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Has anybody ever joined the peace corps or a similar organization? I'm in my mid 20s realizing that I probably need to stretch myself in ways that would both improve my character and make me a more viable candidate for a good grad school. Not to mention that I'm interested in the US foreign service, and that peace corps is a fairly common pipeline to that. My main concern, beyond getting some weird disease or dying in a war zone, is that the experience will be a waste, and that I'll have to follow dumb rules about where I can and can't travel. Also, I wouldn't be making a lot of money and there are few ways to get around that without being discovered.
TIL US Peace Corps has nothing to do with what the rest of the world thinks when they hear such term.
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Yes.
I had no intention of joining the US foreign service, and don't know anything about that part.
The experience itself was mixed. I enjoyed Teach and Learn with Georgia, a locally run Peace Corps shaped knock off, a lot more, but I think things vary a lot by location and gender. My main issue was that we weren't given enough work, in the hopes that we would exhibit agency to do other things that make America look good. But, also, many cultures the Peace Corps operates in expect, and indeed enforce, low female agency. So I was paired up with someone I didn't really work well with, with no other visible options for useful ways to contribute, and then had to leave early. In retrospect, I was acting pretty depressed, and my skills were mostly going unused. I was especially surprised that my English and teaching skills were largely unused in an English teaching position, despite being an actual career teacher, and the I couldn't figure out how to remedy that.
My male colleges seemed to have, in general, a better experience.
Yes, more than other volunteer abroad situations.
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I was in the Peace Corps, yes. This was the very early 90s though, and the world --and the experience of the Peace Corps-- has changed considerably. It was, for me personally, a great experience that stretched me beyond what could have been possible had I stayed in the US. Mind you the Peace Corps has all kinds of members, motivated for all kinds of reasons.
The reference to being "barred from foreign service for five years" below was only true for intelligence services (eg the CIA or military intelligence), to my understanding.
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Bear in mind that if you join the Peace Corps, you will be legally barred from “US foreign service” ;) :^) for at least five years. So if that’s your intent you probably shouldn’t join. Also you shouldn’t be broadcasting your career aspirations toward that on a Mongolian ceremonial woodworking forum.
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I couldn't get medical clearance for the Peace corps, but I still keep in touch with people who did. From my personal experience, two kinds of people really thrive in the program:
It doesn't sound like you're in the first group, since you mentioned the foreign service.
Are you in the second group? Would you drive four hundred miles to be in a united way photoshoot for a chance to serve as John Thune's personal assistant? Would you claim that a coworker you barely know has a cocaine habit if it meant you were 15% more likely to get a promotion? If so, the peace corps might be great for you.
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