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laxbro posted:That's great guys. I applied under the old system and it took 1 year and 4 months from when I submitted my application to when I left for staging. Got my invite to Georgia. I applied in Oct, interviewed Dec 1st. Haven't done my med or legal, so I guess technically I could still be turned down.
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Dec 11, 2014 00:15
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Anyone have opinions on ETing? I've got eight months left but feel like I'll achieve nothing if I stay.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:14
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huhu posted:Anyone have opinions on ETing? I've got eight months left but feel like I'll achieve nothing if I stay. I did it, and it worked out pretty great for me, but YMMV. Are you just feeling listless, or does your site induce despair and darkness every time you think about it? One will pass (especially with eight months to go), the other will build and grow until the day you leave.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:51
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huhu posted:Anyone have opinions on ETing? I've got eight months left but feel like I'll achieve nothing if I stay. Do you have any interest in working for the government? Noncompetitive eligibility is super valuable in the current climate, and you won't get that with an ET. I felt pretty lovely several times in my last year but didn't want to deprive my town of a PCV that they had been granted that way. Are you still of any use to them? Will people be disappointed if you go? Remember that your role is not just as teacher but as a representative of real America in your town, or at least it should be.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:59
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I feel like my community jumped on the 'we want a pcv' bandwagon without really having strong need. I've questioned my presence from the start because they have demonstrated the abilities of fundraising, work force, education (guy in the community has an associates degree in construction), leadership, etc. I'm in the states now for the first time in 19 months and the deadline to apply for a grant to start a project is about a month away and they've dropped the ball for that or demonstrated a lack of caring multiple times several times now and I'm just wondering why the gently caress should I bother if they don't care. I'm hoping for a top ten business scroll after which is a bit rough if I quit, or maybe it isn't.
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Jan 2, 2015 08:05
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huhu posted:I feel like my community jumped on the 'we want a pcv' bandwagon without really having strong need. I've questioned my presence from the start because they have demonstrated the abilities of fundraising, work force, education (guy in the community has an associates degree in construction), leadership, etc. I'm in the states now for the first time in 19 months and the deadline to apply for a grant to start a project is about a month away and they've dropped the ball for that or demonstrated a lack of caring multiple times several times now and I'm just wondering why the gently caress should I bother if they don't care. Fair. A lot of communities do it more for the dubious prestige of having Peace Corps rather than a real need. If you truly feel they don't have use for you and you're not providing value, then the best thing to do is take an honest look at what you would do with the next eight months and how getting a head start on your plans helps versus how it won't. You're too late to apply for Fall 2015 schools but could still study for the GREs (is that what business schools test? Whatever) much more intently than you ever would at home with a traditional job. I don't think ETing would necessarily keep you out of school but a good school will likely want to know why you left so you'd want to have an answer prepared. My default is always not to ET because you made a commitment. But if you have no personal relationships in town keeping you there, neither you nor the town benefits from your presence, and you could realistically be advancing your own life if you terminated, then I think it's a fair consideration. Do you have any good friends in your group to talk it out with? My PCV friends were always the best sounding board because they were the only ones (not staff, not my family or US friends) who had a real idea what I was dealing with.
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Jan 2, 2015 08:18
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If you really don't feel like you can help the community anymore go ahead and ET; if you've done more than a year toy have proved yourself as a PCV and member of the community. Some places just don't have enough good work. Not your fault. Plus tons of people leave in the last 6 months for passing jobs, grad school and lack of work at post so nobody will judge you. However, I suggest taking about it with your PM and maybe the docs. They may be able to move you to another site which needs help for your remaining time or ask you to help prepare a new site for the next class. If not, admin hates ETs on their paperwork so may be willing to give you a medsep for "mental health" etc letting you still count as an official rpcv. The only real benefit to that is the non competitive eligibility clause though and if you don't want to work in the Federal government then you don't need to deal with that process.
