Oh Lawdy I'm in a Pickle Forum

[geoduck]

I'm just amazed that you got Cornell and Peace Corps, but weren't good enough for Mr. Le.

[PinkCow]

I'm just amazed that you got Cornell and Peace Corps, but weren't good enough for Mr. Le.

I know right? He did send me an e-mail today... To be fair, my PS was less-than-impressive.

Wow, you guys/gals. Thanks for all of the feedback. I truly appreciate it. Needless to say, this will probably be one of the hardest decisions my wife and I will have to make.

On deferral, PC is 27 months and we wouldn't ship off until next Feb/March. So, it is a 3 yr total with 9 months of downtime.

I truly thought I'd get a resounding pro-LS discussion, who knew!

We'll see how much Cornell loves me tomorrow...

[DeweyDell]

dude. Please go to the peace core. Be with your wife while you still have time for her. Live out all our tls dreams of being not in law school. The peace core could be harrowing or it could be the greatest time of your life, of your life together. It is not possible for law school to be the greatest time in your life. Law school doesn't have to be terrible but it's often terrible, and it's never wonderful. It is much more likely to be a major strain on what I assume is a young marriage, or at the least, simply a missed opportunity to truly enjoy your young marriage.
You can do law school later, you cannot do the peace core after you have law school debt. As my dad always says, break free from the tyranny of the "or" and embrace the power of the "and." Peace core AND law school, not law school OR peace core. Unfortunately this usually referred to mowing the lawn AND washing the car for me, but there's a much less snarky truth to the witticism for you.

[mths]

I'm just amazed that you got Cornell and Peace Corps, but weren't good enough for Mr. Le.

I know right? He did send me an e-mail today... To be fair, my PS was less-than-impressive.

Wow, you guys/gals. Thanks for all of the feedback. I truly appreciate it. Needless to say, this will probably be one of the hardest decisions my wife and I will have to make.

On deferral, PC is 27 months and we wouldn't ship off until next Feb/March. So, it is a 3 yr total with 9 months of downtime.

I truly thought I'd get a resounding pro-LS discussion, who knew!

We'll see how much Cornell loves me tomorrow...

Is time apart not an option?

[mths]

dude. Please go to the peace core. Be with your wife while you still have time for her. Live out all our tls dreams of being not in law school. The peace core could be harrowing or it could be the greatest time of your life, of your life together. It is not possible for law school to be the greatest time in your life. Law school doesn't have to be terrible but it's often terrible, and it's never wonderful. It is much more likely to be a major strain on what I assume is a young marriage, or at the least, simply a missed opportunity to truly enjoy your young marriage.
You can do law school later, you cannot do the peace core after you have law school debt. As my dad always says, break free from the tyranny of the "or" and embrace the power of the "and." Peace core AND law school, not law school OR peace core. Unfortunately this usually referred to mowing the lawn AND washing the car for me, but there's a much less snarky truth to the witticism for you.

why are you illiterate?

[Eugenie Danglars]

Current PCV here- congrats on the nomination. In fact, a lot of the Caribbean placements are very close to beautiful beaches, so lucky you.

Since you're saying nomination, I'm assuming that you don't yet have an invite. It could be a really long time before you get an invite since you're a couple- the couples in my group waited almost a year. Heres a page with all the staging dates, so you can guess about when you might can get an invite: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Timeline Do you have a way to support yourself in the meantime?

Also, what the pear said about Federal jobs is iffy- a lot of my very qualified friends (MA in something related, competent at Mandarin, pre-PC work experience) weren't able to get a gov't gig even WITH non-competitive eligibility. It can happen, and it's nice when it does, but don't count on it at all.

All said, I'd go with PC if youre not going to starve waiting for your invite. Also, I'd retake and reapply if you're remotely interested. It might get you into a better school or you might get money at Cornell if that's where you want to go. The Caribbean is close enough to pop back to the States (so I'm told), so it should be feasible. Shoot, I managed to retake from the middle of nowhere Asia, so you should be good.

Good luck! (And feel free to PM i f you have any PC questions

[ResolutePear]

Current PCV here- congrats on the nomination. In fact, a lot of the Caribbean placements are very close to beautiful beaches, so lucky you.

