Welcome to the ULTIMATE guide to applying to graduate school for future dietitians & other future health professionals because grad school sucks enough once you're in but getting there is another stress-ulcer-inducing experience (did you notice in the title I said less stressful, not easier? That's because absolutely none of this is easy)! I have collaborated with other students and current RDs, SLPs, PAs, MDs, and more on how we all got through this wonderful journey so this guide can be applicable to MS/DI applications through DICAS, other grad school applications, and PA/med school applications.
So… you’re likely about to graduate from undergrad and you’re applying to your next step (whether it’s a dietetic internship program (MS/DI), other grad school program, PA/NP/medical school, etc). I’ve been there and it is SCARY. Just take a deep breath for a second - you’ve gotten this far, you can do this as well.
For dietetic students, the Dietetic Internship Centralized Application System (DICAS) is how you apply to many dietetic internships at once, but it is NOT for the weak of heart. My completed application ended up being over 20 pages of information and it literally took months of preparation and work so it is a hoot and a half (read: sarcasm) AND the match rate is a beast in and of itself, but we’ll get to that.
I applied & matched my first try in Spring 2021, and graduated my DI in summer 2022. I’m proud to say I did not have to spend any extra money (besides my DPD & DI tuition and DICAS app fees that I had to pay anyway) to get resources to successfully apply & match to a DI as well as get exam study materials. You DO NOT have to spend extra money to make ANY of this happen! I can make another post on how I literally studied for the RD exam for free/at no additional cost to me, but that’s for another time. For now: if you can dream it, you can do it.
Also, there’s no shame in leaning on someone who has done it before you: I scoured the internet for resources and asked my friends that had applied and gotten into a DI, grad school, PA or med school, etc and picked up tips from them! Pro Tip #1: make a new email for your applications - sign up for DICAS/AMCAS/whatever with your new email address, as well as D&D Digital or other match website, and get any info requests for all the programs you’ll be looking at through that. This way, nothing gets lost in the muck of everything else coming into your personal or school email, and you’re not getting notifications from other emails. I also had an amazing support system that included my family and my undergrad program director. I was in a Didactic Program of Dietetics (DPD), so keep that in mind as my perspective comes from my experience and I was not in a coordinated program or a PhD - those situations have different processes for getting your supervised practice experience.
All that being said... this guide will help you get-er-done without having to pay for application coaching, though I am available if you want more individualized help! Without further ado, let’s go over these six topics and learn about things that will make your application process MUCH less stressful:
Intro to DICAS & matching
Organization & tracking strategies
Experience & Resumes: work, volunteer, student organizations, etc
Letters of Recommendation
Personal statement
Transcripts
Matching (and what you can do if you don't match)
General overview of the DICAS system and the ranking & match process
There are 2 application cycles per year - spring is the most common and the one I did, and the due date is February 15th. Match day is in early April, I think mine was April 4th - I could NOT sleep the night before and essentially stayed up all night and until about 11 or noon the next morning when I found out I MATCHED! Fall match apps are due in September and the match day is in early November, but be aware that not all programs participate in the fall match cycle.
The matching process happens through the computer matching program D&D Digital, which you also get to pay for. Register for that, and then you are ready to be tossed into the mercy of the very confusing match algorithm. It essentially works like this: you go in there and rank your program choices in order of your preference. They will then rank you against all the other applicants in order of their preference. Then, some mathematical magic happens, and it spits out the results. It matches the highest-ranking applicant with their top choice, if a spot is available. If not, that applicant gets their second choice, and so on.
My DPD director recommended we open an account on the DICAS website VERY early - I started my application in August 2020 for my application cycle the next spring. Don’t panic if you didn’t start that early, though! I’ve heard it typically takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to get everything in order, so the earlier the better as you’ll have less stress going into it. While we’re on that subject, be aware that the website can shut down for a bit but don’t panic! It will let you access it before you can submit, I promise - if you’re waiting, just work on your secondary items such as your resume, personal statement, and writing descriptions for your activities OR if all of that is completed already, take the time to relax and do some self care! Again, this process is a LARGE BEAST. That being said, I have anxiety so I do understand if you start to freak out a bit SO again, lean on your family, friends, others in your support system. Note that I did not have to call the customer service reps at DICAS, but I have heard they are very helpful if you do have questions about the website.