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Jan 2, 2015 08:22
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Everyone's situation is different so it is hard to directly compare them, personally I'm glad I stuck it out because my group had a whopping 33% ET rate, not counting the people who didn't even make it to training, or who had to leave during it (Peace Corps didn't count them as ETs). It's really self satisfying when all is said and done to say yeah, you finished and you can be with other people who did as well. That sounds incredibly self serving but only because it's what you will take with you. Your community may or may not value your presence but the longer you stay it's more likely they will. I didn't accomplish much near the end because I was pretty burned out but my community appreciated the commitment and it left a good impression of me and Americans on them, and they kept close contact since the end wasn't as bitter.
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Jan 2, 2015 09:31
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Definitely talk to your APCD. They might be able to give you a site transfer or potentially just help you come up with ideas/motivation. I suppose this might vary depending on your administration, but my APCD was super receptive to making changes so that volunteers could thrive. A few people in my cohort moved sites. With 8 months left you don't have as much time, but it's a possibility. Alternatively, just do what you can and take it easy. Don't beat yourself up about it. You're in Panama, I think, so try to take some cool trips or something. Go to the beach if that's possible. My town was kind of a poo poo show. There was stuff to do, but it was a situation where they requested a volunteer for vague reasons of self-importance. They didn't have much interest us us doing work there, so we branched out into different areas and did the work we could (youth groups, latrines, etc). When we were burned out, we took some side trips to the beach (a bonus of being in the Dominican Republic). I would avoid ETing unless you're truly miserable or have a big opporunity on the horizon you need to take advantage of. And if you're miserable, talk to the PC staff first.
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Jan 2, 2015 19:46
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Most people back in the States won't know that Peace Corps lasts two years. It's also none of their business why you ET. All grad schools and any jobs outside of the international development field will be impressed with one year of service Talk to your APCD, and report your feelings in your VRF. I reported in my VRF that my school was using me as a replacement teacher (which is against PC policy for my post) and he was at my school within a week to clarify the role of Peace Corps volunteers to the Principal. That helped, and I was able to focus on two secondary projects which at least made my service seem worthwhile.
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Jan 2, 2015 21:29
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RagnarokAngel posted:Everyone's situation is different so it is hard to directly compare them, personally I'm glad I stuck it out because my group had a whopping 33% ET rate, not counting the people who didn't even make it to training, or who had to leave during it Ours is TWICE this.
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Jan 4, 2015 01:50
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Borscht posted:Ours is TWICE this. poo poo really? We had an ET rate of like 5% for the first year and a half. Closer to 20 in the last 6 months but I don't really count those because most were for jobs and school and you aren't allowed to do anything the last 3 months anyways.
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Jan 4, 2015 01:59
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Thanks everyone for the advice. Thinking I'm going to talk to my boss and go from there. Applying to jobs back in the states and won't quit until I get something lined up. I've already finished studying for the GMATs so I'll just focus on other hobbies and work in friends sites.
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Jan 4, 2015 06:28
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A few days late to the discussion, but I'll chime in nonetheless: I'm almost exactly a year in (holy poo poo), and have been feeling pretty down over the last few months. Basically, I wanted an integration service, got put in a wealthy neighborhood in a huge site, and am always thinking about what I don't have. Seems like our situations are completely different (as is often the case in PC), but I'm finding that focusing on improving myself has been a huge help. By this I basically mean trying new things and stepping outside my comfort zone. I was talking to a guy who's about to COS, and he made a great point: we'll never again have an opportunity to do literally whatever we want whenever we want, and one of the best places to find your sense of purpose is to find that personal niche. YMMV, but I feel like it's worth considering.
