Today I received an update from the Peace Corps offices. The process has been slower than I had anticipated, but has afforded me the opportunity to partake in some incredible experiences. By the looks of the form letter Peace Corps has sent me, I am in for another long waiting period. I have included the letter for those interested, and updated my Peace Corps Time-line.
Greetings from the Peace Corps Placement and Assessment Office!
We wish to congratulate you on receiving your medical clearance, and achieving one of the most important steps on your way to becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. We will soon be screening and reviewing your application materials and you will be notified if any additional technical, suitability, or legal information is needed for your file at that time. Once we have initiated the review of your file, we will update you on the next steps of the application process.
Upon completion of the assessment process, you may be considered for an invitation. Please keep in mind that this stage in the process is competitive as there are typically two applicants nominated for each spot available. Given this, an invitation is never guaranteed and applicants should make no plans regarding Peace Corps service until an invitation has been issued and you have spoken to headquarters staff to accept your invitation.
It is important to note that due to programmatic changes in the Africa region and in all other regions of Peace Corps programming, the number of assignments has decreased as well which will result in a more competitive process this year for all programs.
We understand that you might be eager to receive more information from the Peace Corps at this point and we greatly appreciate your patience. In the meantime, you can prepare for Peace Corps service and make your application more competitive by: continuing to gain experience through working or volunteering within your nominated field; attending Peace Corps events; talking to Returned Volunteers; and reading books, articles, and other resources about the Peace Corps. You can also find resources and learning activities on our website and in My Toolkit.
The Africa Placement and Assessment Team would like to update you on the timing of our review for your application. We are currently reviewing applications for the April-June, 2009 timeframe. We will be reviewing applications for the July-September 2009 time period in the next 7-8 weeks. Once those programs are completed, we will shift our efforts to the programs leaving after September 2009.
Please be advised that during your application review, you may be contacted by our office if any additional technical, suitability, or legal information is required for the assessment of your file.
We appreciate your patience and look forward to working with you in the near future. Please do not respond directly to this e-mail due to the high volume of messages being sent at this time. If you have questions that have not been addressed in this letter, please contact our office at (800) 424-8580, option 2, extension 1850.
Warm Regards,
Peace Corps Assessment and Placement – Africa Region
Greetings -
I’m considering applying to the Peace Corps and have been reading about the recent cutbacks. It seems you are pretty far along in the process — given the above letter, are you led to believe your services is an inevitability or still in question to some degree? It just seems like a very long process to be held up so far along in the process.
Best of luck to you.
Kevin
Maryland
Hello Kevin,
It has been a long process and with cutbacks I have been somewhat concerned about placement. It is not a sure thing that I will be placed, however I feel confident that if I am patient and continue to pursue Peace Corps and am able to improve my skills to strengthen my candidacy, I will ultimately be placed.
I believe the process has been long for me partly because of the availability date I gave my recruiter at the time of my interview. I told them I would be available September of ’09 due to re-upping with Americorps for another year. I later decided not to do Americorps for a second term (yet) opting instead to focus on agricultural skills and take on a couple of challenges that I had been dreaming of accomplishing.
Good luck to you in your pursuits,
Scott
Hey Scott,
I’m a Peace Corps Nominee, and I just got cleared on medical.
The Peace Corps Africa Placement office called me for an updated resume and transcripts.
I was wondering how long did it take you to get from “cleared by medical” to “invited”.
Thank you,
Nicole
Washington DC
Hello Nicole,
I was medically cleared on November 21, 2008 and received my invitation on April 15, 2009, so a little less than 5 months. The wait was long, but I filled it with enjoyable activities. I leave in four days for staging. It has been well worth the wait thus far.
Good luck with the rest of the process!
Scott
Hey Scott,
I just got cleared for my medical about a week ago and I am wondering if you could give me some tips on how to get an invitation. It seems nerve wrecking that the other person competing with you might get your spot for the invitation after all you did for the process. It seems like even though with all this effort in the application process, I may never be able to go at all. I’m determined to go and so I just want to know what I need to do to get an invitation. Thank you very much!
Joanna
P.S. I noticed in the letter that the Peace Corps had to decrease the number of spots available to volunteers. I was wondering if this is still the case since you’ve got this letter a while ago. I don’t know if Obama gave more money for volunteering oversees so I don’t know if this situation has improved.
I also just got cleared for medical a week ago and am waiting for my invitation. The tentative departure date I got after my nomination was March 2010, but if it took Scott five months to hear back from placement, that doesn’t look too promising for me. My main concern is that I was nominated for a position that I’m not directly qualified for (university english teacher). Usually you have to have a Master’s in English plus teaching experience for this. I have a Master’s in Library and Information Studies and experience teaching French (not English). Fingers crossed.
