The application can be found online at www.peacecorps.gov. It can be prepared onlne (recommended) or by hand.

Before you start
Have a good permanent (non school affilated) email address with a respectable name. Round up three references (more on that later)- one from work, one from volunteer (though this is all flexible) and one personal reference (yeah, you can finally use your buddies as a reference).

Parts of the application
The parts of the application are:

• Health Status Review
  • This is the gateway to the longer medical clearance process. They ask you a lot of questions about your basic health.
    
• Basic Eligibility
  • These questions are pretty easy. You are basically eligible if you are a US citizen that is at least 18 and have a college degree or in some cases relevent work experience. Work with the CIA (and most other intelligence services) will
    Permanently
    
    disqualify you from Peace Corps service. If one is currently applying to work with the CIA, then they must formally withdraw from the CIA's application proces to be invited to serve as a PEace Corps vounteer..
• Legal and Financial Information
  • Prepare to know exact amounts on any money you owe, including student loans.
    
• Military Status
• Marital Status
• Dependents
• Job Preferences
  • These preferences do not in any way guarantee that you will work in that field, but they will try to take them in to account.
    
• Education
• Language Skills
• Licences/Certificates
• Employment History
  • This is rather extensive and they want to know about every job you've worked in the last ten years. Be prepared with dates and phone numbers.
    
• Time Gaps
  • Be ready to explain what you've been doing with your time off.
• Community/Voluteer Positions
  • This stuff counts for a lot, but not having much here won't neccessarily count you out. Once again, be prepared with dates and phone numbers
    
• Geographic Preferences
  • The catagories are pretty broad. Choosing them will not guarentee that you will get in any of your prefered regions, but they will take it in to consideration
  • If there is an area you absolutely will not go to, now is your chance to tell them. It is best to be flexible, but it's better to let the truth come out now than later in the process.
    
  • Be prepared with a brief explaination of your preferences
  • Try not to look like a dork like I did and put down preferences for countries that do not have programs.
    
• Practical Experience
  • This stuff counts for a lot. If you have skills that you'd like to work with, let them know.
• Cross-Cultural Experiences
  • This is a short (500 word max) essay about an experience you've had with a different culture. They want exact dates and details on this one.
    
• Motivation Statement
  • Explain why you want to join the Peace Corps and how that fits in your life goals.
• Certification
  • Okay, you are done with your first step. Now sign it and send it off!

Application Tips


References
At some point sooner than later (ideally when you turn your application in) you are going to want to round up three references- one from school/work, one from volunteer work, and one personal reference.

The easiest way to do this is online. You just need to put their email address and the Peace Corps sends them an email with instructions.

The questions are pretty basic (are you running away from something? Do you have leadership skills?) and the form is pretty short. You can find a copy of the form on the Peace Corps site.

You will be able to see who has completed their reference forms from the Peace Corps website. You can change your references (well, the ones who havn't started the process) at any time.

Reference Tips
Some email adresses have trouble getting receiving the invitations to be a reference. If this happens (or you notice someone waiting a long time to fill out the form), try getting another email address for your reference and sending it there.

Sometimes even if you have ample volunteer experience, you may not have a suitable volunteer work supervisor. It may be permissible to use the name of someone with whom you have volunteered, who can vouch for your character in that context. Contact your regional Peace Corps office for assistance.

Note that you can have up to five (5) references.

What next?
Shortly after you application (within a couple weeks) you will get a large envelope in the mail that has will have some fingerprint cards, supplemental paperwork and background check forms. You'll want to get this stuff ready for the interview. If you live near a PC recruiting office, there is a good chance you can do the fingerprints at the interview.

If not, try asking at a local police station. They are familar with fingerprint requrests and will be able to either do them or direct you someplace that can.

Shortly (most likely a few weeks) after you get your package, you will get called or emailed to set up your interview!