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Jan 9, 2015 17:20
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xcdude24 posted:A few days late to the discussion, but I'll chime in nonetheless: I'm almost exactly a year in (holy poo poo), and have been feeling pretty down over the last few months. Basically, I wanted an integration service, got put in a wealthy neighborhood in a huge site, and am always thinking about what I don't have. Seems like our situations are completely different (as is often the case in PC), but I'm finding that focusing on improving myself has been a huge help. By this I basically mean trying new things and stepping outside my comfort zone. I was talking to a guy who's about to COS, and he made a great point: we'll never again have an opportunity to do literally whatever we want whenever we want, and one of the best places to find your sense of purpose is to find that personal niche. YMMV, but I feel like it's worth considering. I think the immense amounts of down time really have a far greater role in your service than many would think. A friend of mine was getting jerked around by teachers at his high school so he just started volunteering at the clinic in his village. Developed an interest in health, ended up becoming an RN when he got back. Another worked closely with embassy groups that came for big projects; 6 years later, he just got tenure as an FSO. My arc is similar. Your choice of what to do when work gives out can really change things up.
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Jan 10, 2015 08:02
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A number of job openings were released on the website, but the ones that interest me (Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Panama) have a language requirement that I don't quite meet. My Spanish is rudimentary at best, but I do have two semesters of college credit (albeit nearly ten years ago). I should research Albania and Armenia more. Has anyone been invited or placed in a country that wasn't listed on the website? I'm trying to be flexible and minimize expectations, but if I spend 27 months of my life serving as an educator, I'd like it to be in a place where the people are generally pleasant and the climate isn't oppressively humid. Stolennosferatu posted:Got my invite to Georgia. I applied in Oct, interviewed Dec 1st. Congratulations! How are things moving along?
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Feb 12, 2015 15:48
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mrgoodtrips posted:A number of job openings were released on the website, but the ones that interest me (Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Panama) have a language requirement that I don't quite meet. My Spanish is rudimentary at best, but I do have two semesters of college credit (albeit nearly ten years ago). I should research Albania and Armenia more. Has anyone been invited or placed in a country that wasn't listed on the website? I was an "educator" (technically Community Literacy Promoter) in the Dominican Republic, and I wouldn't sweat the language requirement too much. In my training group, approximately a third of the recruits spoke basically no Spanish. Some had very bad high school Spanish, and some literally knew nothing (hola/gracias). On the flip side, some people who had studied Spanish for years seemed to be terrible at the language. I was in the middle for my ability--entirely self-taught, so I had a lot of gaps, especially when it came to my colloquial speaking. I don't know how they do the math when signing people up, but I imagine that they sometimes just need to fill slots with people who have generally an appropriate background, and langauge is negotiable. The language training is awesome and will get you up to speed if you have at least an average capacity for language learning. However, beware that Dominican Spanish is about the hardest accent you will encounter. We had some native speakers in our group who were sometimes confused by what Dominicans were saying to them. quote:I'm trying to be flexible and minimize expectations, but if I spend 27 months of my life serving as an educator, I'd like it to be in a place where the people are generally pleasant and the climate isn't oppressively humid. The Dominican people are very pleasant in an outgoing let's-party-and-take-it-easy kind of way. The climate, however, is often oppresively humid and hot (I, however, was in the mountainous part of the country, so I avoided the worst of it). Counter-point: world class beaches everywhere. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Feb 12, 2015 |
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Feb 12, 2015 16:41
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mrgoodtrips posted:A number of job openings were released on the website, but the ones that interest me (Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Panama) have a language requirement that I don't quite meet. My Spanish is rudimentary at best, but I do have two semesters of college credit (albeit nearly ten years ago). I should research Albania and Armenia more. Has anyone been invited or placed in a country that wasn't listed on the website? I'm trying to be flexible and minimize expectations, but if I spend 27 months of my life serving as an educator, I'd like it to be in a place where the people are generally pleasant and the climate isn't oppressively humid. Med is done, and no news is good news for legal. I have the learning space orientation to do, and I'm suppose to know the Georgian alphabet before I get to staging. Other than that, I just have a lot of shopping to do. It's a little stressful but exciting.
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Feb 12, 2015 17:35
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Drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of pizza & TexMex before you go. You probably can't find either over there!
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Feb 13, 2015 00:19
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Man, feels good to say, I'm getting a site change to the regional capital where I'll continue sector related work but not with my community. So much stress gone and really glad I was able to make the change.
