With 27 volunteers this year, Northwestern ranks 11th for medium-sized schools with alumni serving in the Peace Corps, according to the organization’s 2010 survey.
This is the 10th year in a row NU has appeared on the list, and 880 NU alumni have served since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961.
“The interest level at NU is there, and it has been for some years,” said Christine Torres, the organization’s public affairs specialist at the Chicago recruiting office.
Peer schools including Cornell University, with 46 volunteers, and the University of Chicago, with 30 volunteers, also appear on the list.
The acceptance rate for the Peace Corps usually hovers at about 52 percent, Torres said.
Numbers for this year haven’t come in yet, as the application cycle is an ongoing process.
SESP senior Jorie Larson is preparing to depart in July for her 27-month journey abroad.
“I applied to other things, but in the back of my mind, the Peace Corps was always what I wanted to do,” Larson said.
Larson said she submitted an application last August after studying abroad in Uganda last spring.
“When I was abroad, I realized how much I loved it,” she said. “It made me realize it was something I could do. I thought about it all summer long once I got back.”
Larson said she considered other programs, but she realized they weren’t for her.
“I wanted something more community-development based,” she said. “I felt more connected with the Peace Corps culture.”
Because the application process is comprehensive and takes six months to a year, interested seniors should apply now, Torres said. The Peace Corps will have recruiting events on NU’s campus Feb. 22 and April 5.
