Medical Clearance--Finally!!

Here’s how it happened. I was driving to work this morning, sitting at a stop light checking e-mails on my Blackberry. There it was…an e-mail saying my status has been updated at PeaceCorps.gov. I’m still about ten minutes from work, so I immediately log into the web site on my Blackberry as I’m driving to work. It’s slow, but it works. As I’m pulling into my parking space, the status page loads and there I learn my Medical screening is complete.



It’s the news I’ve been waiting to hear since mid-November. Now just over five months since I received my nomination, I finally had made it through what everyone says is the toughest part. Finally!!!. Called Mom and Dad and both my sisters to share the news. I immediately looked at the calendar and started planning my next step. If I get the final word this week then I might be able to resign as soon as Monday. That would allow me to give three weeks notice and still have two full months before I depart. I wouldn’t have to burn any bridges by leaving during the May rating book, which I don’t plan to do any way. I even started writing my letter of resignation in my head.

As I left work today, I got to the SAME stop light where I had gotten the e-mail this morning. This time heading home. I pull out my Blackberry and checked my personal mail. This is what I got:


Dear Stephen,
Greetings from the Placement Office at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC!
We wanted to get in touch with you to congratulate you on receiving your medical clearance and therefore, for completing a very important part of the application process. Over the next few weeks, we will be conducting a final review of your application materials, and we will be in contact with you in the event that any additional information is needed. Once the application review is complete, we will update you on the next steps of the application process.
We understand that you might be eager to receive more information from Peace Corps at this point, and we greatly appreciate your patience. In the meantime, you can prepare for Peace Corps service and make your application more competitive by: continuing to gain experience through working or volunteering; attending Peace
Corps events; talking to Returned Volunteers; and reading books, articles, and other resources about Peace Corps. You can also find resources and learning activities on our website and in My Toolkit.
If you have earned your degree or gained additional certifications since you applied, please fax them to my attention at: 202-692-1897. Also, if you would like to update your volunteer or work experience, your contact information, or your availability
date, please let me know.
Thank you for your interest in Peace Corps, and please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions at this point. Otherwise, we look forward to contacting you in a short few weeks!
Best regards,
Alyssa


It’s clearly a form letter, but certainly not what I was expecting. I sincerely hope I don’t have to wait two to three more weeks to find out. The letter also makes it pretty clear that my invitation is not a “done deal”. It is also clearly targeted to students.
I still plan to call my recruiter tomorrow to find out what she can tell me. And to complicate matters, tomorrow morning I have my first conversation with my new boss. We’re just chatting on the phone in advance of her arrival and clearly I can’t tell her that I don’t plan to be working here much longer, because there is always the chance I might.

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