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Feb 13, 2015 05:52
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huhu posted:Man, feels good to say, I'm getting a site change to the regional capital where I'll continue sector related work but not with my community. So much stress gone and really glad I was able to make the change. Great! A big part of PC is advocating for yourself when you get unlucky with your site/house/whatever placement.
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Feb 13, 2015 12:39
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I recently got my invite for Armenia. Slogging through the medical and dental stuff now. Had a dental exam and the dentist signed me off on everything, but he gave me the wrong kind of xrays... Looks like I will need to go back to a different dentist to get another set. I'm sure this is just the first annoying step that medical clearance will throw my way.
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Feb 13, 2015 14:12
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totempoleman posted:I recently got my invite for Armenia. Slogging through the medical and dental stuff now. Had a dental exam and the dentist signed me off on everything, but he gave me the wrong kind of xrays... Looks like I will need to go back to a different dentist to get another set. I'm sure this is just the first annoying step that medical clearance will throw my way. You probably know this already, but you can find some dentists who will do Peace Corps exams for free. You should still fill out the reimbursement forms for them so they get something, but it's free for you.
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Feb 13, 2015 15:10
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totempoleman posted:I recently got my invite for Armenia. Slogging through the medical and dental stuff now. Had a dental exam and the dentist signed me off on everything, but he gave me the wrong kind of xrays... Looks like I will need to go back to a different dentist to get another set. I'm sure this is just the first annoying step that medical clearance will throw my way. After awhile I didn't have to check-in at the school medical center which covered 35,000 students. I'd walk in and the receptionist would just tell me to go to the waiting room. Good luck.
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Feb 13, 2015 15:27
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huhu posted:Man, feels good to say, I'm getting a site change to the regional capital where I'll continue sector related work but not with my community. So much stress gone and really glad I was able to make the change. Glad to hear this worked out for you, I remembered your posts where you were thinking about ETing. Having a different experience in the regional capital will be nice too, getting that in in your last few months, and I think in the long run you'll be prouder to say you did the full two years. edit- "remembered your posts"=they are just at the top of this page, apparently. This topic goes a lot slower than I remembered, hah.
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Feb 13, 2015 18:43
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totempoleman posted:I recently got my invite for Armenia. Slogging through the medical and dental stuff now. Had a dental exam and the dentist signed me off on everything, but he gave me the wrong kind of xrays... Looks like I will need to go back to a different dentist to get another set. I'm sure this is just the first annoying step that medical clearance will throw my way. I had to call 5 dentists to find one that would even give me high quality copies of my xrays
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Feb 13, 2015 18:51
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Anyone else ever do PCR after the original PCV tour? While serving as a PCV I uncovered some fundamental infrastructural problems here and was almost immediately asked by the local department of education to stay to fix some of their more pronounced problems. I just accepted the invite about ten minutes ago, and I know that for most intents and purposes it's like extending as a PCV only with more paperwork. (Literally had to go through the application process again because PCR is technically a different a program.) I need to talk to local staff about how one goes about doing that one-month of home leave. Please tell me stories.
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Feb 13, 2015 21:19
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laxbro posted:Great! A big part of PC is advocating for yourself when you get unlucky with your site/house/whatever placement. This is not true everywhere. I've seen PCV's crucified for this.
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Feb 14, 2015 01:54
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mrgoodtrips posted:A number of job openings were released on the website, but the ones that interest me (Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Panama) have a language requirement that I don't quite meet. My Spanish is rudimentary at best, but I do have two semesters of college credit (albeit nearly ten years ago). I should research Albania and Armenia more. Has anyone been invited or placed in a country that wasn't listed on the website? I'm trying to be flexible and minimize expectations, but if I spend 27 months of my life serving as an educator, I'd like it to be in a place where the people are generally pleasant and the climate isn't oppressively humid. Just a little tip, but there are literally thousands of schools in those countries who would be happy to have a gringo teach English (guessing that's what you would do with PC, since you said you'd be an educator). You really do not need the Peace Corps to set up this experience, just find a town you like and you can find a family to live with for very cheap. The only thing is that you wouldn't have the PC stipend. For me personally, I volunteered for 3 months at a village school in Ecuador, paid $25 a week in groceries for rent to live with a local family, then after that found a paid job with an NGO in Guatemala. I just don't think people realize how easy it is to do these things without the help of something like PC, you just need the guts to buy a plane ticket and make a leap of faith.
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Feb 14, 2015 04:22
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ShaggiusPrime posted:Just a little tip, but there are literally thousands of schools in those countries who would be happy to have a gringo teach English (guessing that's what you would do with PC, since you said you'd be an educator). You really do not need the Peace Corps to set up this experience, just find a town you like and you can find a family to live with for very cheap. The only thing is that you wouldn't have the PC stipend. For me personally, I volunteered for 3 months at a village school in Ecuador, paid $25 a week in groceries for rent to live with a local family, then after that found a paid job with an NGO in Guatemala. I just don't think people realize how easy it is to do these things without the help of something like PC, you just need the guts to buy a plane ticket and make a leap of faith. 'Preciate the tip. I teach English at a university in China and have volunteer experience in Peru and Poland. Peace Corps is a bridge to grad school for me, for the most part. I think it will help me develop as a teacher and hopefully advance career opportunities.
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Feb 14, 2015 22:17
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ShaggiusPrime posted:Just a little tip, but there are literally thousands of schools in those countries who would be happy to have a gringo teach English (guessing that's what you would do with PC, since you said you'd be an educator). You really do not need the Peace Corps to set up this experience, just find a town you like and you can find a family to live with for very cheap. The only thing is that you wouldn't have the PC stipend. For me personally, I volunteered for 3 months at a village school in Ecuador, paid $25 a week in groceries for rent to live with a local family, then after that found a paid job with an NGO in Guatemala. I just don't think people realize how easy it is to do these things without the help of something like PC, you just need the guts to buy a plane ticket and make a leap of faith. You also wouldn't have readjustment allowance, safety and security, medical, flight there/home, training, non-competitive whatever with the government, PCRV positions, etc.
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Feb 15, 2015 01:36
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Nothing wrong with voluntourism, but I wouldn't compare it to the PC experience. And yeah, there are tons of NGO's operating in developing countries all over the world, but 99% of the time you'll be living in the capital. Peace Corps gives you access to rural communities that are off the beaten path for tourists/development workers/diplomats etc.
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Feb 15, 2015 03:09
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ShaggiusPrime posted:Just a little tip, but there are literally thousands of schools in those countries who would be happy to have a gringo teach English (guessing that's what you would do with PC, since you said you'd be an educator). No English is taught by PCVs in the Dominican Republic. I taught basic literacy skills in Spanish and did community organizing stuff in Spanish. Your point is generally true for people interested in short term stints. For longer term the Peace Corps offers a lot of concrete advantages.
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Feb 15, 2015 04:49
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Yeah I definitely agree with the point that Peace Corps brings a level of security, and has some financial benefit that you obviously wouldn't get with volunteering. However, there are lots of organizations that would be happy to place you in small rural areas to serve a high level of need (aka no tourism/foreign presence). I've just read through quite a bit of this thread and read again and again the whole needing to be flexible to fit what the Peace Corps wants. Considering the drop out rate that PC seems to have, I think there seems to be a lot of people who will claim to be more flexible than they actually are just because they want to live abroad, and they accept placements they don't really want or that don't really fit them. Maybe some of this changing as it sounds like PC is trying to change how they do things a bit? Anyways sorry, I'll bow out of this as I don't want to poo poo on the thread. Just think sometimes people aren't aware of the possibilities.
