More and more college seniors across the country are choosing to join the Peace Corps — unless they’re from Northwestern.

Despite the national upward trend in Peace Corps enrollment, NU dropped from eighth to 17th place this year among medium-sized universities that send students to the Peace Corps, according to the organization’s 2004 list of “Top Producing Colleges and Universities.” NU has 29 alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps, six fewer than last year.

Enrollment of NU students in the Peace Corps has shown a steady decline over the past few years.

Weinberg senior Jess Fisher, who is applying to join the ranks of the Peace Corps next year, said she is surprised at the decrease in applications but is excited to be sent wherever the Peace Corps might assign her.

“I want to explore different cultures and different ways to live,” Fisher said, “but I also don’t want to walk into it with the feeling of ‘I’m going to save the world.’ I’ll go with the flow in terms of where they best see my skills being used.”

Still, Fisher said she could see why fewer students might apply to the Peace Corps.

“Despite the fact that people say Northwestern is politically or socially apathetic, I definitely think people are aware of international issues and committed to work towards positive change,” Fisher said. “But people see the economy is on the upturn and see that perhaps they can get a job and pay off those student loans.”

Scot Roskelley, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps’ Chicago Regional Office, said he doesn’t know the reason why enrollment among NU graduates has dropped, because the Peace Corps gives the same recruitment attention to NU as it does to other schools.

As for the overall national increase in enrollment in the Peace Corps, Roskelley said several factors could be at play, including the fact that college graduates seem to be more concerned with international affairs. He said with events happening in the world, students want to make a positive contribution toward peace.

Roskelley also said numbers could be up because of the amount of recruiting that has been done across college campuses nationwide.

“Peace Corps’ overall budget has been increasing, and as more dollars are funneled into recruitment, we are able to spend more time on campuses and can visit campuses we never were able to visit before,” Roskelley said.

Peace Corps applications are accepted year-round, but students hoping to leave by the end of the summer should submit their applications in the next four weeks.