Application Essays

Essay #1

Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250-500 words) that includes:

• Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and 
• How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals. 
• How you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (please be specific about which expectations you expect to find most challenging and how you expect to overcome these challenges). 

I am not sure when I first realized that I wanted to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It might have happened around the time I started working as a Patient Support Volunteer at Planned Parenthood. Most of the women who came into the clinic were unhappy—they were frightened, worried, confused, or some combination of the three. Working with them was not always easy, but their gratitude at the end of the day, and more importantly, knowing that I had helped them, more than made up for the difficulties. I realized that helping others made me incredibly happy, and that it was something I should strive to do as often as possible.

My desire to work with the Peace Corps was strengthened by my experience as a rowing captain at Haverford College. For three and a half years, I was responsible for hiring coaches, organizing daily practices, and keeping the 30 team members safe. Even though running the team was often frustrating, I grew to love the challenge of leading. Now, I want to push myself further and use the skills I acquired as a team leader to make a positive difference in others’ lives.

There are many other reasons why I want to join the Peace Corps—I love to travel, I love learning about other cultures, I love adventure—but a final important motivation for joining is that I hope an experience in the Peace Corps will one day help to make me a better doctor. Medical work, like service in the Peace Corps, is in line with the activities I most enjoy: helping others, solving puzzles, and the study of human health. Serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer would give me more experience in these areas, and would serve as a foundation for future work – as a medical doctor – aiding disadvantaged populations abroad.

I am enthusiastic and hopeful about serving with the Peace Corps, but I also know that such service will not be easy. The Core Expectation that I expect to find most challenging is Core Expectation 9. I know from my experience studying abroad in Australia that international perceptions of American people are not always positive. I learned that the best way to counter negative stereotypes is to be positive, thoughtful, and kind. I also recognize that Peace Corps service may not always be heartening, and that at times it may prove difficult to stay calm and optimistic. My experience as a rowing captain will be invaluable in these cases. Captaining taught me to analyze problems carefully and rationally, and to stay positive no matter what. I think that applying these skills will make my time with the Peace Corps successful and rewarding.

Essay #2

Your success as a Peace Corps Volunteer is based on the trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture (Core Expectation #4). Describe an experience you have had in living or working in a social or cultural environment different from your own. What specific challenges did you face concerning trust, confidence, and/or integration? What did you learn from this experience that you will bring with you to your Peace Corps service?

The first time I went to Peace House, a community meeting house for the homeless and disadvantaged, I found myself sitting next to a man named Jeff. He quickly launched into a rant about government conspiracies, the impending apocalypse and the hellfire waiting for all mankind, and the evils being wrought upon the world by women’s rights. As a nonbeliever in conspiracy and apocalypse theories and an avid supporter of women’s rights, I wasn’t sure how to respond. I didn’t want to start an argument with Jeff, but I also didn’t want to sit silently and nod agreement with his oratory.

This was the first of many uncomfortable situations at Peace House. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable because I was talking to people like Jeff, people whose mental disabilities rendered them paranoid, irate, or confused; at other times I was uncomfortable because I was talking to people who had no homes and very little money. I had a home and money, which was apparent from my private-school uniform (I went to Peace House as a representative from my school). While interacting with the needy at Peace House, I didn’t want to further underline the wealth discrepancy by saying anything that might come across as condescending or insensitive. However, I also wanted to connect in a genuine way, without pausing to screen every single thing I was saying.

As I spent more time at Peace House, I learned that the single best way to integrate myself and feel comfortable in the community was to listen. Initially, listening to and watching the body language of my new friends showed me what each one liked to talk and joke about. This made the similarities between us apparent, and conversation became much easier. Conversation in turn led to building trust with the people of Peace House. This trust was based on mutual respect, patience, and the care for each other that grew every time I visited. I’m certain that the simple but important lessons I learned about listening and observing would also be useful in working with people of other cultures.