Joining your school's Student Dietetic Association (SDA), or equivalent of a different name, is a great way to help make yourself a more competitive candidate for an internship. Being a member of your school's SDA is a wonderful thing to include on your resume, and offers many benefits in addition to that.
By being an active member you'll have the opportunity to gain volunteer experience in area(s) you may not have otherwise been able to. And this will give you even more experiences to draw from when writing your personal statement(s)/application letter(s).
You'll also have the opportunity to meet a lot of people. You'll be able to meet fellow students, who could become class project partners and study group members in the near future, and friends and colleagues in the long term. And if you actively participate in SDA activities you may have the opportunity to meet people already working in the field of dietetics, who could provide you with valuable insight or maybe even a letter of recommendation.
If your school doesn't have a Student Dietetic Association or similar nutrition related club, founding one yourself is a great opportunity as well! This shows potential internships your ingenuity and dedication. And by founding the SDA yourself you'll be able to give both yourself and your classmates the opportunities described above.
Your school's Student Dietetic Association is a fun way to connect with your peers and find additional volunteer opportunities.
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Volunteer
If I could give just one piece of advice to someone starting out as a dietetics student it would be this: volunteer as soon and as much as possible.
One of my biggest regrets from being an undergraduate dietetics student is not starting volunteering as soon as I decided on my major. Volunteer work, or work experience if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work in the field, is a key component of an internship application that is looked at by programs. In Pennsylvania in 2009, 7 of 15 internship programs ranked volunteer experience as one of their top five criteria when evaluating applicants, and in California 14 of 27 programs valued it in their top five as well. Other internships in both states value volunteer experience as well, though not as highly("Applicant Guide to," 2009).
Volunteer work is a great way to display your dedication to the field of dietetics, and when filling out your application form is something you will be asked to list and describe (Dietetic Educators of Practitioners, 2004). Additionally, volunteer work is a great topic to write about in your application letter/personal statement, and can lead to meeting people who you may want to ask to write you letters of recommendation.
More than just experience in the field, volunteering is valued highly by many internship programs, and may help make your application process go smoother, easing the pain of writing an application letter or finding someone to write a letter of recommendation.
Source(s): Applicant Guide to Supervised Practice. (2009)., Dietetic Educators of Practitioners (2004). Dietetic internship program application form. Retrieved from http://www.depdpg.org/index_580.cfm
One of my biggest regrets from being an undergraduate dietetics student is not starting volunteering as soon as I decided on my major. Volunteer work, or work experience if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work in the field, is a key component of an internship application that is looked at by programs. In Pennsylvania in 2009, 7 of 15 internship programs ranked volunteer experience as one of their top five criteria when evaluating applicants, and in California 14 of 27 programs valued it in their top five as well. Other internships in both states value volunteer experience as well, though not as highly("Applicant Guide to," 2009).
Volunteer work is a great way to display your dedication to the field of dietetics, and when filling out your application form is something you will be asked to list and describe (Dietetic Educators of Practitioners, 2004). Additionally, volunteer work is a great topic to write about in your application letter/personal statement, and can lead to meeting people who you may want to ask to write you letters of recommendation.
More than just experience in the field, volunteering is valued highly by many internship programs, and may help make your application process go smoother, easing the pain of writing an application letter or finding someone to write a letter of recommendation.
Source(s): Applicant Guide to Supervised Practice. (2009)., Dietetic Educators of Practitioners (2004). Dietetic internship program application form. Retrieved from http://www.depdpg.org/index_580.cfm
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