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Feb 15, 2015 05:15
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huhu posted:You also wouldn't have readjustment allowance, safety and security, medical, flight there/home, training, non-competitive whatever with the government, PCRV positions, etc. This is somewhat true, depending on the organization, but I think he/she is just rightly pointing out that most people who end up working at developing world NGOs do it independent of programs like the PC. Edit: nvm MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Feb 15, 2015 |
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Feb 15, 2015 08:47
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Hi all. I'm about to graduate with a master's and I'm wondering how common it is for someone to join the Peace Corps after receiving a graduate/professional degree. A lot of my classmates already did one or more stints with the Peace Corps and are looking to advance their careers in another direction. I, on the other hand, only grow more uncertain about my life trajectory and don't have much ambition aside from wanting to help individual communities. I have worked in a volunteer-ish capacity in northern India for a year, on top of other experience (working at a think tank). My education really isn't applicable to Peace Corps work, sadly, aside from coursework in human rights. It'd be my dream to volunteer in Nepal, but my (naive) impression is that there isn't as much demand there. Any insights would be appreciated!
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Feb 15, 2015 13:52
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Peace Corps and Masters work goes together hand in hand- though, I would say its best to do the PC before you get your Masters. My cohort of 60 some people had about 8 or 9 guys, mostly MBAs and MPHs, in our year. They all enjoyed the Peace Corps in general, and said that it was a good thing to go through. But they also said that it wasted their talents, and I confirm that I felt the same way a bit. You get out of school with tons of knowledge of how to analyze data, produce surveys, crunch numbers, etc and get placed in the middle of an area without electricity and told to give out bed nets. Yeah, its mostly impossible to use most of your knowledge, because survey techniques require educated folk to talk to and number crunching relies on modern software. Its worse for the nurses that came in, because they aren't allowed to practice medicine in their villages, either. This is quite possibly more of a West Africa or Benin thing, though. More advanced nations most likely have a far better ability for you to use what you learn. That isn't to say you shouldn't apply- especially under the new system where you can pick what you are up to, as some nations look precisely for a Masters-level education. One of my friends who worked in Mexico was working with PhDs on designing new ecotourism green design stuff using his MPA. Just be prepared to lose some of your knowledge from lack of immediate use. I would still urge you to apply. Its a great formative experience personally, and employers love seeing it on your resume. Plus, you meet the coolest, most interesting people in the world; I've not met anybody else as awesome as RPCVs. So, apply for jobs and apply for the Peace Corps. If you get a cool job, take the job. If you don't find anything particularly interesting, join the Peace Corps. Worst case its not for you and you leave after a few months, potentially knowing a new language and a new county.
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Feb 15, 2015 14:14
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Slaan posted:Peace Corps and Masters work goes together hand in hand- though, I would say its best to do the PC before you get your Masters. My cohort of 60 some people had about 8 or 9 guys, mostly MBAs and MPHs, in our year. They all enjoyed the Peace Corps in general, and said that it was a good thing to go through. But they also said that it wasted their talents, and I confirm that I felt the same way a bit. You get out of school with tons of knowledge of how to analyze data, produce surveys, crunch numbers, etc and get placed in the middle of an area without electricity and told to give out bed nets. Yeah, its mostly impossible to use most of your knowledge, because survey techniques require educated folk to talk to and number crunching relies on modern software. Its worse for the nurses that came in, because they aren't allowed to practice medicine in their villages, either. This is quite possibly more of a West Africa or Benin thing, though. More advanced nations most likely have a far better ability for you to use what you learn. I won't disagree about the more general point on wasted/underutilized skill sets. I agree completely with that. However, I've at least been able to put my surveying and number crunching skills to good use my community. The national census is really terrible, out of date, and nobody knows how to get ahold of that data. We did a house-by-house survey of our community our first two months and I don't think a month has gone by since without the results of that survey being put into use for one thing or another. I also got a cool dataset to play around with and do network analysis on for shits and giggles. El Mero Mero fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Feb 16, 2015 |
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Feb 16, 2015 06:04
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Like I said, it really depends on where you end up. I actually did a survey in the last few months of my time there, and I really wish I had been told to do one at the start. I learned more about my community by going door to door and talking to people (through a translator as many couldn't speak French) than I did working with the local government and my host organization.
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Feb 16, 2015 06:12
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Anyone get any notification about a Duolingo language competition thing? Someone posted in our Peace Corps Facebook page but hasn't responded and the information they posted was quite vague.
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Feb 16, 2015 17:10
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