Predicting Where I Might Go

Pre-nomination (going by expected departure date alone)

One of the most pressing questions for Peace Corps applicants is where you will end up going. There is really no way to know. It's not even worth asking at the interview, because it is only after you are nominated that they begin to match your skills to available projects.

However, my recruiter informed me that I would most likely depart between March-September 2013, and my earliest available departure date is March 15th, so I would guess that my best bet would be to look at countries that received volunteers in those months in 2011, since assignments last for two years.

Presuming this, and using the Peace Corps Wiki Timeline Archive and Peace Corps Wiki Departures by month (neither affiliated with Peace Corps), I came up with the following list:

March 

Albania, Belize, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Morocco, Ukraine

April 

Botswana, Georgia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Panama, Romania

May

Armenia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Rwanda, Suriname

June

Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Jamaica, Liberia, Malawi, Moldova, Mongolia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo

July

Cambodia, Cape Verde, El Salvador, Guinea, Honduras, Madagascar, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia

August

Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia

September

Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Macedonia, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Togo, Ukraine

Update: December 14th

When my recruiter called me, I found out that the post she is nominating me for will stage in July, has a warm climate, does not speak French or Spanish, and that I will be teaching English. This information eliminates El Salvador, Guinea, Honduras, Madagascar and Senegal. She also mentioned that they are taking my peanut allergy into account, which I think probably means that Cambodia is out. 

Using this information and my list from above, my best guesses would be: Cape Verde or Philippines. Depending on what they mean by "warm climate," could also be South Africa or Zambia. I have a feeling that I will end up going exactly where I am supposed to go.

Update: March 11th

It's Namibia! The lesson from this experiment is to look at the countries that got volunteers during the three months (the month of, one before, and one after) surrounding your departure date.