Frequently Asked Questions

As many as 24,000 people apply for approximately 3,500 Peace Corps volunteer openings available each year. Because of their solid STEM skills, Mines students are generally quite competitive. But a Peace Corps Prep certificate will give you a major advantage over the competition — and a host of useful skills for living and working overseas — even if you choose not to apply to the Peace Corps directly after graduation. (The certificate is good for life.)

While it is true that you must be a US citizen to join the Peace Corps itself, Peace Corps Prep is open to students of all nationalities. A Peace Corps Prep certificate says, “here is someone who cares about sustainable community development.” Please join us in that goal.

Absolutely! All students in all degree programs are eligible. The Peace Corps Prep certificate is earned while simultaneously pursuing your chosen degree, minors, other certificates — and even club activities. In fact, Peace Corps Prep is especially compatible with a Humanitarian Engineering or McBride Honors Program minor — particularly when combined with international experiences through those programs, or through student clubs like Hike for Help or Mines Without Borders. And while most Peace Corps Prep students are undergraduates, graduate students are also eligible for the program.

Possibly not. A Peace Corps Prep certificate requires you to complete (1) specific courses giving you experience in a particular work sector, (2) classes to build any needed foreign language skills, (3) classes dealing with intercultural competence, (4) professional and leadership development activities. If you can fulfill these requirements with previous courses and activities (or courses and activities you complete during your senior year), you can indeed earn a Peace Corps Prep certificate. That said, the earlier in your Mines career that you start fulfilling program requirements, the easier it will be to complete the program.

Peace Corps Prep is a voluntary program designed to make you a more competitive candidate for Peace Corps volunteer positions, and a better, more culturally aware, engineer. There is no penalty if you do not complete the program. But, of course, there are many advantages if you do.

After a final interview with a program coordinator to make sure all your paperwork is complete, we’ll submit it to the Peace Corps. They’ll issue your certificate of completion for the program noting your achievement (always of interest to potential employers). We’re also working to have this honor displayed in your graduation program and (still in progress) on your official Mines transcript as well. After that, may we suggest…