--including the fingerprint form, the agency check form (which is a background check consent, I think), and skill addenda. The addenda are online to look at, so I am hoping I'll receive Education, Community Services, and maybe even Urban Youth Development. While that paperwork is due March 15, the recruiter said we can turn them in to him personally when we see him for our interview on Wednesday--just 3 days away! I hope they arrive in time to give them to him. I'm also not sure why it says they haven't received any of my recommendation forms; I know that all three were submitted more than a week ago, but it probably just takes time for them all to be sorted to where they need to be.

My hope is that by Wednesday the rest of those boxes will be ready to be checked!

Read more...

Officially Applied!

>> Tuesday, February 21, 2006

After getting recommendations straightened out and finishing his thousanth draft of the personal statements, Paul submitted his application last night! We're now officially applied as a couple. I also e-mailed our interviewer to alert him to our accomplishment and ask a few more questions; I found out that all married couples are considered together once a quarter for positions leaving one year from that time. So right now they are in the process of assigning January, February, March 2007. In May, they will assign April, May, and June 2007, which is when Paul and I hope to leave. I hope that our Applicant Toolkit packets arrive soon; they will give us a login to allow us to check our application status through the whole process and, I have heard, reveal secret parts of the Peace Corps website! Now the real waiting begins!

Read more...

Paul speaks the truth...

>> Thursday, February 09, 2006

I'm excited to have this blog, not because I think everyone I know will be interested in the mundane details of every step of the application process, but mostly because I want to be able to look back on the whole journey and I hope that people who apply after us can learn a little bit from our experience--I know I have been trying to read anything and everything I can get my hands on about the PC. :)

I did submit my application yesterday--it is a huge relief! The initial application is in two parts: the Volunteer Application and the Health Status Review Application. The Volunteer Application was the most lengthy part--it took me somewhere over 20 hours to complete. Most of that time was spent working on the resumé and the essays, including the time I spent taking the essays to the Writing Center, the Career Center, and revising them over and over again. One essay is the Motivation Statement ("Why do you want to join the PC?") and the other is the Cross-Cultural Experience ("When have you had to adapt cross-culturally in the past?"). Once they essays were uploaded and the application submitted, I was able to complete the Health Status Review Application, which was a seemingly endless list of yes/no questions like "Other than for arthritis or bursitis, have you been medically treated more than twice for Shoulder arthroscopy, ligament repair, reconstruction or replacement?" That took me 20 minutes to complete. There are also three recommendations that are required--one from a close friend, one from a work supervisor, and one from a volunteer supervisor or professor. I talked to those people and sent them the links so that they can fill out the recommendation worksheet that the PC provides.

After that was done, I e-mailed the PC recruiter who is coming to Truman at the end of February. He served with his wife and just returned last summer and seemed really eager to answer any questions we have, particularly about serving as a couple. He also confirmed the six month marriage rule, said we can do both our individual and couple interview while he's here, and said that couples' applications will be next reviewed in May (couples' applications are only looked at at particular times, not all year round like individuals' applications).

That pretty much gets us up to speed... I received an e-mail just after submitting my application that I should receive a letter in 10 days telling me how to log on to my Applicant Toolkit, which will have information about my application status. And so it begins!

Read more...

First Post

It is nice to know that there is absolutely no one reading this, but just in case our experiences can be helpful to future Peace Corps hopefuls, we want to share what we have and will learn about the process. We have both finished our applications, but I still haven't submitted it because I have one more meeting with one of the career counselors at Truman to go over the essays and make sure they don't suck.

Holly submitted hers already and found out that the Peace Corps doesn't look at either application until they are both submitted, so I need to submit mine soon. We also learned that there is a new rule that isn't on the Peace Corps website or application that couples must be married 6 months before departure, which slightly changes our marriage plans :).

We will keep posting when we know more... our interviews will be on campus at the end of the month, and we might be able to do both the individual and couple interviews the same day. The recruiter that is coming to campus seems really cool and really nice, so that is definitely a relief. I am sure that all of the stuff I forgot will be posted quickly by Holly. Maybe we can start posting some of the advice we are getting from RPCVs about what to do/what to take.

Read more...
THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE OURS PERSONALLY AND DO NOT REFLECT THE POSITION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OR THE PEACE CORPS.

  © Blogger template Palm by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP