So I’m a 4th year industrial engineering student. i actually have another year left at school (studided abroad, and am on a co-op). I’m looking into joining the peace corps and hopefully being able to apply some of the knowledge I’ve learned in undergrad some where other than the business world. Somewhere where my skills might do a little more than just pad some one elses pocket. Anyways, I’m looking to gain insight into whether peace corps even looks to take on engineers and exactly how the application process works. From what i’ve been reading it seems like the process is 1) very long 2) sort of a rolling process where you hand in things when you get them done and then from there you nominated for a particular project. I really just want to get a better of idea of what i can expect with this whole process. So hopefully there is some one out there who was in my shoes and went thru the process. Please feel free to share experiences. Thanks for the help!

I’m awaiting my placement and job.  I’ve been nominated for Water Sanitation in the Caribbean and Central America.  I was wondering if there were any current volunteers or returned volunteers in the department that could help me out with some questions.

What were some of the methods you used to cope with the numerous cultural pressures and other challenges as well as not being in communication with friends and family?  What’s it like serving in the Peace Corps?

Thanks a lot!!

Andy

My wife recently tore her ACL and will require surgery and rehabilitation to fix it. We were nominated to go to Burkina Faso in June 08 and now we are waiting to hear back from OMS about what will happen with us. I fear that they will make us wait an inordinate amount of time (5-6 months, possibly more!) before they medically clear her again.

Does anyone know of someone else that received an injury right before departure.?

Did they go to their nominated country or were they sent somewhere else? Will the PC decided we are not worth the trouble (gasp!) How long were they deferred?

We just found out that the ACL was torn yesterday and called OMS and left a voice mail. We haven’t heard anything as of this morning. I am just worried and I have a terrible feeling that OMS will be vague and not tell us when we could expect to ship out. I am a teacher and kind of need to know if I should return to my current school (which didn’t give me a renewal contract as I announced in December that I was moving to Africa with the Peace Corps) or just have an extended summer.

So damn excited.