Especially with the advantage of opening it early, get the basic stuff out of the way - it’ll ask for your personal info like name, address, etc. so that’s something that won’t be stressful or take up much time or brain space. They will ask about any felonies or misdemeanors and things, so if you do have any criminal stuff in your past, be honest and you can always contact the director and be upfront about it. If it’s a hard stop, then you can move on and know you didn’t waste their time or yours OR your money applying there. Something on your record isn’t a guarantee you won’t match, but it is a guarantee you’ll lose your placement if you get caught. It’s just not worth gambling all of your hard work.
You’ll also need to upload your university’s course list, which can be obtained from your director. This is a list of your classes and how they are designated (science, electives, etc). You’ll also put in all your courses taken, in progress, or ones you’ll take in the future - keep in mind these have to be entered exactly as they appear on your transcript. So as an example, if you take human bio 402 - human physiology, it may be listed as HUM BIOL 402 - HUMAN PHYS, so you wouldn’t want to enter hum bio 402 - hum physio or something like that. Once all classes are entered, DICAS will show your overall and science GPAs. Most if not all programs will be looking for a minimum 3.0 overall GPA and a higher science one, so be aware of that as well.
Once all of your application materials are uploaded (there is a built-in checklist but if you’re a tiny bit of a control freak like no one in particular and definitely not me you may want to cross off your own checklist), designate your chosen programs and your secondary materials to each one. At that point, all you have to do is pay, hit the submit button, then grab your drink of choice & relax! Until Match Day!
How to get (and stay) organized throughout this wonderful process
Okay, now that you have an idea of what will be happening, the question is HOW exactly you’re going to do this AND keep track of everything. No worries, I got you!
First, you need to pick the programs you’ll apply to. I believe I got a nice list from All Access Dietetics as well as from my own program that was a big database of ALL the programs across the country, and you can narrow down by your area, tuition amount, if they accept fall applicants, etc. I considered programs in my area first, then in my state, and then programs out of state but that were near family, friends, or that just sounded interesting, such as a program in Hawaii, one that offered a rotation in a different country, a unique approach or mission, or a specialized rotation such as a pediatric ICU, eating disorder clinic, etc.
Choose what’s important or non-negotiable to you based on your needs and THEN, once you have a list of ideas, do some research on their website, reddit, instagram, etc and see what their reviews, students, and hashtags say - this can reveal good or bad things - and at that point, use your own judgment and compile a list of programs that are your top 5, etc.
If you haven’t already, I definitely recommend using excel or even just a notebook to write down things you notice when considering programs. Then use that list or spreadsheet as your basis for tracking your applications. Mark the date you applied and/or communicated with the program, program name, director name, contact info, and any notes such as a reminder about what you like about that program, tuition amount, etc. For my med school friends, it was helpful noting when they got their secondary, when they submitted, and when it was marked completed.
I used a similar idea for tracking my hours for rotations and studying. Preceptors like to see you take responsibility, and tracking your own hours was a non-starter in my experience. This may differ if you are not doing a distance program, but for me it was absolutely essential that I stay on top of my hours each day for each rotation. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, that is another topic for another time - moving on!
Experience & Your Resume
DICAS lets you enter as many experiences as you want, which is a great way to toss in everything you’ve done, which you can’t do on your resume. Like maybe you only volunteered with an organization for a few days and didn’t want to include it on your resume, you could definitely add it to this section. I will say that the awards & experience section on DICAS itself also allows you ample room to talk about your accomplishments, but don’t just ramble. Keep the descriptions concise instead of word-vomiting long paragraphs. You’ll organize your current & previous work, volunteer, extracurricular organizations, etc into clinical experience, community experience, and culinary/food service experience.
