How do I build skills for the Peace Corps, so I look good in an application?

Working with non profits or youth are both great. I really encourage you to look at the website and identify a sector that interests you and ties in with your long term career goals. Then tailor your experiences to that sector. The requirements for CED are so different than from education for instance, and you may not really be happy doing anything (as much as I wanted to do PC for years, being honest with myself, there is no way I would have been happy working with small kids). Don't build your whole college career around PC if you don't have a clearer vision of how it will fit in to your career.

Get a feel for a sector (and some sectors do have significant overlap), learn about the desired skills, and build your experience to that. You can do this easily by going to the website. In general, any experience with nonprofits and NGOS, knowledge transfer (tutoring or teaching, on any level), cross-cultural experience (especially significant experience in a dramatically different culture, like a study abroad or internship abroad) and language skills are the most transferable between sectors and can give you a place to start. A general commitment to community service is also a good thing to showcase.

/r/peacecorps Thread