My ApplicationTime Line

As another nasty bout of RAS rears its head, I've decided to post my application timeline. I know that reading other's timelines help me to regain some sanity, so I'm hoping to return the favor to some poor applicant who is just beginning this tedious process. Since I actually did a decent job of recording my interactions with PC, I'll add most of it and highlight the important dates.

Feb. 22, 2010:

Started the Online Application

March 4, 2010:

Spoke with my recruiter at a PC event at ASU

March 19, 2010:

Submitted the Application
Submitted Health Status Review Form
Had transcripts sent from former Universities
Sent Requests for my recommendations

March 24, 2010:

Received email from PC requesting more information
Contacted my rectuiter

March 26, 2010:

All recommendations are received by PC
Scheduled an interview

March 28, 2010:

Sent in extra information forms to PC

March 31, 2010:

Interview by phone
Sent my recruiter a shorter resume
Received my legal packet with fingerprint forms

April 1, 2010:

Mailed fingerprint packet to PC

April 5, 2010:

Informed of possible February departures
Emailed recruiter asking where

April 6, 2010:

Accepted nomination
February SSA secondary science teacher position

April 7, 2010:

Officially nominated

April 10, 2010:

Received Medical Kit

July 17, 2010:

Sent in Medical Kit

---> Sometime in here my dental paperwork was sent back twice for fillings, but it was all taken care of quickly

October 22, 2010:

Dental Clearance
Medical Hold

October 25, 2010:

Medical forms returned, need more information
Schedule appointment with my doctor

November 5, 2010:

Faxed completed medical forms
Completed extra forms from legal

November 6, 2010:

Legal Clearance

November 9, 2010:

Submitted updated resume
Medical Review Complete

November 12, 2010:

Received Letter with Medical Clearance with one small restriction

December 6, 2010:

Received an email stating my nomination had been filled. Earliest I could leave is now June

February 15, 2011:

Had my final placement interview. This was the first I had heard from Peace Corps since the email in early December. Was told during my interview that I was being invited to Sub Saharan Africa leaving in July.

February 16, 2011:

Toolkit update, I have been invited to serve in the Peace Corps!

February 22, 2011:

After a LONG weekend of waiting, my invitation finally arrived. I opened my big blue envelope to find out I've been invited to serve in South Africa!!!!! They say the application process usually takes a year, and mine was exactly that. I started my online application on February 22, 2010 and I had my invitation in my hand on February 22, 2011! My staging date is July 5, 2011.

I will edit this timeline as I progress.

Getting Good at Waiting

So honestly, the wait up until this point didn't seem too bad. It's been 8 months since I submitted my application and I have all three clearances and I've sent in my updated resume. The 8 week deadline, if I am really leaving in early February, is coming up in 2 weeks. I had heard it was six, but when communicating with the placement office they said 8 weeks. Not that I'm complaining, 2 more weeks notice is wonderful! So, now I'm just waiting on a placement I guess. My file is supposedly with a Placement Officer, and I'm just waiting to hear something. This wait is far worse than any of the waiting up until now. It's so close!! Also the stress of leaving is creeping up and I'm realizing how much stuff I need to do before getting on a plane! My RAS (restless applicant syndrome) is becoming a serious problem. I am tempted every night to stay up until 3:00 a.m. which is when the toolkit updates. I also spend far too much time reading stuff about PC online. Well for now, there's nothing I can do about waiting, so I might as well distract myself. Fingers crossed I'll have news soon!

Medical Clearance!

For real this time. My mom called today saying a letter came in the mail from Peace Corps. It says I have medical clearance and that my file is being moved to the placement officer (which I already knew). So, this is fantastic news and I'm in the final steps of the process of getting an invitation! Hopefully my next post will be with an invitation..

Speculating

In order to deal with my growing impatience, I've begun speculating more than before about what country I could be invited to. Right now I have a very strong feeling about Uganda, but we'll see how everything goes. Uganda leaves in early February, and my nomination mentioned that I would need to be able to ride a bike which it mentions on the Uganda Peace Corps Wiki page. While I realize a bike is probably a requirement for many countries, this seems to fit well since they have 17 science education volunteers according to the Peace Corps Wiki Placement Calculator. Anyway, all just speculation and a way to pass the time and deal with this anticipation. I guess it all does still depend on what my medical letter says.

Medical Clearance! ..Potentially

So, it's not official yet, but my toolkit updated last night saying that they have reached a decision regarding my medical documentation. I'm praying the postal service is on their A-game and manages to get me the letter today, although I feel that that's extremely unlikely. So since I'll be on vacation as of tomorrow, looks like my mom will be reading me the letter when it arrives on Friday or Saturday or god forbid on Monday.

