I saw this type of post on another blog (http://mobleyfamily.info/), and thought it was at least good for myself to have the time­line doc­u­mented. Then I found it on many other Peace Corps expe­ri­ence blogs, but most of the other are unread­able. It has been a long process. I pulled up my “Peace Corps” tag in gmail, and I have 67 emails regard­ing the appli­ca­tion process start­ing Jan­u­ary 24th, 2010. Also, I think my expe­ri­ence with the process was very smooth. I was nom­i­nated directly after my inter­view, I didn’t have any med­ical or legal issues, and the Mex­ico inter­view and invi­ta­tion process went very quickly.

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

My appli­ca­tion timeline:

Jan. 24, 2010 Started online application
Feb 4, 2010 Emailed myself essay drafts, close to final versions
Feb 6, 2010 Start­ing ask­ing for recommendations
Mar 23, 2010 Sub­mit­ted online application
Mar 29, 2010 First email from recruiter  — legal packet mailed to me
Mar 30, 2010 Start­ing try­ing to get fin­ger­printed for the secu­rity clearance
Apr 8, 2010 Requested uni­ver­sity transcripts
Apr 9, 2010 Mailed back legal kit
Apr 12, 2010 Legal kit received by recruiter
Apr 16, 2010 Final tran­script received
Apr 20, 2010 Peace Corps interview
Apr 22, 2010 Sent in Roman­tic Involve­ment Questionnaire
Apr 23, 2010 Received ini­tial nom­i­na­tion for Sec­ondary Edu­ca­tion — Sci­ence in Sub-Saharan Africa, ten­ta­tive depar­ture date of early Feb 2011
Apr 26, 2010 Accepted nom­i­na­tion
Apr 29, 2010 First con­tact with Office of Med­ical Ser­vices to begin med­ical clearance
June 14, 2010 Gen­tle reminder from Office of Med­ical services
June 21, 2010 Sent med­ical and den­tal documents
July 20, 2010 Start­ing work­ing on get­ting lab results trans­lated from Ger­man to English
Aug 9, 2010 Sent trans­lated lab results after get­ting doc­tor to sign off on them
Aug 30, 2010 Filed paper­work for email waiver with Med­ical Ser­vices so I could do every­thing via email while travelling
Sep 7, 2010 Received med­ical clearance
Sep 10, 2010 First con­tact with Assess­ment and Place­ment Office
Oct 6, 2010 Addi­tional infor­ma­tion request from Place­ment Office — updated resume, edu­ca­tion skills adden­dum, roman­tic involve­ment ques­tion­naire (#2)
Nov 4, 2010 Invi­ta­tion received for inter­view for Peace Corps Mex­ico Program
Nov 9, 2010 Peace Corps Mex­ico tele­phone interview
Dec 2, 2010 Follow-up from Place­ment Spe­cialst respon­si­ble for Mex­ico pro­gram — send­ing Invitation!
Dec 6, 2010 Noti­fi­ca­tion from Edu­ca­tion desk that pro­gram full for my orig­i­nal Feb­ru­ary 2011 nomination
Dec 13, 2010 Accepted invi­ta­tion to serve as an Engi­neer­ing Spe­cial­ist Peace Corps Vol­un­teer in Mexico
Dec 14, 2010 Visit to US Con­sulate to apply for no-fee passport
Jan 19, 2010 Sent aspi­ra­tion state­ment and resume to Peace Corps Mexico
Feb 4, 2010 Received Coun­try Desk Let­ter and Let­ter to Families
Feb 9, 2010 Email from Lan­guage Coor­di­na­tor in Peace Corps Mex­ico — no need for phone inter­view since I’ve never stud­ied Spanish!
Feb 9, 2010 Request for infor­ma­tion: dietary and other allergies/restrictions
Feb 16, 2010 Stag­ing email received! Called to arrange for flight to DC
Feb 17, 2010 Flight con­firmed for March 14

Stag­ing is March 14–15 in Wash­ing­ton, DC and headed to Mex­ico on March 16th.

 

 

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