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Fuschia tude posted:Yeah, this is only their third year there. They were one of the first PC programs, running until the Communists took power in 1978, then another program from 1995-1999 until political instability shut it down again. Congrats and welcome to East Africa  . Hit me up if you ever want to come down to Kenya or if you have questions about the region. Ethiopia is on my travel itinerary, maybe we'll see each other in the future?
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Feb 17, 2011 14:33
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A few questions: I have a severe peanut allergy, will that be a major problem in placement? I would think that as long as it's not the staple of the regions diet I should be fine. Will my Management Operations degree get me anything other than an English teaching job?
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Feb 21, 2011 00:39
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This might be a weird question... and I'll probably ask my local PC rep, but I am wondering if it's possible to get a letter of recommendation from an employment supervisor to write it in their native language(Korean). I worked in rural Korea and their English is not exactly the best... but they are willing to write the letter, I just don't know if their English can convey what they really think in Korean...
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Feb 21, 2011 01:10
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newberstein posted:A few questions: That's a good question about the peanut allergy. You probably wouldn't be put in SE Asia, but I'd imagine they'd just make you carry a poo poo ton of epi pens with you (some volunteers I know have them). I think because of your degree most likely you'll be placed in CED (Community Economic Development) AKA Business rather than TEFL. Even though TEFL's the biggest sector, there are OTHER sectors. (Go go healthies go)  What's your volunteer experience like?
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Feb 23, 2011 12:35
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Ronald Spiers posted:This might be a weird question... and I'll probably ask my local PC rep, but I am wondering if it's possible to get a letter of recommendation from an employment supervisor to write it in their native language(Korean). I worked in rural Korea and their English is not exactly the best... but they are willing to write the letter, I just don't know if their English can convey what they really think in Korean... It is pretty standard to write recommendation letters yourself and just have people sign them.
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Feb 23, 2011 15:47
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Private Label posted:That's a good question about the peanut allergy. You probably wouldn't be put in SE Asia, but I'd imagine they'd just make you carry a poo poo ton of epi pens with you (some volunteers I know have them). I really hope that is true, I wouldn't want an allergy to stop me from becoming a volunteer. I volunteer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Burn Foundation, YWCA, a local food bank, and a few other places on a pretty consistent basis.
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Feb 24, 2011 05:18
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Pieter de Hooch posted:Congrats and welcome to East Africa Cool! Yeah, I'll definitely see if we can't arrange something. stevo9er posted:It is pretty standard to write recommendation letters yourself and just have people sign them. That's kind of difficult when writing a Peace Corps recommendation involves filling out forms that are emailed to you... Fuschia tude fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Feb 24, 2011 |
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Feb 24, 2011 05:28
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newberstein posted:I really hope that is true, I wouldn't want an allergy to stop me from becoming a volunteer. I volunteer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Burn Foundation, YWCA, a local food bank, and a few other places on a pretty consistent basis. Yeah, gathering by your volunteer work, you might even be considered for a healthie position. But, I'd bank on more CED because of the degree. Maybe it's just the TEFLs that are kinda screwed over on that- one of my friends said that she had a non-specific degree and that she wanted to do CYD (Community Youth Development)... basically anything BUT TEFL, but since she had a one time gig as a tutor, they stuck her with TEFL. Also, neat website: http://www.thirdgoal.org/ (Mentioning it also because it's a good shameless plug for my "Mongolian Horse Race" photo featured on the front page this week, hah)
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Feb 25, 2011 03:02
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I'm very interested in going to somewhere in Eastern Europe, ideally a country that has Russian as one of its languages. I'm going to graduate in May 2013 with a Bachelors in Linguistics and Russian Lang/Lit. Do you think this'd make me more likely to be a competitive candidate for being an English teacher in Eastern Europe? I also don't know if a Linguistics degree would be on the same level as an English degree, as far as qualification for being a teacher goes. As far as volunteer work, I currently volunteer at least 8 hours a month for a rape crisis center--I spend most of my time talking to women and men who have been abused, raped, molested, and giving them resources specific to their situations...would this experience reflect positively if I tried to get a position possibly relating to healthcare or youth projects? I also did a lot of volunteer work in high school. It was mostly volunteering at a special needs school, and tutoring 12-14 year olds with mild learning disabilities in math, science, social studies, and English. Should I mention this volunteer work on my applications or is it kinda outdated? Most of that volunteer service happened in 2004-2009. Sorry I have so many questions! I just went