By the way, what’s up with the PC website saying it takes 3-9 months for final placement??? Does anybody actually get their invitation in only 3 months?
Hi K,
I was cleared for medical (and dental and legal) in September 2009, but was also given a March 2010 nomination date. I wouldn’t take Scott’s 5-month window between getting cleared and getting invited as definitive for every nominee. From what I’ve read and heard, that window can be anywhere from a few weeks to 6 months (it’s usually somewhere along the 4-month prior to departure timeline, so I think you’re right on track). I also understand that the Peace Corps promises to give you a minimum six weeks before departure date. Since my nomination was for the end of March, I wouldn’t expect to hear from them later than mid-February. Of course, I’m hoping it’s sooner than that!
By the way, if you’re nominated for a program, it means they think you’re qualified for it, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Although, if you want to bulk up your resume, you can always look into a TEFL certification. Good luck!
I’ve been in the process for almost half a year now. I was nominated in August 09 and I am now waiting to hear back about my medical info (which seemed to take a while to compile!). My nomination date of departure was for September of 2010 and when I sent in my medical info they sent me an email stating they are “currently reviewing applicants who are scheduled for departure in the next 4 months,” which means I might not be reviewed for a while.
It’s so hard being patient! But it’s worth the wait. I served two years in the Americorps program here in the states, that was a process too, but it was an incredible experience.
I hope each of your experiences work out!
DO you know where your program is going? I have a friend who says you can google and find out what programs are leaving in the time period you are going (you are sept 2010?) and narrow it down. I am “supposed” to have a departure date of sept 2010 too but my recruiter also said that she is working on people leaving in the next month (june and aug?) It just frustrating that I am kinda putting my life on hold this summer to hear back from peace corps. (not signing a lease!, doing month to month which sucks!)
Nick,
Did you end up checking out the Wiki-Timeline? Are you on schedule? Did you get an invite? What have you discovered? I’m through all the processes now, my application has been reviewed and now I’m just waiting for placement options. I’m hoping it will go quickly, but alas, no word yet.
Best,
Crystal
ah funny story, basically peace corps told me that from day 1 I would be going to South Pacific, than i got a call saying they had a program in Africa that I would be joining, than I got a letter saying I am going to Namibia! Alas, they say you will have 6 weeks of notice, I am going off of 4 and leaving the 15th of Aug! the process really speeds up once you hear where you are going, they have you fill out alot of paperwork in those “6 weeks!”
I applied in March 09,was nominated in June 09, and medically/dentally cleared around Aug/Sept 09. I received my invitation last week (March 2010) so to those still waiting, don’t be discouraged! The process took me a year but I’ll be leaving for Kenya in May!
Thanks for all of the insight everyone has shared! I’m just beginning my application process and am curious what countries/geographic regions are most requested and which areas the Peace Corps needs the most help in. Does anyone know?
I applied around the same time. March 2010. I received med clearance today 2/1/2012. Eleven months later. where are you in the process?
Latin America is one of the most requested and most competitive regions. My sense is that you have to have significant Spanish language experience, and that doesn’t mean taking two/three years of it in college.
Education is one of the biggest programs, so they need a lot of volunteers. It isn’t that big in Latin America, but is very needed in Central Asia and other regions that I can’t remember. Also, if you have specialized skills in agriculture or business, they are often in desperate need of those skills so your process may be much shorter!
Thanks, Kim!
So I received my nomination in Dec and sent my medical paper work in minus my dental (still waiting) today March 23ed. I am so excited I cant stand it. My nomination was for Aug Departure. I graduate college in May with a not so outstanding GPA but awesome community service and vol work. Any suggestions or thoughts?
I have been given a nomination to serve in Latin America starting July 2012 for the Peace Corps.
As of now, I am beginning the medical process of the application (I know, I still have a long way to go). If this is the point that I am at, what is the likelihood that I will get an invitation?
Matt, have you heard anything of lately? I am cleared for Africa, July ’12 and since my medical clearance have not heard from PC. The timeline you have is about the same as mine; ie medical clearance, departure date…. After reading the above comments I am going to be patient and give it more time before making a call!
I have a fairly large gaming channel on YouTube, and have been really interested in this game when I read about it on Kotaku. Just wondering if I get invited to the beta would it be all right to post videos, help get the word out on the game perhaps?
Hi Tamiko
I actually began my application process March 2011. I was nominated on May 2nd, 2011 for a program departing Jan-Mar 2012.
Since I did not receive medical clearance by December 2011, my nominated departure date was moved to april-jun 2012.
I received clearance today Feb, 1st 2012 and now waiting for an invitation