Anyone been in the Peace Corps?

Question

Have you been in the Peace Corps? Where did you go, what did you do, how was your experience? I'm really interested in doing it! Thanks:).

Answer 1

Please do a search. This question is asked at least once a day on this forum!

I haven't been in the Peace Corps (I'm not American) but my friend was. It's not as glamorous as the press makes it out to be. He was sent to a TINY town in Russia where not a single person spoke English - and he didn't speak Russian. He was very lonely and had terrible culture shock. It was really, really hard.

But, he stuck it out and grew because of it. He says he's glad he did it, but like I said it's not glamorous and you have no choice on where you're sent or what position you do. I would still recommend it, but make sure you have some travel experience as well as a lot of volunteer work with international development organizations (Oxfam, Amnesty International, etc). Peace Corps is *very* competitive.

Answer 2

Someone who doesn’t know jack about the Peace Corps answering a question about the Peace Corps… WHAT A SHOCKER!

Anyway the idea the PC will send you to a small town in Russia without teaching you Russian is ABSURD! The PC requires you to successfully complete three months of training prior to being posted in a community. A major part this training is language. This means you have to meet a certain fluency level in the language of the country are posted in or they SEND YOU BACK TO AMERICA. I was a PCV in central Africa and I really struggled with French; I didn’t pass my French fluency test until 2 days before training ended, and PC made it clear to me that if I failed that test then I was going home, period. What this means is that you probably won’t be perfectly fluent in the language but you will have a functional fluency before you are sent to your post. And by the way PC is not even in Russia anymore.

Furthermore the Peace Corps is NOT competitive. It’s a giant misconception that has grown a life of its own. PC is SELECTIVE, i.e., you don’t compete against other applicants, rather you are measured against a set standard. If a group of 1,000 people apply and 500 meet that standard then 500 are going. If 1,000 apply and only 5 meet that standard then only 5 are going. What this means in reality is that PC rarely meets its recruiting goals, PC just does not get enough people applying who measure up.

Who ever claimed that the PC was glamorous?!? It’s a VERY challenging experience that requires determination, patience, and an adventurous spirit.

You do need some volunteer experience to get in the PC but it does NOT have to be with an international organization. The bulk of my volunteer experience that qualified me for PC was tutoring fellow students at my university. Also travel experience makes you a stronger applicant, but it is not a requirement. I had never been outside of America before I got on the plane to Africa.

Regarding my experience…

I have never felt so alive or had as much fun as I did during those two years teaching math in that remote village in central Africa.

I learned what hard work really was, lost my need for trivial personal possessions, and gained an understanding of the world that I could have never acquired through reading books or sitting in a classroom.

Talk to a Peace Corps Recruiter, that’s what they get paid for.

Good luck!