The ridiculous application process

When I was starting the application process, i found myself pouring over peace corps blogs, imagining myself in remote locations around the globe. unfortunately there weren't a lot of retrospective looks at the application process, which made it hard for me to really grasp the whole thing. this isn't going to be a very exciting post, so if you're looking for that trademark "Rishi" zest and zeal, i recommend reading toothpastefordinner for the next ten minutes instead. if you're genuinely interested in the process, read on. i really should have mentioned that before toothpaste for dinner.

firstly, i started the application process in november of last year. that is to say, i started filling out the application and getting my references in. you have to have three references: one from a professor or work supervisor, one from someone who has seen you work in a volunteer capacity, and one from a peer. since most of my volunteer experience didn't involve direct supervision, i chose two work supervisors instead. my good friend matt wrote my peer reference, since he had flowered me with praise on the comments section of my last blog (and i swear the detroit academy of ninjas will rise again).

Aside from this, i had to fill out a bunch of forms saying that i've never worked in intelligence, never shot anyone, never slept with a chimpanzee and a south ecuadorian banana tree on the same night, and the like. it was all online, and it was all pretty easy. my references understandably took a little bit more time, but i had the application filled out and all of my references in by the middle of january.

soon after, i received some more paperwork to fill out, including (i think?) some forms for security clearance. i had to get my fingerprints done and fill out some more forms, and send it all in (this is pretty much the gist of this entire post: get some forms, fill them out, send them in, wait, get some more forms). finally, i got called for an interview!

on that note, my friend zach and i were talking recently, and he brought up the fact that people often write exclamation marks in e-mails and notes, even though while they're doing it, they don't seem to be very excited. at first i thought, yeah, of course i don't make a happy face when i type an exclamation mark. but i realized that every time i read someone else write a sentence ending with an exclamation mark (man, if ever a word needed a synonym, it's exclamation mark. i mean, that's just describing what it is. a mark of exclamation. how about some creativity you lazy wordsmiths!) i imagine that they are giddy with excitement, slapping their hands together with glee while asking me if i watched grey's anatomy last night.

anyways, i finally got an interview! this was sometime in the spring, march or april i believe. since i lived in chicago, it wasn't a big deal for me to come into their recruiting office, which i like since i'm not a big fan of phone interviews. the interview lasted a little over an hour. everything seemed to go pretty well, and while we were there we set up a second interview. the second interview was on the phone, and at the end of it, the recruiter told me about a few positions that she could nominate me for. the one that sounded best to me was secondary education in sub-saharan africa in october.

a little while after i got my nomination, i received a new set of paperwork (this included access to mytoolkit, an webpage online that lets you track the status of your peace corps application status), this being the monster that is medical, dental, and visual clearance. i don't want to get into the murky details of how this all went down, but it took forever. i sent everything in, and they wanted more tests, and more information, and i sent more stuff in, and they wanted more stuff, and this went on indefinitely. they really, really, make sure that you're healthy enough for this job. this entire process lasted until the middle of october, when i finally got my clearance.

sometime in the summer meanwhile, i was contacted by my recruiter, who told me that i was no longer going to be doing the program in october, but now would be leaving in november. if you're amidst the application process, you should know that just because you're nominated for a position, doesn't mean that's the one you're getting. in fact, a lot of the blogs i've read talk about being switched once or twice.

now, the worst part of the application process is waiting for your invitation after you get your clearances. this is when you know that you can go, and you probably will go, but you have no idea when or where, and you don't know when you're going to find out. it makes it pretty difficult to think about anything else. i have a friend who waited months to find out where she was going. for me, it only took about a week after my clearance for me to find out that my invitation kit had been sent out. so, i diligently waited for the postman to arrive every day, but alas, no invitation came the next day. or the next. or the next. in fact, despite mytoolkit saying that it had been mailed out, i waited a week and a half and there was no invitation kit.

i got nervous and called my recruiter (who was extremely helpful in this entire process. hopefully all the recruiters are like this, and if you're applying and are not sure about anything, this is probably the person who can point you in the right direction) and she told me that she didn't know when i was going, but she could see that i was going to be going to uganda. now, i was more excited, but still worried that my kit had yet to arrive. finally, my dad came in one day after a long day of golf (yay global warming) and brought the kit that he had found leaned up against our garage. i'm not sure if it had been there for days, but at the time i was just happy it had arrived.

so i got the invitation kit, found out i was leaving march 3rd (the day after my birthday) and that all was going to be well. i filled out more paperwork, sent in my passport and visa forms, and read about my actual assignment, what i was going to be doing, and what kind of living conditions to expect. i also got the url for a pdf containing all of the information about uganda for peace corps volunteers. this included a packing list, some cultural information, and that sort of thing.

so, once again, filled out paperwork and sent it in. after everything was in, i was just left to wait around again, this time for my staging kit. this kit tells you where your staging is going to be. i received my staging kit 4 weeks before departure (they say 3-5 in general) and found out i was going to be leaving out of philadelphia. for those who don't know, before your service you go to staging in an american city. here, everyone else who is going to your country at that time meets, and there are a few days of seminars and vaccinations, and name games. after staging, you all fly to the country of service, and the whole group trains together at the same facility for three months. after these three months of training, you start your two years of service.

anyways, i also found out that staging began march 2nd (my birthday, as well as donnie's and dr. seuss's) which was a day earlier than i had originally been told. so, i guess i'm trying to tell prospective volunteers, that when the peace corps says something is subject to change, they mean it. i then called the travel agency to tell them that i would be driving to staging, although most volunteers would be calling to make flight reservations.

so, that's where i am at the moment. i'm just acquiring all of the things i'm going to take with me. i'll be leaving home with my parents on the 28th, we're going to hang out in philadelphia until the morning of the 2nd, when they'll drop me off at the hotel where our staging is going to be, and that'll be it. the beginning of my peace corps experience.

so, hopefully this gives a reasonable timeline as to the process. i began in november, and am leaving in march a year later, so 16 months total from application to departure. the best advice i can give is to get your medical forms in as quickly as possible, and try not to get too frustrated with the lengthy process. this is where i should say that in the end it was worth it, but i won't be finding that out for another month or so. good luck to those applying, and i don't know why you're reading this to those who aren't.