Since you're saying nomination, I'm assuming that you don't yet have an invite. It could be a really long time before you get an invite since you're a couple- the couples in my group waited almost a year. Heres a page with all the staging dates, so you can guess about when you might can get an invite: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Timeline Do you have a way to support yourself in the meantime?

Also, what the pear said about Federal jobs is iffy- a lot of my very qualified friends (MA in something related, competent at Mandarin, pre-PC work experience) weren't able to get a gov't gig even WITH non-competitive eligibility. It can happen, and it's nice when it does, but don't count on it at all.

All said, I'd go with PC if youre not going to starve waiting for your invite. Also, I'd retake and reapply if you're remotely interested. It might get you into a better school or you might get money at Cornell if that's where you want to go. The Caribbean is close enough to pop back to the States (so I'm told), so it should be feasible. Shoot, I managed to retake from the middle of nowhere Asia, so you should be good.

Good luck! (And feel free to PM i f you have any PC questions

I know two friends who went the PC and got their government jobs through that. It could help that there is currently a shortage of I.T. professionals, and that's what they were.

Thanks for the first-hand though.

[Eugenie Danglars]

Yeah, mine's just anecdotal too, but I just wanted to provide a different view I have heard that IT is generally better than the more social sciency things my friends were going for.

[fundamentallybroken]

Wife is an RPCV - go to PC, have a (hard, but) fun time, then come back and you can do LS if you still want. A lot of RPCVs actually go to grad school after, LS or otherwise, so you'll probably have some people who know what you went through.

Do it - go live life. There's work to be done, but it can always be done later.

(And for non-IT gov't work, it can be tough. If you work at the PC, I think you're limited to two or three years, then you have to go do something else. It took a friend of ours ten years after returning to finally get on at the state dept.)

[Eugenie Danglars]

Wife is an RPCV - go to PC, have a (hard, but) fun time, then come back and you can do LS if you still want. A lot of RPCVs actually go to grad school after, LS or otherwise, so you'll probably have some people who know what you went through.

Do it - go live life. There's work to be done, but it can always be done later.

(And for non-IT gov't work, it can be tough. If you work at the PC, I think you're limited totwo or three years,five years unless you get a contract job then you have to go do something else. It took a friend of ours ten years after returning to finally get on at the state dept.)

FTFY

[fundamentallybroken]

Wife is an RPCV - go to PC, have a (hard, but) fun time, then come back and you can do LS if you still want. A lot of RPCVs actually go to grad school after, LS or otherwise, so you'll probably have some people who know what you went through.

Do it - go live life. There's work to be done, but it can always be done later.

(And for non-IT gov't work, it can be tough. If you work at the PC, I think you're limited totwo or three years,five years unless you get a contract job then you have to go do something else. It took a friend of ours ten years after returning to finally get on at the state dept.)

FTFY

2, 3... 5. It's all such a blur once you're actually chained to a desk! I'm going to LS after 15 - still feels like 3.

(Thanks for the correction!)

[Eugenie Danglars]

No worries! Just got back from CoS conference where they did nothing but explain this and maybe one or two other things for two days

[flcath]

This obviously isn't a great indicator, but just so you know:

No one here really envies your Cornell acceptance; a lot of us envy your PC nom.

[PinkCow]

This obviously isn't a great indicator, but just so you know:

No one here really envies your Cornell acceptance; a lot of us envy your PC nom.

Haha yeah, I guess that's to be expected on Top-Law-Schools. Point taken, though.

Called Cornell today. They said they don't remember ever granting a 3 year deferral, but that's only because they don't remember ever getting a request for one that long. But they encouraged me to request one anyway. Worth a shot...

[TR Fan]

Pinkcow,

Congratulations on your acceptance to Cornell and your Peace Corps nomination! I'll just reiterate what many have already said and recommend that you pursue Peace Corps, even if Cornell does not grant you the deferral (on the assumption that you'd later be reaccepted to Cornell, or better). As a former volunteer, and an incoming Cornell student to boot, I really can't say enough about what an amazing and worthwhile experience Peace Corps service was. Law school will still be there when you get back.

Plus, if you're dragging your wife to Ithaca for three years the least you can do is live on an island together for a couple years first.