As far as getting the experience to talk about in the first place, I’d hope that you have already had at least some outside volunteer or work experience but if not, that’s ok! Student organizations and class projects can count. I used my community nutrition class project as well as one of my student organization experiences to discuss my involvement in community outreach, volunteering, and leadership. If you’re even just a member of a student organization or Greek life, you can use that on your resume! I listed my sorority and AND membership as well as my ServSafe Manager certification at the bottom of my resume. You can also add it to your extracurricular/leadership descriptions in DICAS - it’s especially helpful if it’s an academic honor society or a food/health-related club, but even if it’s a history club or feminist society, it shows that you got involved and have a life outside of school.
For example, in addition to being a full-time student, I worked in a diet clerk/room service host position in a local hospital for about a year. When I applied for the job, I had ample work experience but a not-so-stellar GPA and not much community or food service experience besides volunteering (and interestingly, I had a friend that had the opposite problem I did: a great GPA but limited work and leadership experience). I had worked as a certified personal care worker (basically like a home health CNA) for a year or two and had 9-5 office experience as well as some retail experience. The hiring manager who became my boss was most concerned about my willingness to learn, ability to balance full time school/volunteering/a part time job, and provide customer service. It didn’t seem to matter if it was paid work experience or not. The main job was to deliver trays to patient rooms and provide excellent service by helping them as much as we could, answering their questions, and then we also did food prep and cleaning. You can use past work/volunteer/class experience to show your worth and ability to help people in your resume, interviews, etc.
If you have been published in a blog, magazine, newspaper, journal, etc then brag that up too! Assuming you were not paid, put it under volunteer and list it as a published article. If it was a paid opportunity, list it under work experience. You can also include a section called Publications at the end of your resume and include the title of your article, publication date, and name of the publication.
Please note that you will upload exactly ONE (1) resume and one resume only so it needs to be a general resume that is DICAS-specific. What I mean by that is A) all programs will see this resume, so don’t tailor it to one specific program like you would when applying for a job. All programs will be able to see this DICAS resume; and B) the DICAS-specific resume is a special little beast of a project in that you will typically organize it by experience categories, eg. instead of work and volunteer positions or chronologically like a regular resume, you’ll sort it into clinical, community, and culinary/food service experience. This easily highlights your variety of experiences and is a great strength to have.
Resume tips that you may have already heard of that do apply to the DICAS-specific resume:
No need to include a picture, hobbies, or other personal facts besides your name, email, phone number, maybe your address, and then your experience
Do not use emojis (yes, apparently it’s happened)
Do not lie (you’ve gotten this far, why sabotage yourself?)
Skills are something you can list on LinkedIn and idk, I feel like everyone and their mom knows how to use Microsoft Office Suite so not sure if it’s even worth mentioning but definitely a waste of space on a resume
Same with your references written out or “References available upon request” - don’t. Your references will be in another part of DICAS and after this, people will ask if they need them - no need to state it on your resume as it wastes valuable space.
No need for an objective, your objective for this process is clear. Outside of this situation, I’ve only had two people say they think objectives are necessary, everyone else seems to think they’re fluff. I don’t do it.
Be concise (WAY easier said than done - I personally suck HARD at this - so this is where having another person proofread for clarity is absolutely essential)
Pick an easy to read font
Double-check that your formatting is consistent
Sell yourself! Use this opportunity to brag up your accomplishments
Use action words like “Managed” or “Collaborated” in your descriptions and try to not use the same verb twice
Bulleted sections do not end with punctuation
Proofread for the love of all that is holy. Pro Tip: get friends, family, and/or your school writing help center involved! This is a big deal, you deserve the best chances!
