I applied to six internships for this matching process, and I look forward to possible interviews next month! I believe all of my internships require interviews, so I will probably rearrange my D&D matching choices accordingly.
Here is a rough timeline of things that I have learned from applying through DICAS for the spring match (which the majority of internships participate in):
Preferably by October/November, very latest by December:
- Research the DI programs forwards and backwards through the list of accredited programs on the AND website and the applicant guide. Narrow down your selections based on your eligibility and interests to roughly 5-10 internships.
- For the programs you plan to apply, look up the required persons needed to write your rec letters. Most likely, they require two professors in food and nutrition (sometimes one of the two includes your DPD director) and one work reference (job or internship supervisor). Ask these persons in advance to help you write good rec letters for you, and give them supplemental information on you (resume, your dietetic experiences, qualifications, your DI programs of interest).
Preferably by December, very latest by January:
- Register for your DICAS application when it opens in the beginning of Dec. Complete the information you know now, and scan through the application to know what you need to include later on.
- For your rec letter writers, submit their contact information soon so they will receive their e-mails from DICAS and have adequate time to submit their recommendations for you.
- Order your transcript to be sent directly from your DPD's college to the DICAS transcript dept. You need to account for mailing time and for the DICAS dept to transfer your transcript to your application and calculate your DPD GPAs (science, professional and overall). Unfortunately, you don't get to view your DPD GPAs until after you submit your application.
- Submit your DPD contact information for DICAS to obtain your verification statement or intent to complete.
- Process any necessary paperwork/pay processing fees for your DPD department by their deadlines.
- Contact your DI programs of interest by e-mailing the director. Not only are you making a great first impression, you are also demonstrating a great interest in the program (tell the director what parts of the program interest you and back them up with complementary experiences you already have) and asking questions that cannot be answered on the DI program website (shows that you are already knowledgeable about the program and want to seek even more).
In case you're unsure of what questions to ask, try some of the following:
What do you think are the most challenging aspects of your program?
I am very interested in (insert specific rotations), can you tell me more about how the interns' played a role?
Do the interns work independently or in groups most of the time?
What qualities do you seek most in your interns?
What do you recommend I can do between now and applying for your internship that can make me stand out from the competition of other applicants?
Depending on the director, some directors prefer communicating by e-mail or by phone. Be sure that your e-mail and phone voicemail are professional, and also leave your phone number so the director has an option to respond either by e-mail or phone.
- If you can, attend the open house or schedule a personal visit to the internship program. Open houses usually run in November, December and January. Some internships have virtual open houses to accommodate potential interns who cannot travel; definitely participate in these! These will help you get a good feel of the environment of the program, and you have the opportunity to ask great questions and make a great impression to the director. That way, the director matches the application to a face when reviewing many applications.
- If needed, take the GRE. It takes roughly 10 days for you to receive your complete score report, and you can input your scores on DICAS. Depending on the programs which require the GRE, they may or may not need your official score report during the application process. I would still recommend for you to send your official scores to those programs at the end of your GRE exam (4 schools are included).
[In terms of preparing for the GRE, definitely use the Powerprep software they have to know the sections and type of questions of the updated GRE.]
- For DICAS, you only list your DPD classes, not everything you took in college. Obtain a list of DPD classes from your DPD that has a list of science DPD classes and professional DPD classes. Clarify with your DPD director if needed.
Preferably by January, latest by February:
- Create a checklist of all application materials needed for every program you apply to. Every program has their own list of application requirements even when using DICAS. Make sure that the questions/topics for the personal letters match the same as DICAS, and if they differ, be sure to address those other questions either in addition to the DICAS questions or instead of the DICAS questions (probably should clarify with the director to make sure you are doing it correctly). Most likely, you would need to submit your application fee to each program separately. Include a business cover letter with each payment to give a good professional impression (instead of only sending the check in the envelope).
For combined graduate degree and DI programs, you most likely need to submit a graduate school application at the same time of submitting DICAS. Be sure to follow all of their requirements as well (probably need to submit a transcript for that application too).
When you designate each personal statement to each DI program in DICAS, there is an option to add supplemental information for the program. This is used for any extra materials necessary for the program. I personally used it for a 2-pg business letter of application for one of my programs.
