11 Tips for an Outstanding DICAS Application
If you’re applying for a dietetic internship program, you’re probably familiar with the DICAS Application process.
Maybe you’ve even heard horror stories about the DICAS portal. While the dietetic application process is very lengthy, we promise that it doesn’t have to be overly complicated.
With a little bit of planning, you can work on your DICAS application over several weeks to make it more manageable.
Keep reading to discover our top 11 Tips for an Outstanding DICAS Application.
1. Early Preparation is Key.
Start early to avoid last-minute stress. Even if you’re not quite ready to start your DICAS application, go ahead and create a DICAS account and click around on the different sections so that you fully understand what will be required of you.
This isn’t the type of application that you can put together in a few days or even a few weeks. It will require quite a bit of planning. The good news is that there are lower energy tasks that you can start now (like entering your demographic information) and ordering transcripts.
Map out a schedule for each section so that you have mini-deadlines to help you stay focused and on-track for the entire application process.
We recommend blocking out at least 4-6 weeks to work on your DICAS application. However, if you don’t have that much time it’s still doable! You will just need to dedicate a few more hours each week.
Our biggest tip is to just get started! And focus on one section at a time.
You can do this!
2. Highlight your Unique Academic Achievements.
Showcase your academic achievements including research projects, capstone projects, and any service projects that were part of an academic course.
For example, if you were required to work in the nutrition counseling clinic for 20 hours for your counseling course, you can include this as relevant experience under the academic section.
Likewise, if you hosted a community education event or series of events with your community nutrition course, you can include this relevant experience under the academic experience section of your DICAS application.
When highlighting your academic achievements, you can also include things like:
- The dean’s list or honor roll
- Scholarships
- Awards or recognitions such as Outstanding Student
A common question about this section is:
Do I need to include relevant coursework?
Because all dietetic students are required to complete similar coursework, you do not need to repeat your coursework here. Instead this is a place to highlight anything additional hands-on experience that you completed for academic credit.
3. Showcase your Leadership Experience & Extracurricular Activities
In this section, programs are particularly interested in learning about your involvement in the community or college setting. While you can include extracurricular activities like collegiate sports, most programs are interested in seeing your leadership role or relevant clubs/activities.
Even if you didn’t hold a direct leadership role in a club, you can still list your involvement. Here are some common things we see listed in this section:
- Student Dietetic Association- Leadership role or member role
- Honor Society
- Medical or Health Professional Club
- Sorority or other club- leadership role or member role
- Service Group or Church Group
- College Level Sports Team- member or leadership role
Note that you don’t need to include intramural sports teams in this section as this doesn’t require the same level of commitment as a DI or DIII student athlete.
If you finished your undergraduate degree several years ago, think of ways that you’ve stayed involved in your local community or at work. Are you part of a leadership council? Or do you serve on a committee for your child’s school? It’s okay to include more recent areas of leadership if your past college experiences are no longer relevant.
4. Include the Right Details About Your Work & Volunteer Experience.
The work and volunteer section is one of the lengthier sections in DICAS, but it is also heavily weighted in the application review process.
Provide detailed information about your work and volunteer experiences related to dietetics.Focus on your responsibilities, skills gained, your accomplishments and the impact you made.
You should focus on dietetics-related skills and the transferrable skills that you’ll bring to the internship.
Remember to focus on your role. We don’t need to know what the company does or what the dietitian has accomplished. Instead really focus on your impact and what made this experience unique.
When possible include quantifiable accomplishments.
For example, instead of saying “Taught nutrition classes” you could say “Developed and taught healthy eating concepts to 15-20 students each week”.
One of the questions we commonly get about this section is:
How many experiences should we include? And what if it’s already in my resume?
You should include all of your relevant nutrition and dietetics experiences in this section.
It will absolutely be time consuming, but it is helpful for us to see your experience broken down in this way.
There is also an option to include your total hours of service with each position. This then calculates into a total hours of volunteer service and a total hours of work experience. Many programs look at the calculated “total hours” to determine if you meet their hours requirement.
As a side note, KBDI does not have a required number of volunteer or work hours.
Another common question about this section is:
Should this information be listed in bullet form or in paragraph form?
There isn’t preferred way to list this information. We’ve seen it done both ways. You can choose your preferred style, but make sure that the information is concise and that you stick to relevant information. Remember, we are reading dozens of applications!
