Peace Corps is trying to make the process a lot easier in order to attract more applicants. The last (and highest ever) number of applicants currently reached 17,336 as of October 8th. Why? To make more work for themselves? I mean, really? According to the Peace Corps official website, the last count showed that there are only about 7200 openings around the globe (as of last September).
I believe that throwing out the latest tasty carrot; "You can choose where you want to serve" is what is driving up the numbers. Huh. Unfortunately, this is not quite true. Take my case. I was given a choice of 3 countries. After carefully weighing in on all three, I chose Indonesia. Where am I going? Albania. Not that I'm complaining. I'm happy to serve where ever I am needed most. And I do love Eastern Europe, so what's my beef?
I guess what the Peace Corps is trying to do is attract a greater number of qualified volunteers but this may end up back firing. When I served in Ukraine there were 500 of us...500! The largest number of PCV's in any one country at any time. By the time I left, our numbers had dwindled by 200 and they were planning on skimming more off the top. The reason? Budget cuts. Not only did they cut the number of volunteers, they cut our allowance as well.
So, if the government was severely cutting back on services then, then why would they wish to attract more applicants? As far as I can tell the US is still not back on track with our economy. Wouldn't it make more sense to try to get along with the numbers they have rather than adding more volunteers and cutting services?
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