My placement officer emailed me back today saying they received my updated resume and I wrote back asking where my application stands as of now. I feel like I'm harassing them, but I'm dying to have an invitation in my hands. I feel like a little kid on Christmas, except that I have no idea when Santa is coming. It could be in a couple hours, or it could be in another month. This anticipation might kill me. Although, I think that just the fact that they asked for an updated resume must be a good sign regarding my medical clearance.

Let's hope I am fully medically cleared and that they're in the process of placing me in a job! Fingers crossed!

Things are moving along more quickly now..

This is a huge amount of activity with my application compared to the last 8 months of the process. It's incredibly exciting, but now I expect news every day. Hopefully this anxiety will subside once I get an invitation, only to be replaced by a new type of anxiety that involves preparing to leave for two years.

This afternoon I got an email asking for an updated resume and for my transcripts once I graduate. Of course I'm on top of this stuff as a result of my unhealthy obsession with PC, so I sent my updated resume within an hour of getting the email.

Still waiting on Medical Clearance, but I have faith that it will be given to me soon. Now back to studying Organic Chemistry so that I can actually graduate and be able to go to the Peace Corps..

Medical Clearance!.. Not.

So, I awoke this morning to the much loved email from Peace Corps in my inbox. Once I checked my toolkit, I fully expected to see "Complete: A decision has been reached regarding your medical documentation" or something similar. Instead, next to my medical clearance area, it just says that peace corps is reviewing my medical documentation. If I remember correctly this is what it has said from the beginning, and there isn't any hold or anything. All the months of waiting were bearable, but this is the longest week of my life and it's only Tuesday! Of course, since I'm going out of town on Thursday, it's logical to assume that I will hear something the second I leave for that trip. Anyway, hopefully I'll have good news to report soon. In the meantime I will be compulsively checking my email every 4.5 seconds.

Legal Clearance!

I got an email today (at 2 a.m. actually) saying my toolkit had been updated. Which is a little odd because it's a Saturday today. Of course I logged in as quickly as humanly possible and found out I have been legally cleared. Yay! I was hoping for medical clearance, but I'll take what I can get.

So, yesterday, after screaming at my fax machine, I managed to fax in my supplementary medical paperwork. It was around 2 p.m. in Washington D.C. by the time it got to them, so I'm sure it hasn't even been looked at. My wishful thinking is hoping that I will hear something about my medical paperwork next week, but my predictions have been wrong 99.9% of the time through this process. I'm getting really good at being patient, and it feels amazing to have 2 check marks on my toolkit. Now I'm just waiting on the biggest hurdle, medical clearance.

Hopefully I will be checking in again soon with a medical clearance update!

Slacking..

It has been an incredibly long time since I've updated my blog, so here it goes. After numerous doctor and dentist visits I mailed in my medical packet in mid-July before leaving for a trip to Colombia. My dental paperwork came back within a week and indicated I needed to go back to the dentist to have some fillings done. After reading the paperwork, I realized I had already had fillings on those teeth and got a note from my dentist saying that. I mailed that back in, only to have it returned a week later saying that I need MORE fillings on those teeth. Once I finish all that, I had dental clearance within a day of the Peace Corps office receiving my dental paperwork.

Then began my longest stint in "the waiting place".

Three months, no word.

Peace Corps had my medical paperwork for July, August, September.. then in mid-October I finally got an update! My medical paperwork was under review. Of course, within a couple days I had an envelope from PC requesting yet more medical information. So, back to the doctor I went this week to have my TB test redone and get some signatures on a couple other things. Tomorrow I have to pick up a couple more lab results at an old doctor's office then all that info is getting faxed to PC. On top of my doctor stress of this week, I got an email this morning explaining that I need to complete a questionnaire and write a personal statement about an MIP charge from 2007. So, I spent my afternoon completing perhaps the silliest questionnaire I've ever seen. While filling out that questionnaire, I got an email from PC basically telling me to hurry the hell up on my medical paperwork. I've discovered, through this application process that Peace Corps will take their sweet time with any paperwork when its in their hands However, the second the ball is in your court the timer is on and they WILL let you know if you're taking too long.

So..

Dental Clearance: check
Medical Clearance: Final requested forms to be faxed to D.C. in the morning
Legal Clearance: Emailed my final requested forms this afternoon.

None of my clearances have been as easy as I had hoped, but I guess the frustration is all part of the application process. I guess if you can't handle the stress of applying, you certainly can't handle the stress of actually BEING in the Peace Corps.

It's very exciting to have all of this happening now and to know that my file is being looked at and not collecting dust in a filing cabinet somewhere. Of course, this all has to happen during the busiest point in my final semester. I swear I've had a huge paper due every day for the last two weeks. All this activity is also a little stressful too though. Over the months of applying, I had to stop obsessing about PC as a survival mechanism. While I'm still very excited to go, I just recently realized just how close it actually is. I could potentially be living somewhere in Africa in three months or so.

Well, I will update more often now that I can safely start obsessing about PC again. Hopefully I will have news soon!