Keep it to 3-4 bullet points or sentences per role. If you have a lot of roles that you’re adding, you might even just drop it down to 2 bullet points per role.
Should you include non-relevant work experience? What if you’re a second career dietitian?
For this section that states “relevant work and volunteer experience”, focus on including nutrition, foodservice, clinical and relevant business experience.
In your resume, you can have your past work experience that isn’t relevant.
5. Craft a Compelling Personal Statement.
Your personal statement should be one of your best pieces of work! You’ll want to dedicate the most time to your personal statement (we recommend 4-6 weeks of structured writing).
Write a well-thought-out personal statement that reflects your passion for dietetics, your career goals, and why you are a strong candidate for the internship.
Be authentic and specific about your experiences and how they have shaped your aspirations.
For KBDI, we specifically want to hear about your interest in business, entrepreneurship and leadership.
For more tips on writing an outstanding personal statement, download our free guide here.
6. Tailor Your Application to Each Program.
You’ve probably heard this advice several times, but you might be wondering which sections you should tailor.
You don’t need to change up every section of your application. We primarily recommend focusing on tailoring your personal statement and confirming that you have the program name mentioned in your personal statement at least once!
You’ll also want to make sure that you highlight key attributes and goals that are relevant to the program’s focus if they have one.
For KBDI, we recommend highlighting your interest in a business and leadership focus position.
7. Showcase your experience with diversity, equity and inclusion.
Highlight any experiences that demonstrate your commitment to diversity and inclusion.
This could include working with diverse populations, participating in community outreach, or engaging in cultural competency training. This also includes being a member of an underrepresented group, culture, or ethnicity in the field of dietetics.
At KBDI, we are interested in hearing about your lived experiences. For example, if you are a first-generation college student or encountered adversity during your academic experience, we absolutely take this into consideration.
We are committed to supporting diversity and equity in the field of dietetics and look beyond just your GPA or total number of hours of volunteer service.
8. Order Your Transcripts Now!
Once you have completed your last full semester before the application deadline, go ahead and order your transcripts!
You will need transcripts for every college, university and community college that you have attended.
Yes, even if you attended a community college for un-related coursework, you’ll still have to submit those transcripts if the credits counted toward any part of your bachelor’s degree.
It can take DICAS several weeks to process transcripts. As long as you have ordered your transcripts to be sent to DICAS electronically before the deadline, then you are good to go.
You don’t have to wait for the transcripts to be attached to your application before you hit submit. However, if you’re worried about this, then you can easily avoid this stressor by ordering your transcripts 4-6 weeks early.
9. Secure Strong Letters of Recommendation.
Request letters of recommendation from individuals who can speak to your skills, work ethic, and passion for dietetics.
Your references won’t be able to access any portion of your DICAS application, so you can actually start this task right away.
We recommend giving your reference writers an earlier deadline so that you’re not waiting on their letters before you can hit submit.
Check out our blog post on how to secure letters of recommendations for more tips.
10. Proofread your DICAS Application Thoroughly.
Typos and grammatical errors can detract from the professionalism of your application.
We recommend using a tool such as Grammarly to check grammar and spelling errors.
Because you’ll be spending hours on your application, your brain may not catch all of your grammar errors. This is completely normal- when we spend dozens of hours on something, our brain starts skimming over sections.
To combat this, try reading each section of your application from the bottom to the top and read it out loud!
Finally, ask a trusted family member or friend to review your application as the final step.
11. Submit your DICAS Application Early!
As the application deadline nears, program directors will start to check DICAS to monitor total applicant numbers.
They’ll often preview who has applied and this is a great way to get your name out there early.
Trust us, you don’t want to wait until midnight on February 15th to submit your application. If you run into any technical problems, there won’t be any DICAS support staff available to troubleshoot your application issue.
Plus, it’s just nice to have a huge project off of your to-do list.
The DICAS application process is lengthy, but it’s doable of you break it down into smaller tasks. Give yourself plenty of time to tackle the application and build in time to submit your application early!
About the Author
Kelan Sarnoff, MS, RD is a registered dietitians with over a decade of experience in nutrition. She has worked in academia for the past 4 years and taught graduate level courses including medical nutrition therapy. She loves helping future dietitians and interns discover their passion.