WOW. I actually don’t know where to begin. I guess I could start off with the obvious: after two long months of waiting, Sunday April 12th at 7:00 PM finally came, and I found out that I had been matched to the Dietetic Internship with Western Carolina University. Having this program be my top choice, I was ecstatic that I actually matched with them! Going into an application process that boasts a 50% match rate is SCARY guys, but, after busting my booty in my undergrad classes, cramming for the GRE in January, writing (and re-writing) my personal statement approximately 55 times, revising my resume, pushing “send application” on DICAS, waiting for an interview, going through said interview, and a lot of nail biting and praying, I can say that my hard work and grit paid off! (Sorry for that run on sentence…I didn’t major in English).
Prior to beginning the application process, I scoured – I mean, SCOURED – the internet for any advice/blog posts/secret tricks that would help me score an internship. Like, if you wrote a blog on your experience of the application process, chances are that I prooobably stumbled across it. And let me take the time right now to thank you for it. In the same way you helped me, I wanted to hopefully do the same for others by sharing my experience and what I felt helped me. And I guess it will be a good way for me to chronicle my experience for myself, too, so without further adieu I present to you HOW I GOT MATCHED (in list form):
1) Get. involved. This was one thing I neglected more than I should’ve. I focused a lot on my school work making sure I made the best grades I could, and didn’t make time for volunteer and other work experiences until my (second) senior year. Join the dietetics club at your school, go to the meetings, and actually GO TO EVENTS they plan and hold.
2) And in the case that you don’t get involved with more “official” experiences and opportunities, make your own! I was a PRO at this one. I made anything food related into a meaningful experience that I could learn from. I created my food instagram to share easy and healthy meals that anyone can make, I started this blog (!), and found alternative opportunities that would allow me to gain experience in the field. I scoured the All Access Internships website and came across their “Get Experience” page, where I then found a great opportunity to work with Allison at Prep Dish to help with some “nutrition communications” and getting an inside look at running your own business.
3) Or, you could always get a job. I somehow landed a position as a nutritionist with WIC for the Athens Clarke County health department, which has undoubtedly been the best experience thus far. I truly do love my job and what I do, and will hate to leave it in a couple of months, but there are WIC clinics in North Carolina, too đ In all seriousness though, I truly believe this is what gave me a competitive edge during the matching process, as my experience levels during undergrad were ummm, slim to none.
4) Get to know your professors!!! If not all of them, find one or two that you click with and feel like could write a solid letter of recommendation for you. I failed to do this until my last semester as well, but thankfully had one of the coolest professors of my whole undergrad then. Same goes for any supervisors, employers, or anyone you work with or around that could talk up your best features and assets.
5) Take the GRE. Even if you don’t think you’re going to apply to any internships that require it, take it anyway! However, don’t stress out and spend night and day studying for it. I bought a study book at the beginning of January and took the test the last weekend of January, and only studied roughly 1-2 hours a night, 3 nights a week. Maybe I didn’t score off the charts, but I was within the requirements for the internships I was interested in, so that’s all that mattered!
6) Start the application process early – especially if you have writer’s block (like me)!!! For me, it wasn’t the actual DICAS part of the application process that took a while to complete, but rather the writing of my personal statement and reviewing/editing my resume. However, it was my personal statement that gave me the greatest trouble. I obviously knew I was passionate about nutrition and the field of dietetics, but I wasn’t sure how to get that down on paper. I used to be great at writing (or enjoyed it, at least), but not having any English classes in 3 years really slowed my creative juices. After finally getting a rough draft down, I had two friends review, revise and edit it to make sure I was getting my ideas across as effectively as possible. I literally finished my personal state on February 11, a mere 4 days before the deadline…in my defense, I do tend to work better under pressure đ As for my resume, I never really “kept up” with it during undergrad. I would update it if applying for positions or practicums, but it never really required extensive editing and information. It took a few weekends spent at Starbucks, but I eventually put EVERYTHING possible on my resume. Something you’re typically not supposed to do, I know, but there was method behind my madness. I then signed up for a resume review and coaching session offered through All Access Internships. For $50, I had someone look over and edit my resume to make sure I was including the most meaningful experiences and formatting it appropriately. I always heard “for dietetic internships its okay to go over one or two pages!”, so I did. I kept mine at two pages, but made sure everything that was included was relevant, meaningful and beneficial to my application as a whole.
7) Every experience counts – big or small! When filling out the work, extracurricular, and volunteer opportunities sections on DICAS, don’t think any experience is irrelevant. In my opinion, if you feel you gained valuable experience from a volunteer opportunity or extracurricular event, play that up in this section! Even if you don’t boast many dietetic and nutrition-related opportunities, I think anything that shows you held leadership and responsibility, or shows how proactive you were, can help.
8) Do you research. Make sure you’re spending time applying to programs that you genuinely see yourself enjoying and doing well in. Do you want to get graduate credit? Complete your Masters? Get your internship done as quickly as possible? Is the internship program financially possible for you? These are all things that vary from internship to internship, and it might take a little time to weed through and find ones that truly interest you.
9) Do more research. So you’ve finally pushed the big “SEND” on your application, and you’re waiting for interviews to come flowing in, right? We all know that you’re going to get at least one interview (because you’re awesome and should always look on the bright side), so be prepared with questions that are both specific to the internship you will be interviewing with, and are also questions that you are genuinely curious about. I loved asking more personal questions to get to know the program directors a little better, such as “What got you to become interested in the dietetics field?” or “What’s your favorite part of being a program director?”. I had virtual interviews, either via Skype or phone, which was a little less intimidating for me. I recommend brushing up on some basic MNT knowledge as well, you never know what they might ask đ
10) SEND THANK YOU NOTES. SEND THEM! I’ve always heard to send either a thank you note or email after a job interview, and that is no different in the case of internships. I’ve always been a sucker for snail mail, so I made sure to send a handwritten thank you letter to each program director I interviewed with. It’s a nice little personal touch, and a great way to get you back on the program director’s mind and to get across how interested you are in their program.
11) Reread all emails/information forms/webpages/contact forms….so you don’t have to apologize for misspelling a program director’s name after you’ve already been in contact back and forth with them 2-3 times đ đ đ I FREAKED when I found out I had been skimming over a program director’s name and addressing her incorrectly. Like, mortified. In this case, all you can do is man up, admit your mistake and apologize. Thankfully it didn’t hurt my chances too much, because this was the internship I got matched with (PTL).
12) BREATHE. RELAX. GO ON A RUN. EAT A TRIPLE SCOOP CONE FROM BEN & JERRYS. LIVE. The application process is stressful. Debatably worse than applying to college. With a process that boasts a 50% match rate, it feels similar to jumping into a pool of sharks and hoping to survive. After I pressed send on my application (and especially after my final interview), a wave of relief washed over me. I was done, and there was literally nothing more I could do. I reminded myself that I had to be realistic during this process, and I would tell you to do the same. If you don’t get matched, it’s not the end of the world! That just gives you another year to gain even more experience in the field, and to become that much more competitive for the next match round!
So, I guess that’s it! If you’re applying for internships in the next couple of years, I hope something that I shared today will help you in the process đ Through it all, you have to remind yourself that you ARE qualified and that you ARE enough, regardless of the outcome on Match Day.