- Work on your main personal statement! Try to use a timeline format while answering the required questions (what first got you interested in dietetics, how you carried out your interest in your experiences, what weaknesses you improved on and what strengths you gained, how your experiences shape your short-term and long-term goals, what complementary experiences you wish to gain through the DI program to help you achieve those goals, and why you are a great match to the program). Adjust your personal statement for each program. Make sure that the program name and director's name you use matches with the program's designated personal statement.
Make sure to use strong action verbs whenever possible.
Be truthful in your experiences, but do not forget to sell yourself! Explain the work situation and your role, what you did to perform well, and the result that created a positive impact and proves your attained skills contributory to be a dietetic intern.
Even when talking about your weaknesses, always speak positively. Always speak weaknesses before your strengths, and try to use weaknesses that are not major skills needed to succeed in the internship (i.e. mastering fluency of a language). I personally spoke of not doing well on academic performance while juggling two majors and other activities, but not letting it stop me from pursuing dietetics and gaining more dietetics knowledge and experiences.
In addition to creating a timeline and making sure that paragraphs flow together in harmony, also make sure that your specific interest and the program's emphasis is communicated throughout the paper. Do not introduce conflicting ideas (i.e. talking about being a community dietitian when the program has a clinical focus).
The character limit is 8000 characters (roughly 1000 words). I was told by the DICAS department to not copy and paste directly from the word document to DICAS, but to copy and paste from the word document to notepad, then to DICAS. There should be less trouble with character limit that way (I had trouble with saving my personal statement even though I met the character limit). Be sure to scan through the DICAS personal statement box to ensure that you fix weird characters (sometimes "s turn into ?s) and separate paragraphs.
- Be sure to complete your section on honors/awards, volunteer/work experience, extracurricular activities wholeheartedly.
For the number of weeks/hours per week/hours per year, it is fine to estimate/average these numbers.
For volunteer/work experience, start with one to two sentences explaining the type of facility you worked in, then list your responsibilities.
For extracurricular activities, list important experiences/projects/activities that you actively contributed to in addition to your responsibilities. It is very helpful to have served as an officer in several organizations vs. being a general member in ten clubs.
- After you complete your volunteer/work experiences in DICAS, use the information to help you write your resume. You want your resume to list specific information about projects you led, people you have trained, the efficiency of how you accomplished your responsibilities, any new changes you implemented, and any other information that shows your positive impact to the workplace. Try your best to use numbers (as in number of beds/patients, number of employees you trained, how much $ you raised/used in budget). Use your resume to go beyond your list of responsibilities.
For the resume, you must ensure that the layout is continuous and easy to read. It should be scanned in 10 seconds or less, and contain only the most impressive things about you. Also, it should focus on dietetics and dietetics skills. It is fine to include non-dietetics experiences as long as you can demonstrate that the skills you achieved will apply to the dietetic internship.
Include a heading (name, address, e-mail address, phone number). If you have a professional website/blog, you can also include its link. Make sure that the website is up-to-date, professional, and related to food/nutrition/dietetics. If it's not relevant to dietetics, then there's no use to put it.
No need for objective. It's clear that your objective is to get into an internship.
Include your education: name of college/university, city/state, years attended or graduation date, bachelors/majors. GPA is optional (only list it if it helps you, meaning it should be a high GPA), and definitely list honors if you achieved high honors or dean's list.
Include your best work/volunteer experiences where you made the largest impact. Use bullet points (no more than 3-4 per experience), and do not use periods at the end of each phrase.
Include other supplementary information, such as activities and professional association memberships. Maybe you authored articles or carried out research studies. No need to include references (you have your rec letters in DICAS).
- Before you submit your DICAS application, scan through every section to make sure that you filled all information completely and accurately. Be sure that you complete every item of your application checklists! Submit your DICAS application and certify mail your supplementary application materials to your programs by the deadline!
Even though it was difficult to work with the DICAS website in some areas, it was very nice to not need to print all application materials for every program that I applied to! I am very thankful for the support from my rec letter writers, as well as the important people in my life who helped me so much throughout this process.
Do you have any other tips on applying to DIs?