Sticking to one page is preferred BUT not required. If you have lots of different experiences, two pages is just fine and can allow you to show off your accomplishments! IF you do a two-pager, make sure you actually use that space, don’t have a 1.5 page resume AND don’t cram in too much OR be wordy if not necessary just for the sake of length.
Including GPA* is optional (it’s still going to be visible in the personal information section of DICAS)
Extra resume tips:
If you have college credits from multiple schools, such as a tech school and a university:
*GPA on your resume = include all GPAs from all schools
You have to get transcripts for both
Make your margins 1” or even 0.5” to give yourself more space on the page
Repeating myself for emphasis (EMPHASIS!) - proofread it yourself, have 1 or 3 or 5 other people proofread it for you, make the necessary changes, and proofread it again.
Find a way to show your personality in the resume, such as using interesting action words, adjectives, and phrases when describing your experiences - this is your main chance besides your personal statement where you can show potential DIs who you are as a person, so any way you can help yourself stand out is great
Letters of Recommendation
Your letters of rec (or LORs) are typically written by your professors, supervisors, or other advisors/mentors and will ideally speak highly of your academic and personal successes. I’d advise you to start requesting these as early as possible, particularly if you have a notoriously busy department head or professor in mind (speaking from experience here). Bug them early and often, but no more than once per week especially if you have more than a month until the deadline.
How do you pick who to request LORs from? It’s best if you know them at least a little bit more than your other professors, but that can be difficult if you go to a big school or are in a distance program. I’d recommend asking your potential LOR writers in person or email at the very least if they’d be willing to write you one and that you only ask for letters from people that know you well and are absolutely sure will write you a fantastic LOR because I‘ve heard that directors say LORs are one of the most important parts of the decision-making process when they’re looking at your application versus someone else’s. Also, pick someone that understands your goals and how seriously stressful this DICAS stuff can be; I had a friend that asked a supervisor who was not well versed with the process and the letter did not have the impact it could have if the supervisor knew how important it was to her future.
Aside from getting started early, choosing wisely and asking their permission, I’d also recommend you be prepared! What I did was provide my resume and a little paragraph about what I found relevant, but you could also whip up a little portfolio for them including your resume, any sample work if they aren’t familiar with your writing skills, etc. and the names of the programs you’re considering applying to. If there are any special due dates, relevant classes you took, or strengths and weaknesses you’d like them to know about, you could add that too. This is optional but an extra-fantastic idea if you aren’t close with your professors or any supervisors.
After deciding who to ask and getting their permission, you get to deal with DICAS again. You have to go into the DICAS website and generate an email to each person. Your letter writers will also have to fill out a form. The form that letter writers must fill out includes a table in which they rate you as ‘Outstanding’, ‘More than Satisfactory’, ‘Satisfactory’, and ‘Needs Improvement’, and includes such qualities as conceptual skills, interpersonal skills, punctuality, and responsibility. The form also prompts the writer to list out your strengths and weaknesses, so again, I implore you to consider who you’re asking and make sure they can vouch for you so you have an optimal chance of getting matched! I haven’t even mentioned yet how EXPENSIVE this whole process can be (DICAS fee plus app fees plus transcripts all cost bucko bucks; my DICAS submission ended up costing me about $600 total when all was said and done), so I do not recommend slacking on any of this at risk of hurting your chances and having to go through this super-fun process again.
Anyhoo, DICAS allows you to upload a total of 4 LOR, but you are only allowed to attach 3 to each specific program application. This is beneficial because you are able to decide which letters would make the most impact to each specific program. Why would you want to have four letters if you can only attach three to an application? Let’s say that you have four letters: one from your DPD director, one from your favorite professor, one from a volunteering supervisor, one from your boss at work. If a program specifies that they would like to see two academic letters and one from work/volunteer, then you can send the letters from your DPD director, professor, and choose between the remaining two for your experience recommendation. However, if the program has no preference and highlights work and volunteer experience as important in their decision, then choosing the work, volunteer, and DPD program letters may be more impactful.
