When preparing your personal statement/application letter (different programs have different names for what is essentially the same thing; I'm going to be calling it "personal statement" from here on) the more opinions and advice you can get on how to improve it the better. This is one instance where you may not have to worry about too many cooks in the kitchen, provided you remain the chef in charge.
The sooner you begin working on your personal statement, the more different opinions you can get on it. There are many, many sources of advice you can look to, as well. Ask your family, your teachers, your adviser(s), your mentor(s), your career center, and anyone else you can think of. Each person you ask will have a different opinion to give you, and will present you more opportunities to make your personal statement better. You will note that I did not include friends in the initial list, because this is an area where you may want to be wary. Friends who are your competition for an internship position have the potential to give you bad advice, in hopes of improving their own chances. While true friends will give you good advice, this is a time to evaluate just how close you are to your fellow students.
In addition to receiving advice on how to make improvements to your personal statement, each time someone reviews it for you you will end up looking at it again. Each time you look at your personal statement is a chance to catch something you missed before, and to be inspired to add something new. Keep looking at and revising your personal statement, even if you don't have a large pool of people to give you advice.
While reviewing your personal statement several times is beneficial, you should also realize that it will be very difficult to ever be 100% happy with it. What's important is to realize that your personal statement doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be the best you can reasonably make it before you send off your application(s). Don't drive yourself insane trying to make it perfect.
Both you and members of your social support system should review your personal statement several times. But do so within reason, so that you have time to spend on the other parts of your application as well.
Showing posts with label application. Show all posts
Showing posts with label application. Show all posts
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Choosing where to apply: be open minded.
While staying where you live now, and especially doing an internship at the school where you are completing or completed your undergraduate degree is probably the most preferable for many people, being open minded about where to intern has many benefits as well.
One good piece of advice my undergraduate program director gave me was: apply to at least one program out of state. This was likely because California is a state where many of the internships have a huge amount of competition for openings. Even if you are a very competitive applicant, rather than endure the scramble, making an out of state or at least less competitive program your fifth or last choice is not a bad idea. If your current situation allows you the flexibility to move, especially out of state, take advantage of that flexibility, as moving to do an internship may not always be an option (a lot can change in 6 months or a year).
A distance internship is a great option for those who don't have the opportunity or willingness to move a far distance. The primary disadvantage of applying to a distance internship is that you have to set up your own rotations. And if you don't have a good network of people to act as preceptors (people who supervise you while you work as an intern) or to help you meet people who could be a preceptor, a distance internship may not be a viable option. The secondary disadvantage is the possibility of not matching after going through a tremendous amount of effort to find preceptors and arrange your rotations. However, you aren't limited to applying to just one distance internship program. If you go through the time and effort to arrange your rotations, you can apply to several distance programs with those same rotations. Distance internships may also have openings in the scramble, and several did during the spring 2009 matching period.
Internships beyond your comfort zone may also offer unique benefits you couldn't find close to home. You may find a combined internship and masters degree program, like I found at Marywood University. An internship with a stipend to help your financial situation could present itself, such as a military internship like the U.S. Military Dietetic Internship Consortium - Army program. Or you could find a very short internship, like the University of Houston one, which would only take you away from home for 27 weeks.
The internship closest to you isn't the only option out there for becoming a Registered Dietitian. So when choosing where to apply look outside of your immediate area and you may end up pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Source(s): Applicant Guide to Supervised Practice. (2009)., D & D Digital. (2007). D & d digital. Retrieved from http://www.dnddigital.com/
One good piece of advice my undergraduate program director gave me was: apply to at least one program out of state. This was likely because California is a state where many of the internships have a huge amount of competition for openings. Even if you are a very competitive applicant, rather than endure the scramble, making an out of state or at least less competitive program your fifth or last choice is not a bad idea. If your current situation allows you the flexibility to move, especially out of state, take advantage of that flexibility, as moving to do an internship may not always be an option (a lot can change in 6 months or a year).
A distance internship is a great option for those who don't have the opportunity or willingness to move a far distance. The primary disadvantage of applying to a distance internship is that you have to set up your own rotations. And if you don't have a good network of people to act as preceptors (people who supervise you while you work as an intern) or to help you meet people who could be a preceptor, a distance internship may not be a viable option. The secondary disadvantage is the possibility of not matching after going through a tremendous amount of effort to find preceptors and arrange your rotations. However, you aren't limited to applying to just one distance internship program. If you go through the time and effort to arrange your rotations, you can apply to several distance programs with those same rotations. Distance internships may also have openings in the scramble, and several did during the spring 2009 matching period.
Internships beyond your comfort zone may also offer unique benefits you couldn't find close to home. You may find a combined internship and masters degree program, like I found at Marywood University. An internship with a stipend to help your financial situation could present itself, such as a military internship like the U.S. Military Dietetic Internship Consortium - Army program. Or you could find a very short internship, like the University of Houston one, which would only take you away from home for 27 weeks.
The internship closest to you isn't the only option out there for becoming a Registered Dietitian. So when choosing where to apply look outside of your immediate area and you may end up pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Source(s): Applicant Guide to Supervised Practice. (2009)., D & D Digital. (2007). D & d digital. Retrieved from http://www.dnddigital.com/
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