to an information session about the Peace Corps today at my University, and I'm just very eager Oh also--I currently take antidepressants (wellbutrin) but I don't plan on doing this for the rest of my life, and ideally I will stop taking them once I have worked myself up to a better place. I was very depressed in 2010 because my father had died and my mother was losing our house, which finally got foreclosed on, and then I transferred to a new college in August of 2010, and my Mom becoming homeless and having absolutely no money at all, etc...so I really can't blame myself for needing the antidepressants and they've helped me a lot. Should I even mention them to my recruitment officer? I really don't think I'd need them while overseas, but I'm worried if I mention them at all he'll instantly write me off as unstable and not want to give me a nomination in the future. Krasnaya fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Feb 25, 2011 23:36
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Krasnaya posted:I'm very interested in going to somewhere in Eastern Europe, ideally a country that has Russian as one of its languages. I'm going to graduate in May 2013 with a Bachelors in Linguistics and Russian Lang/Lit. Do you think this'd make me more likely to be a competitive candidate for being an English teacher in Eastern Europe? I also don't know if a Linguistics degree would be on the same level as an English degree, as far as qualification for being a teacher goes. Re: Russian, I don't know how the heck PC does its placements because most likely you won't get exactly what you want, even though you have a language requirement. Case in point: I was just talking today to some fellow PCVs and they mentioned about how they asked for a spanish-speaking country, yet, came to Mongolia. There are some PCVs in Mongolia who speak fluent spanish and for one it's even her first language. Also I know a PCV here who speaks Russian, yet they put them here instead of a Russian speaking country (granted, we do use cyrillic, but still). So I have no idea. I suppose I did hear that Mongolia is the place where they send volunteers who will "go anywhere," so maybe if you are a squeaky enough wheel, you'll get to go where you want. Re: volunteer work, go ahead and put all that on your resume. I put stuff from High School that I did, it's all good. Your degree + volunteer work kinda puts you into the TEFL/Community Development sector, or Health or CYD. It depends on what you want to do. I got pegged for health because I'm a nurse, but your work is a lot more versatile so you could be placed in a lot of countries depending on what sector you get put into/want to do. There's a part on the application where you list what sector you want to do, IIRC. Re: medications, you don't have to mention it to your recruitment officer, but there's going to be a health survey at the end of the application that goes through what you have, etc. It's like a prelim exam. If you're still worried and what to talk to PC about it, wait until after you complete your application and have your first interview and you can see what they say then. After you get your nomination you'll have to go through a huge medical exam so there's going to be time to address it. Here's a good list of medical restrictions (not the complete list I think), but it's a wiki, so take with a grain of salt: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Medical_Restrictions Hope that helps! Hmm, and it says life-threatening allergic reactions could be on the no-go list... how bad is your peanut allergy, newberstein?
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Feb 26, 2011 04:45
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I just finished my application, so now I am trying to figure out what my chances of being selected are. I have read through the thread, but I was wondering if someone could give me an idea of what my individual chances are. Any input would be great, if my chances don't look that good I need to start coming up with a contingency plan for next year. B.A. Management Operations 3.56 GPA (3.83 in the major) I didn't select any regional preference Decent amount of volunteering experience Barely any work experience except for being a shift manager at a coffee shop for two years I have some good letters of recommendation coming (including one from the kindergarten teacher whose class I helped teach reading and math) I interview well and this is something I really want to do which should be obvious with my essay Peanut Allergy edit: I also had to check the box for having two speeding tickets (both taken off my record) and one failure to completely stop at a stop sign, don't know if that will matter at all. newberstein fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Feb 26, 2011 |
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Feb 26, 2011 08:46
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For my recommendation letters, is there a special envelope I need to use?
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Feb 26, 2011 21:30
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newberstein posted:I just finished my application, so now I am trying to figure out what my chances of being selected are. My only comment about your resume is that you need to prove you can cut it living in a foreign country. Except for me having a one up on you in that department, your poo poo is way better than my resume and I am 99% done and just waiting for my invite. Chade Johnson posted:For my recommendation letters, is there a special envelope I need to use? It all is done online. You give your references' e-mail addresses on the online app somewhere, then they get an e-mail about how to fill it out. There is a way for the recs to be done offline, but I think the PC likes less hassle with the all online app. Also, waiting sucks balls. So hard. So hard.
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Feb 27, 2011 10:29
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S'up, waiting on placement buddy? Yep, patience. I'm 7 months in to the process, and on the placement desk, not yet invited. Given, I had a small med snafoo.
