Catch the WAVE: Nailing the Work and Volunteer Experience Section of Your Application
As we’re getting close to the DICAS application deadline, I wanted to provide a few words of advice regarding one of the sections of the application that can cause a lot of confusion and anxiety:
If you’re like most students, you’re getting conflicting advice about how to approach this section of the application. I’m going to share my 2 cents about some of the toughest decisions applicants make about this part of the process from a DI Director’s perspective. I certainly can’t speak for every program, and if you have any mixed emotions about any of my suggestions, I encourage you to reach out to directors from other internships to get their thoughts – or simply go with your gut. But, for what it’s worth, here’s where the selection committee for the Cal Poly SLO DI stands on these issues.
Listing Experience on the Resume vs. the “Work and Volunteer Experience” section of DICAS
I know that our program is not alone in looking for details when it comes to your professional experiences. To keep a resume manageable in length, you’ll probably leave a lot of those details out. Also, the “Work and Volunteer Experience” (let’s call it WAVE for short) section of the DICAS application specifically captures data regarding the time committed to the position, whether it was paid or related to any academic credit, and information on the person you reported to. We want that information when comparing your experience to that of other applicants. If you’ve completed any professional experiences that you believe are relevant to your preparation for success in the internship, I strongly urge you to address them in the WAVE section of the application. If you list a position only in the resume and not in that WAVE section, it will significantly hurt you in the Cal Poly SLO application scoring, particularly because we can’t determine how much time was devoted to that role. To me, the rule of thumb should be: if this professional experience helped shape me as a future dietetic intern, I should include it in the WAVE section!
Including Non-Dietetics Professional Experiences on the Application
As you’ve probably gathered during your DI search process, programs are looking for applicants with experience in dietetics and with professional skills such as initiative, problem-solving, and leadership. If you’ve ever held a professional position of any type, you know as well as I do that you can exhibit self-direction and the ability to work well in a team in all kinds of environments. I can tell you that the Cal Poly SLO selection committee does care about those non-dietetics professional positions, and we want to see them in the WAVE section of your application. Does this mean you need to list every job you’ve ever had? No. Show those critical thinking skills right here by not listing every 3-hour babysitting gig you’ve had since you were 12 years old, please. But if your position required you to reliably exhibit skills and characteristics that will make you a good intern, my rule of thumb is the same as above: include it in the WAVE section!
Addressing Changing Roles and Responsibilities at a Single Organization
If you’re good at what you do at an agency and stick around long enough, you might be offered additional responsibilities or even a promotion. Or there’s a chance that you work more hours at a position during academic year breaks, and just put in a few hours at that same job when you’re taking classes. Selection committees will be thrilled if you make it easy for us to identify how/when these changes occur. Here’s an example from an application where this was done:
Note that it’s easy to see from the applicant’s “Position Title” that she held two different positions with this employer, and to identify the responsibilities she performed in each position. It would be even better if she’d combined this information with details regarding possible changes in hours per week with the position change (if applicable). One thing that’s definitely missing from this entry is when the promotion occurred; simply adding the month and year when she took on the new position would provide us with exactly the information we need.
As a side note, sometimes applicants get confused about what is meant by “supervisor title.” Please be sure to list the position title of the person you report to in this space.
Including Course Labs and Practicum Experiences in the WAVE Section
This can get confusing, because many of you are gaining diverse hands-on experiences as part of your course requirements. The way the Cal Poly SLO selection committee sees it is this: this is a place to address true work and volunteer experiences in the field or in the community. So, if you get course credit for doing a presentation at a local community organization, include it here! If for a class you’re required to complete a certain number of hours in a clinical site or with a local non-profit, list it! If you’re planning, prepping, and serving meals to a campus or community group outside of your classmates / course instructor as part of a course, that absolutely counts! If you’re completing case studies, labs, or peer-to-peer hands-on experiences (counseling practice, assessments, etc.), these are terrific, meaningful educational opportunities that will help build your skills, and you may want to address them in your personal statement or your interview. However, these are not work or volunteer experiences, and therefore the rule of thumb I suggest is: when I completed course-related experiences that impacted people and organizations outside of my classmates and instructors, they probably belong in the WAVE section; other hands-on classroom-based learning experiences are simply part of my excellent didactic experience.
Addressing Leadership Positions in Campus-Based or Other Local Organizations
When you’re in a leadership role of a committee, board, or other advisory or volunteer organization, it certainly places heavy demands on your time, and sometimes it may feel like the right fit to include this with other Volunteer Experiences in the WAVE section. In reality, though, these fit better in the “Sports and Extracurricular Activities” (SEA) section. This is a good thing, because selection committees ideally want to see applicants who’ve been active in both WAVE and SEA experiences. Whether as a member or a leader, include positions related to clubs, dietetics associations (campus, local, state, or national), fraternities/sororities, sports teams, etc. in the SEA section. This rule of thumb doesn’t apply universally, but if you’re really in doubt about whether to include an experience in WAVE or SEA, think about it this way: if it’s an elected position or one that is bound to a particular term length, it’s best fit is most likely in the SEA section.
Final Thought
As one final bit of advice, I’ll suggest that you maximize the impact of the WAVE section of your application by paying close attention to detail and being really thoughtful in how you describe your “duties” in each role. I see more typos in this section of the application than you’d probably believe! On the other hand, I’ve seen incredibly compelling descriptions of position duties that draw very direct parallels between even non-dietetics roles to the types of responsibilities required of an intern or dietitian. This section provides a lot of space outside of your personal statement to show just how well prepared your professional experiences have made you for your internship year – use it wisely!