<p>Any other graduating seniors or recent grads looking at Americorps positions for after college? </p>
<p>I really love some of the non-profits working towards college access equity through academic coaching and mentoring. I'm looking at Americorps service for after my year teaching abroad. </p>
<p>Any Americorps experiences from CCers?</p>
<p>I worked for AmeriCorps VISTA. Some of the key points about the VISTA program are that it counts for a year of federal employment (towards retirement and earning vacation time) and that it is a capacity building role, or a management type position, instead of actually doing the hands on work.</p>
<p>I did work with tutoring programs though (but since it was VISTA, I wasn’t actually doing any tutoring). It was a good program… obviously the pay can be an issue.</p>
<p>That’s good to know re:federal employment. </p>
<p>The program I’m looking at has both State/National and VISTA, where VISTA is doing home-office/administrative/PR/organizational tasks, but don’t work with the students as much as the tutors and mentors. I’m tempted by both!</p>
<p>Why did you choose doing VISTA work over applying to do the tutoring, if you don’t mind my asking? What strategies did you use to make the pay work for you?</p>
<p>well… you can get food stamps! I think I made like $850-900 a month. $500 for all inclusive rent and just live cheaply… I did drive to work, but the commute was very short. You could bike or walk, perhaps. Obviously you can’t really go out to the bar and spend $50 every friday and saturday.</p>
<p>I actually also applied to a position where I would be doing actual tutoring, but the people running it seemed very incompetent and kept asking me for more recommendations even though they had the 2 submitted through AmeriCorps and another one. It was ridiculous. Also though, I knew that I wanted to work in the federal government, so VISTA was the better place for me to be longterm. VISTA also gives you noncompetitive status with the federal government, which theoretically makes it easier for you to get a job, but I didn’t have any luck with it.</p>
<p>I spent six months as an AmeriCorps intern with the U.S. Forest Service, placed through the Student Conservation Association. It was a wonderful experience and I’d highly recommend AmeriCorps service as a way to gain experience and make contacts in your chosen field.</p>
<p>The subsistence allowance is nothing to write home about, but I got max food stamps (~$350 a month) and free housing + a bus pass were provided. The agency also paid for air transportation to and from the internship site.</p>
<p>My position wasn’t VISTA, but the role was similar to what soccerguy315 was doing - primarily office work in the Alaska Regional Headquarters developing communications/outreach products, along with several field experiences.</p>
<p>good point… some programs do provide housing, which is very helpful in making your money go further. Mine did not.</p>
<p>Bookmarked. Sorry pizzagirl…</p>