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Feb 27, 2011 17:55
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On the web page, somewhere, I found: "There is also a monthly newsletter with job listings and networks of people and groups to contact who will be of help." Any RPCV have any input on what that's like? One of my bigger fears is what to do after the Peace Corps, so I'd love to know how helpful this newsletter actually is.
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Feb 28, 2011 02:10
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Pocket DeSade posted:On the web page, somewhere, I found:
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Feb 28, 2011 06:55
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Iwate posted:It is not just about how qualified you are, but more so about how much endurance you have to complete the application process. You have to be patient and flexible. These two words will come up the most during the application, and you should say "I am patient and flexible" verbatim during the interview at least 2000x's. Thank you very much for the insight. I am just at the beginning of the process so I am a little intimidated by it all. Does anyone have any further information about accommodation for allergies that result in anaphalactic shock? I know someone previously said that it would only prevent me from serving in SE Asia, but from examining a few websites it appears that having a life threatening allergy results in a MNQ. In my life I have had three severe reactions, one in first grade and one in second grade (peanut butter smeared in my face and a classmate switching my cheese crackers with peanut butter ones), and one in high school when Jamba Juice accidentally gave me the wrong smoothie. The point being is that while it can kill me if I ingest a large enough amount, most reactions only require Benadryl. I have been able to successfully avoid peanuts for 99.9999% of my adult life, and I see no reason why this would change abroad. I actually feel like it would be easier in a country like Africa, as almost everything in the US "may contain traces of peanuts." I am completely willing to eat rice three meals a day if that's what it would take to serve, but I am afraid that they wouldn't want to risk it. My question is would they take this into consideration, or is it fairly black and white?
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Feb 28, 2011 08:04
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newberstein posted:Thank you very much for the insight. I am just at the beginning of the process so I am a little intimidated by it all. Does anyone have any further information about accommodation for allergies that result in anaphalactic shock? Moon Slayer, perhaps you could update the OP section about medical clearance to include this link? All the information was requested through FOIA. It's a few years old now (most looks like it's 2006 or 2007), but I don't know how often it would change, and it's a good starting point either way.
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Feb 28, 2011 08:48
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Stuntcat posted:S'up, waiting on placement buddy? When, where and what 'job'? I am June, 2011. Subsahara Africa. Primary Teacher Education. I think I should hear in March or early April. The Peacecorps wiki doesn't help when I read people's blogs saying they have been officially invited for June and July... or even just contacted by the placement office. I have been waiting for more than a month since my Med clearance, and nothing. Yo allergy dude. Just apply and talk about it in your interview. Go slightly prepared though, like can you use one of those fancy pens? or is there a drug that you should have on you at all times? But really, you need to talk to a recruiter about this, and there is no better way than to go and apply! Plus during the medical clearance phase, you will need a special note from a doctor saying that this is exactly what you will do in situations where you ingest some (loving delicious) peanuts.
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Feb 28, 2011 11:29
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Edit- Found an answer, please ignore me
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Feb 28, 2011 15:29
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Added the medical clearance link to the OP, as well as what Iwate said about patience and flexibility being the most important part of the application process. One of these days I'll get around to updating who's serving where, I swear!
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Feb 28, 2011 17:36
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Grammar Fascist posted:You should check out the Peace Corps medical clearance manual, which is available here. It looks like you'll want Section 3 (PDF). My experience is that they're quite strict and see things in black and white, but you never know. That's interesting. Under the Allergy: Nuts section, the right column says Clear -consider geographic restriction (SE Asia and West Africa). Maybe all hope isn't lost. edit: Just got a call back from the Pre-Service Nurse and she said that they have placed plenty of people with peanut allergies! As long as I have a handle on what I can and cannot eat, she said there shouldn't be a large problem. newberstein fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Feb 28, 2011 |
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Feb 28, 2011 18:07
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Moon Slayer posted:Added the medical clearance link to the OP, as well as what Iwate said about patience and flexibility being the most important part of the application process. One of these days I'll get around to updating who's serving where, I swear! You can add me for Indonesia English Teaching 2011-2013 if you want, it seems incredibly likely I'll have at least semi-regular internet access so I'd love to answer questions if possible. Leaving in a little over a month, so exciting. RagnarokAngel fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Feb 28, 2011 |
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Feb 28, 2011 20:06
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newberstein posted:That's interesting. Under the Allergy: Nuts section, the right column says Clear -consider geographic restriction (SE Asia and West Africa). Maybe all hope isn't lost. Oh that's good! I was half joking about the whole SE Asia thing but that's funny that is really is considered for restriction (that statement was based solely on the fact that I know Thailand = lots of peanuts).
