The Peace Corps application process is super long, sometimes over a year, and involves a lot of steps and a ton of waiting. It seems like a lot of applicants, myself included, spend that waiting time doing some obsessive email refreshing and a lot of research about other people's application timelines. I did a lot of google searching and reading random strangers' blogs, so if there's any future PCVs out there, here's my timeline. I think my timeline is a bit atypical for a couple of reasons. There's a step somewhere between nomination and invitation called medical pre-clearance, but I didn't have to do anything for that since my health history is so nonexistent. I hear that step takes quite a while for some people. Also obviously most people don't decide to complicate things by getting married mid-application. :)
February 6, 2013- Submitted online application. The online application involves a lot of resume and personal history type stuff, explaining your experience, and a couple essay questions about why you want to join Peace Corps. You also have to give contact info for three references: an employer, someone who has been your supervisor or known you as a volunteer, and a peer. You also fill out a health history form online after you submit the application.
March 7, 2013- Interview. I had my interview in person at the Atlanta Peace Corps office, but I know of other people who either had to travel to the nearest city with a regional office or did theirs via skype. Mine was about two hours long, but it was pretty non-scary. It was basically just a conversation with a recruiter about my motivations for applying to Peace Corps and what my expectations and concerns were. At the end of the interview she told me she would be nominating me for the health sector.
March 12, 2013- Nomination. I got the official email nominating me for service in the health sector, with a departure window of April-June 2014.
Sometime in late March- Legal forms and fingerprints. I didn't write down the exact date for this one, but I got some forms in the mail about a week after the nomination email to fill out so they could do a background check on me. I went to the Emory police station to get my fingerprints done, which was free and pretty easy and painless except that I had ink all over my fingers for the rest of the day. I heard afterwards that some people had to pay to get their fingerprints done so I was glad I didn't have to.
June 5, 2013- Legally cleared. I didn't get an email or anything saying I had been cleared, the status on my online application just changed.
June 11, 2013- Called placement with questions. Luke and I decided we wanted to get married before we did Peace Corps/submarine things. I called and emailed the placement office to ask them how this would affect my application, and got some automatic replies and not a lot of information.
June 26, 2013- Health placement questionnaire. I got an email from the health placement people asking for an updated resume and asking me to fill out a form with some questions about my expectations for service, site placement, and geographic flexibility. They also sent me a romantic involvement FAQ with some things to think about regarding relationships and Peace Corps service.
July 1, 2013- Phone call with placement specialist. I had a phone call with Kristen, a placement specialist, to talk about how getting married would affect my commitment to Peace Corps. My impression was that they're not anti-relationships or anti-marriage, they just get concerned when people want to make any drastic life changes during the application process. They also want to better understand what we're expecting and how we're prepared for a long distance relationship because they don't want people to ET in order to go be with their partner. Basically she said she'd have to discuss my situation with someone else to see what they wanted to do about me. Usually they would want people to wait a year between major life changes and PC service, which might mean I would have to leave quite a bit later than anticipated. She also told me that she had me in mind for a health program departing in June for sub-Saharan Africa, so I spent a lot of time researching which health programs typically left in June.
August 12, 2013- Email from Kristen. I got a follow up email from Kristen saying a group was meeting to discuss whether they would make an exception to the wait a year policy for me, and that she would get back to me on Friday or Monday. I spent the next couple days worrying that they had decided I was too difficult and annoying and were going to tell me they weren't going to give me an invitation.
August 16, 2013- Kristen calls back. Unfortunately I was in and out of airports all day flying back to Atlanta from Lake Tahoe, so we played phone tag all day and I had to wait until Monday to hear what they had decided to do about me.
August 19, 2013- Finally, a decision. I spoke to Kristen and they decided that since Luke would be underwater for much of the time that I'd be in Peace Corps, they could make an exception for me. Hooray! She tells us we have to fill out a SWOS questionnaire and that they need a notarized letter from Luke saying we discussed this whole thing and that he's on board.
August 24, 2013- Forms sent. Luke and I filled out the SWOS form and mailed the notarized letter.
September 5, 2013- The almost-invitation email. I got an email from Kristen saying that she had received the letter and that I would receive an invitation within a week for a departure in early June to sub-Saharan Africa, in a health program with a malaria component. I spent the next day or so refreshing me email every 30 seconds or so and wondering exactly what the cutoff was between early June and mid-June.
September 6, 2013- Invitation! "Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Zambia for Peace Corps service." I got the email while I was in class and it was absolute torture to wait until class was over to be able to call and tell everyone. The departure date is June 10, 2014, and my job title is Community Health Development Extensionist. All of my RPCV friends told me Zambia is a great country, Vanessa was thrilled since she just spent the summer there, my family is pleased because Zambia is pretty politically stable, and I spent the whole next weekend reading everything there is online about Zambia.
September 9, 2013- Accepted my invitation. Obviously. I got a bazillion emails as soon as I accepted the invitation telling me all the things I had to start doing, like applying for a passport and visa.
September 20, 2013- Gynecologist appointment. One of the medical tasks for female applicants is a pap smear, and it has to be done within 9 months of departure instead of 6 months like most of the medical tasks. I decided to get it out of the way early.
December 12, 2013- Medical tasks updated. Since it's the six month mark before we leave for Zambia (staging is on the 10th, but we actually leave on the 12th), it's time to do all of the medical clearance stuff. All of the forms are online and we have to download them and take them to various doctors appointments.
January 3, 2014- Dentist appointment. It was uneventful. They told me to floss more often and I had a cool panoramic x-ray.
January 6, 2014- Eye doctor appointment. Also uneventful. I got a new pair of glasses with fancy transition lenses.
February 7, 2014- Physical exam appointment. Still uneventful, except that I had to get a ton of blood drawn for all the tests they require.
February 25, 2014- Vaccines. I went and got a yellow fever vaccine and a tetanus shot. MMR, polio, and chicken pox are also required but I already had those. Vaccines are super expensive.
February 26, 2014- Submitted final medical tasks. I submitted the last of my paperwork to the online medical portal, and immediately got an email saying it was under review.
March 19, 2014- Final medical clearance. I got an email saying I've been medically cleared, which means that they looked over all the paperwork I submitted and decided everything looks good and I'm healthy enough to be allowed to go.
May 9th, 2014- Flight booked. I got an email about staging that included instructions for arranging a flight to staging, so I called and booked one. Info about our flight to Zambia was also in the email.
June 10, 2014- Staging in Philadelphia.
June 11, 2014- Leave for Zambia!