Personal Statements
A personal statement is your time to shine - this is where you can show your personality and set yourself apart from the other applicants! You can and absolutely should upload and attach a unique letter 100% customized and tailored to each program highlighting why you are positively perfect for that specific program and that program only, like you are a perfect fit and you are the #1 applicant and they are your #1 school/hospital/whatever.
The fun part (ha) is there are usually pre-chosen questions they want you to answer in a way that is woven into talking about how this is a mutually perfect match. In their application packet or listed on their website is usually where the questions they want answered can be found, but if you can't find them, just contact the program director. Questions I recall getting are: What are your strengths and weaknesses or areas needing improvement? Why do you want to enter the dietetics profession? What are your short-term and long-term goals? Discuss experiences that have helped to prepare you for your career. What other information do you consider important for the selection decision?
Once you find out what they want you to answer, get started drafting these right away so you have ample time to submit to others for feedback, do another edit, get more feedback, tweak again, etc. until it’s perfect. Remember that this is your first impression, so make sure your letter shows you off and tells them exactly why you are perfect for that particular program.
Specific tips for this:
Do not just list stuff already on your resume. Take this opportunity to explain why you’re a great applicant for them. Tell them why you’re an amazing candidate and how you’ll be a fantastic intern.
Use all the space allowed - 1000 words OR 1000 words/up to 8000 characters, whichever is greater - it depends on the program.
Again, proofread it yourself, out loud, give it to your family and have them read it, whatever - just get different sets of eyes on it and make changes until it’s ready to wow some program directors!
Don't waste time formatting your drafts as they will just be copied and pasted into DICAS, so you won’t be uploading the document, just the words.
Transcripts
Like I mentioned earlier, if you have college credits from multiple schools, such as a tech school and a university, you are required to send in all transcripts from all academic institutions that you have ever attended, no matter what. Many of my fellow students were unaware of this before applying and were very disappointed that their cumulative GPA was lower because of classes that were taken years ago. Also be aware of this so you can order transcripts from schools you attended in the past.
Order your transcripts ASAP! There is almost always trouble with transcripts before the application deadlines. Even for friends who had graduated the semester before. DICAS must receive the transcripts directly from your school and usually takes about 4-5 business days to process and show as received in the app portal.
I applied for the spring match in February of 2021 and my fall 2020 grades did not post until January 22nd. I had already ordered a transcript to ‘Hold for Final Grades’ but the transcript was sent out prior to my grades being posted. A friend of mine had to overnight her transcript to NYU to make the cut–she ended up getting matched, but the stress of that week waiting for the transcript to post on the DICAS was enough to drive her crazy!
Matching (and what you can do if you don't match)
It’s Match Day! What should I expect? As mentioned earlier, the match process is a beast, aand there are multiple rounds and opportunities to match. I matched my first round, but not my top choice and I was absolutely terrified of not matching at all. To try to ease my mind, I made a worst-case scenario list (YAY ANXIETY BRAIN) of what I could do while waiting for the next round or application cycle.
If you match the first round: congratulations! You've made it through the next big hoop. To prepare for the MS/DI program, check out our survival guide here!
If you didn't match right away, don’t despair! Second round is another chance. There's always the next cycle, too. Either way, you've survived so far, don't give up now! There are plenty of things you can do to make it next time. Firstly, take a little self-care break and try to distract yourself. After you're able to relax and decompress, get back at it! Keep building up your work experience and volunteer hours. Ask for feedback from your professors, coworkers & supervisors, and from your friends & family. Retake classes to improve your grades. Refine your personal statements. Contact the programs to which you applied and ask them how you could improve your application for next time!
Let me know if this helped or if you need any additional guidance! I offer private and group tutoring & coaching of everyone from science students to fellow RDs looking for advice from someone who's done it before them. I did the same thing as a student, and I vowed when I finally got my RD to become a preceptor and coach to pass on the knowledge only we have. It's definitely not an easy journey but you've come this far, never forget that! Until next time :)
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