Tufts has climbed to 16th on the 2008 list of small colleges and universities that feed alumni into the Peace Corps, with 17 former students currently volunteering for the humanitarian organization.
This statistic shows an improvement on the figure from last year, when Tufts did not rank in the top 25 schools. But the university still has yet to match its number-one ranking from 2003, when 31 alumni served in the Corps.
"We kind of see cycles like this," Joanna O'Brien, a public affairs specialist for the New England Peace Corps, told the Daily. "There are a few other schools in New England which [once] had really high numbers and then dropped down to the middle of the list."
She attributed the trends to a "ripple effect" that may have to do with networking among students on campus and those serving as overseas volunteers. She said that the regional recruiter for the Boston area has made it a goal to boost numbers back up.
"[The] Peace Corps is very pleased to see Tufts once again ranking on the Top Schools List this year," O'Brien said in an e-mail. "Tufts students have a very strong interest in international development, they are well-rounded and community-minded, and these qualities translate very well to life and work overseas as Peace Corps volunteers."
While former Peace Corps volunteer Jill Ahrold (LA '01) said that she could not account for the downturn in numbers, she said that she did not see any recruitment while at Tufts. It was not until after her time at Tufts that Ahrold decided independently to volunteer.
"I don't think I heard the words 'Peace Corps' once while I was at Tufts," Ahrold said. She first considered applying for the Peace Corps after noticing a pamphlet from the organization on her sister's coffee table.
Once she decided to volunteer, Ahrold had to achieve a satisfactory level of proficiency in Spanish before heading to her desired location in Latin America. She had studied Japanese while at Tufts.
Ahrold, who helped build a library and educate children in Paraguay from 2003 to 2005, called her Peace Corps experience "absolutely fabulous."
"Historically, Tufts students consistently have a strong interest in the Peace Corps and other volunteer organizations," Tufts' Director of Career Services Jean Papalia said in an e-mail. "Since 1961, the Peace Corps has had 487 Tufts volunteers."
This makes Tufts the 92nd-highest producer of Peace Corps volunteers among American universities.
In its annual rankings, the Peace Corps divides the top 25 schools into three size categories: large, with more than 15,000 undergraduates, medium, with numbers between 5,001 and 15,000 undergraduates, and small, with under 5,001 undergraduates. Tufts fits into the second category.
The University of Chicago topped this year's small-schools list with 34 alumni volunteers. The University of Washington holds the top spot in the large category this year, while the University of Virginia ranks first in the medium category.
This year marks a 37-year high for Peace Corps volunteers in general.
According to the organization, nearly 200,000 volunteers, 95 percent of whom carry an undergraduate degree, have served in the Peace Corps since its inception in 1961.
The Peace Corps is an independent federal agency that sends volunteers, mostly young college graduates, to impoverished areas of the world to perform humanitarian aid. Volunteers spend 27 months on their trips; all volunteers must be U.S. citizens.