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Mar 1, 2011 22:36
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Doopdoop - in answering Iwate's question/updating, I JUST got an informal invite over the phone, and my placement invitation papers should come sometime next week! It looks like...late April leaving, highschool English in...either Georgia or Romania. I'm excited!
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Mar 2, 2011 23:38
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Krasnaya posted:I'm very interested in going to somewhere in Eastern Europe, ideally a country that has Russian as one of its languages. I'm going to graduate in May 2013 with a Bachelors in Linguistics and Russian Lang/Lit. Do you think this'd make me more likely to be a competitive candidate for being an English teacher in Eastern Europe? I also don't know if a Linguistics degree would be on the same level as an English degree, as far as qualification for being a teacher goes. High-five, Linguistics Buddy! I ended up doing TEFL in Bulgaria; my linguistics degree was definitely a selling point for TEFL. One of the B21s with me had a Russian background, actually, and was a phenomenal Volunteer. A lot of older Bulgarians speak fluent Russian, so that'll help. If you want Eastern Europe, you're better off saying that you'd prefer a colder climate. On the other hand, you might get sent to Mongolia or Romania, neither of which uses Russian as the official language (hell, Romanian isn't even Slavic). Moldova might be another option. Really, you just have to push for where you want to go while still maintaining an outward demeanor of flexibility. Your volunteer experience will definitely help, though by the time you graduate, they might want something a bit more recent. With regards to your meds, like others have said: if you disclose, it'll be a hassle. You'll need to have medical professionals go on-record saying that you're not at risk. On the other hand, I know some RPCVs who were in the Beach Corps (Caribbean region) that were on meds the whole time. It's really a question of access to adequate medical care. Central Asia might be out of the question, but considering how quickly they can airlift you to Germany from Eastern Europe, you're probably ok. Again, just be aware that when/if you disclose, there will be a lot of extra legwork and paperwork involved. Good luck!
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Mar 3, 2011 13:44
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So my application got rejected. They said they need English teachers with 30 hours or 3 months of experience. Should I try to volunteer at a local school or try to get a TEFL certificate?
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Mar 12, 2011 01:44
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Chade Johnson posted:So my application got rejected. They said they need English teachers with 30 hours or 3 months of experience. Should I try to volunteer at a local school or try to get a TEFL certificate? Did they outright reject you and say "start over" or did they just tell you "get 30 hours of volunteer time before your application can proceed?" Because everyone needs to get 30 hours of volunteer teaching in before they get into Peace Corps.
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Mar 12, 2011 05:02
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Moon Slayer posted:Did they outright reject you and say "start over" or did they just tell you "get 30 hours of volunteer time before your application can proceed?" Because everyone needs to get 30 hours of volunteer teaching in before they get into Peace Corps. The latter. I will start trying to do that, do you have any tips?
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Mar 12, 2011 18:53
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Chade Johnson posted:The latter. I will start trying to do that, do you have any tips? Ask your local school district for volunteering opportunties. Also, does it have to be volunteer teaching? I taught English for one year in South Korea, does that help my chances in getting into Peace Corps?
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Mar 12, 2011 19:21
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Ronald Spiers posted:Ask your local school district for volunteering opportunties. I have 3 years teaching experience in Japan. No teaching volunteer experience. I got nominated for a 'primary teacher education' position, which apparently is for people with well above the 30 hours of volunteer experience. You are already qualified, basically. Your Korean teaching experience is good because it also shows that you can live in another country for an extended period of time.
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Mar 13, 2011 02:13
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Chade Johnson posted:The latter. I will start trying to do that, do you have any tips? When I got nominated my recruiter gave me this in an email http://www.serve.gov/ type in English teaching as a keyword and your town as the location. The results aren't always stellar but it got me exactly what I needed to be accepted so give it a shot. And thanks Moon Slayer for putting me on the list
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Mar 13, 2011 07:46
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Chade Johnson posted:The latter. I will start trying to do that, do you have any tips? Seriously just start calling up local schools, use that serve.gov link, or just google around for volunteer English teaching jobs in your area. For some reason, teachers are really happy when someone offers to come help them in class for no pay! RagnarokAngel posted:And thanks Moon Slayer for putting me on the list No problem, you were easy since I didn't have to go hunting back through the thread. Which I WILL do at some point and get everybody in the OP. The reason I wanted to have that list was because I kind of imagined this thread being a place for people to ask what it was like to live in a specific country or part of the world, either out of curiosity or because they were going to travel there. Instead it's more of a "ask us about applying to Peace Corps" thread, which is perfectly fine too. In related news, being unemployed sucks so much I'm actually considering joining up again for a second Peace Corps tour. If I do I'm going to hold out for Eastern Europe or Central Asia, someplace that actually gets snow in the winter. I was surprised I missed that as much as I did when it was 90 degrees on December 25th in Cambodia.
