Sample Diatetics Personal Statement
The importance of diet for people’s well-being and identity has not been lost on me as I have moved between Poland, the UK and the US in the last seven years, starting as a help in the family catering business in my native Poland and rising to restaurant supervisor in a major UK restaurant. Despite the pressures of my rapidly progressing career and the challenges of adapting to new places, I have made time to strongly develop my practical and scientific knowledge of food and nutrition, gaining respected qualifications in food preparation, cooking and nutrition. From my study and from working in restaurants in Warsaw, Manchester and New York among people of different cultures and backgrounds, I have discovered a gift for promoting healthy eating and for tailoring menus and diets to different people with different dietary demands. This was the catalyst for my decision to study Dietetics at degree level so that I may gain the scientific knowledge and practical experience to become a registered dietitian, promoting healthy living and advising patients to help them achieve a better quality of life.
I pursued my scientific interest in nutrition by studying for an HND in Nutrition at Manchester Metropolitan University. I quickly discovered my gift for rigorous scientific study when I gained a Distinction in my first year. In the second year, I had a chance to put my knowledge to the test, when, as part of a team, I had to devise lesson plans that promoted healthy eating and create healthy menus for school lunches in a Manchester-wide competition. Thanks to our hard work, my team were awarded the runners-up prize, which proved to me that I have a gift for thinking creatively about how to promote healthy living and a knack for tailoring a menu to suit a particular group of people. I had another opportunity in that year to test my ability to promote healthy living among the public when I was given an assignment to create a business plan for a nutrition-related business. My idea of a ‘We Buy You Health’ personal shopping and nutritional consultancy company was praised highly by the examiners who gave me a very high Merit for the assignment.
Earlier, I had pursued my practical interest in food by taking an NVQ Level 2 in Food Preparation and Cooking, which taught me how to adapt not only menus but individual recipes and meals to different people, depending on their cultural, biological or religious needs. This will be of great use when I come to give people practical advice on how to adapt their food choices to meet their dietary requirements.
Outside of the classroom, my demanding job as a sales consultant has taught me how to resolve customers’ problems, discover their needs and exceed their expectations, all skills which will be of use when I come to communicate with patients to discover and meet their dietary needs. Despite the pressures of my job and caring for my daughter, I have tirelessly sought to prepare myself for the academic side of the degree as well by regularly reading subject-relevant books and scientific journals and attending public lectures and seminars.
To prepare myself for the day-to-day reality of hospital work, I have also been shadowing dietitians in the outpatients department at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, observing how they deal so compassionately with parents and their children suffering diet-related health problems. The experience made me anxious to involve myself in offering advice and support but also anxious for the parents, with whom I could really associate given that I felt anxious myself for my daughter whose iron deficiency I failed to prevent.
This sample Dietetics personal statement will be a good point of reference when writing your individual and unique personal statement.