The Application -- Feb. Mar. 2011

The application for the Peace Corps probably took me 2 hours to fill out. I had to look up addresses and phone numbers for places I'd worked and lived in the past five years or so.

But it was the reference section that had mehesitating. I hate having to ask people for references; it was something I'd done dozens of times in college for scholarships and study abroad, but I can't help but feel sort of bad for asking someone who isn't close to me to write something person and positive about me.

The Peace Corps requires three letters of reference from three different sources: one personal, one business, and one from volunteering. The first two were easy; I asked a friend from college with whom I'd lived for two years, and a friend from work who had been my coworker and boss for maybe three or four years. I figured they'd be flattered and happy to do it.

The volunteer reference was a problem, because I'd never regularly volunteered at anything. I'd done some Relay for Life events in high school and represented the Japan programs at study abroad conferences in college, and that was about it. I decided to send in a second work reference (from a woman I'd babysat for since I was 15) and hope for the best.

I knew that volunteering was a major deal for people going into the Peace Corps, and that the fact that the volunteering portion of my application only had around 15 hours total would likely hold me back. Before even submitting the application, I looked up volunteer opportunities in my area (literally googled it -_-), and applied as a receptionist at a local branch of the Salvation Army. I love office work, organization, computers, etc., so I figured it would be pretty simple. Plus, considering how long the application process is known to take, it was likely that any experience I gained would greatly help my application later on.

Although I found out later it was completely unnecessary to do so, I waited until my three references were completed and submitted (which took all three people around a month), before I turned in my completed application on March 19th, 2011!