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Mar 13, 2011 17:23
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Hey there, A bit of background on myself. I'm currently a 20 year old Junior at the University of Kansas halfway through my second semester. I am an English major, and barring anything terrible or unforeseen I should graduate in May 2012 with a major in English and a minor in Communications. After that I'm looking into becoming teaching certified so that I could teach in the US if I wanted. I have been looking at the Peace Corps for almost a year now, but I still feel like I don't know all that much about it, so I was hoping you could help answer a few questions. First off, you said that most people end up being forced to teach English, but that's what I was interested in doing, so that's good news. Provided I had a degree in English and perhaps a teaching degree, would I be looking at teaching a higher level of English than other applicants? And if so, how much a difference do you think being teaching certified would make? My recruiter had mentioned that in some circumstances the two years spent teaching down there could be put towards the requirements for becoming teaching certified, but neither of us have been able to find any solid and reliable information on that, so I've sort of put it aside. Second, while I really want to do it for the experience it provides, I am very interested in getting into grad school upon my return. My grades are okay, like a 3.0, so I'm not exactly a shoe-in for grad school, especially during these tough economic times where lots of people are going back to school, so do you know exactly what kind of help they offer in that area? They stated that once you get back they are very good about helping you get into grad school, and they say they are "affiliated with over a hundred universities", but that's sort of a vague statement. I don't know how much being "affiliated" with a university can help me get into it, though I'm sure a good word couldn't hurt. Finally, given this shaky time line I'm still on, being that I may go back to school to get teaching certified, which could easily take an entire extra year, when would be the best time to apply? Suppose I graduate in May of 2012, and am going to go back to get teaching certified which, if my advisers aren't completely off target, could be done in a single semester. That would put me fully done with my Undergraduate studies in December of 2012. If that were the case, would it be best to apply as early as summer of 2012, giving a lot of time for the applications to go through and giving me several months off at the start of 2013 before I am shipped out? They've said over and over how long the application process can take, so I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row. Sorry for the extremely verbose post, but I'm really interested in doing this and just want to make sure I go into it knowing full well what to expect. Thanks in advance!
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Mar 16, 2011 07:10
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I have a quick question. If I have a bachelor's degree in animal science will that be enough to get me into the agricultural program? Or are those spots really competitive? If I do get accepted what country has agricultural programs? Thank you!
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Mar 17, 2011 01:24
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I'm not ignoring your questions, guys, just been busy. Give me a little bit and I'll address your concerns. I'll say off the top of my head I don't see anything that would disqualify you, but the whole "here's my resume what are my chances" question is a bit hard for us to guess at.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:08
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PS: I'm going to Georgia in a month. Doing my frenzied packing thing now, just got a Kindle and pretty much adore it. Anything that I shouldn't leave home without under any circumstances?
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Mar 21, 2011 17:55
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Stuntcat posted:PS: I'm going to Georgia in a month. Doing my frenzied packing thing now, just got a Kindle and pretty much adore it. Leaving in 2 weeks, if they havent yet you should get a bunch of PDFs in the email from your country director. One of them will be a packing list thats a compilation of volunteer suggestions.
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Mar 22, 2011 00:28
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Disco Nixon posted:I have a quick question. This info is a decade old, but back then they were really hurting for people with a science background.
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Mar 22, 2011 03:18
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Mu Cow posted:Edit: Moon Slayer, I just noticed in the OP that you said there are no goons in the MI program. I've just started the MI program at the University of Denver, so you should probably update that. I may be applying for the MI program at University of Washington soon. Do you know if MI applicants to the peace corp end up serving different roles than normal applicants? Basically, if I did the MI program I would prefer working in an administrative setting of some sort while serving rather than alone in a hut somewhere (not that working in the boonies doesn't appeal to me, I just want to utilize the masters degree to its fullest.)
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Mar 23, 2011 15:44
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