Peace Corps

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I actually thought about forgoing college and doing the Peace Corps for 2 years. Bad idea?</p>

2

<p>Not at all. Peace Corps is a wonderful organization and you will learn valuable skills. Plus, it can be a nice break from college if you need it. It is also a great way to pay for college and explore yourself before spending four years doing it :p</p>

<p>However, applications are getting increasingly competitive, so I wouldn’t bank money on you being accepted.</p>

3

<p>Good point. What about Americorps?</p>

4

<p>Funny you should ask… I actually work for a branch of Americorps called AmericaReads. </p>

<p>Anyway, I also think Americorps is a great organization but it too is fairly competitive. I have all the same compliments for it as I do for the Peace Corps. One nice advantage of Americorps though is that you don’t have to commit 2+ years to it like you do to the Peace Corps.</p>

5

<p>Awesome. I’ll see; parents want me to go to school somewhere. If I get into Vanderbilt, I’ll be shocked.</p>

6

<p>I want to do either Peace Corps of Americorps after college. I am scared I won’t be accepted though. =/ </p>

<p>That’s really cool!!! That branch sounds like something I would like. If they want me. In four years.</p>

7

<p>I am working with AmericaReads right now, while I’m in college and I have a guarenteed job while I’m still an undergrad. </p>

<p>Many colleges will let you deffer enrollment if you want to do something like Americorps. In fact, I don’t know of one that wouldn’t let you. It would definitely be worth it to apply to AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, just in case :).</p>

8

<p>Yeah, and I’ll have some tuition money stacked up just in case.</p>

9

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<p>Nice! I definitely will check out options with Americorps, it’s something I’m really interested in. I didn’t realize I could do something along with college, but if that’s possible I’m totally for it.</p>

10

<p>^ AmericaReads and AmericaCounts are open to anyone with work study (I BELIEVE). There are also various AmeriCorps things that you can do while in college :). Check with your school and their website.</p>

11

<p>Okay. Thanks!</p>

12

<p>Haha, this thread just reminded me that I haven’t seen the film “Volunteers” for a while. Such a great film.</p>

13

<p>I thought about doing this too actually. But i decided that i’ll do this when i’m older maybe mid 20s, or when i’m 50s. If I skip college, it’ll be a disappointment to myself and my parents. I will still be in school at a later age, and i just want to get it over with.
Oh yeah, I think Peace Corps gives like “reward” $$ if you join and go back to school.</p>

14

<p>I’ve looked into the Peace Corps, Americorps and City Year (which I believe is a branch of Americorps, but whatever). </p>

<p>Apparently the Peace Corps are virtually impossible to get into straight out of high school. They want work experience or a degree. I made a thread on CC a little while back about it, lemme try and find it.
I’d love to do something in the Pacific or in Africa with the Peace Corps, but it looks like I’ll have to wait. Although I wouldn’t mind having a little life experience before heading off to college.</p>

<p>Americorps looks kinda cool too, and geared toward younger adults. There are a couple different levels of programs there and one sounds kind of cool where there are 5 locations and you spend two months at each and then move on to the next one, in 5 completely different parts of the country. </p>

<p>I like City Year, it sounds really cool and I like the idea that most of the locations are in big cities. One drawback is that they do not provide housing and I don’t know if they compensate you a little. It’s nice to help kids that are in some of the worst school districts.</p>

<p>Edit: Here’s the thread a made a few months ago. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/826677-joining-peace-corps-right-out-h-s.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/826677-joining-peace-corps-right-out-h-s.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>Yeah, I really wanted to go to Africa, esp. South Africa or Sudan doing the Peace Corps. Too bad they don’t take people straight out of High School.</p>