Application letter
Dear Director and Selection Committee:
One of the greatest challenges I’ve had to overcome was moving from China to the United States. Imagine yourself a freshman in high school with limited English, trying to fit into a new environment was stressful. I knew better than anyone in how to be a quiet person in order to avoid speaking English in the public, and then I tended to enjoy the instant satisfaction of emotional eating for a relaxation. Ever since I consulted with a nutrition coach in my second year of college, I eventually realized that eating until you are full is encouraged and every meal can be quite a big affair portion in Chinese culture would be harmful for my health. I was immediately driven towards a career in dietetics because I wanted to pursue a healthier life and improve my family’s condition. Majority of the Chinese population is still thinking the link to access healthy living for children is for them to eat a lot. Unfortunately, the focus on sharing a variety of dishes is ideal while the diet remains out of balance. With unbalanced high sodium, carbohydrate, fat and sugar consumptions, I have a family history of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. My interest in diet, fitness, and general wellness blossomed after a couple meetings with the nutritionist in the summer, and I was eager to learn more about long-term nutritional therapy.
I started building my career with gaining more experiences in the food services. Throughout my first two years working in the University of Connecticut’s dining hall, ice cream business, and a private restaurant, I learned that food regulation, hygiene, and safety are key concerns. I had to learn particular process to handle various foods correctly, as well as maintained the dining area, kitchen, and storage room sanitary. Later in 2017, I applied for a dietary aide job at a long term care facility called the CareOne at Concord in Massachusetts, and I decided to continue work there as a nutrition assistant after I graduated from college. I didn’t only learn more about dietary supplements, food-cooking techniques, tray lines and delivery systems; I also gathered more information about the National Dysphagia Diet, PCC-card system, adaptive utensils, special diets such as renal diet, 2 gram sodium restriction, house controlled diabetes, and low fat/ low salt diet. This work experience strengthened my communication skills with residents, professionals and co-workers. From what I noticed in this long-term care facility, an effective communication with the residents would increase their satisfaction while decrease food waste. The more I learned about nutrition, the more I understood why nutrition information could appear so complicated and confusing because of its different aspects. As age has become an issue, I want to be a long-term care dietitian initially in order to prescribe, liberalize therapeutic diets, prevent or treat malnutrition, and improve residents’ quality of life. Furthermore, I want to provide better choices and purposeful living for them while their brighten smile will last longer.
Since my family history also brought me to this field, I initially joined the diabetes committee and events such as promoting to stop diabetes walk and preventing heart disease walk. I was hoping to promote healthier choices and eating habits to my family and maintaining a happy life. From these events, I realized the importance of physical activity related to nutrition. I felt very fortunate that I chose to dance, and feel even luckier that the dance teams chose me into the field midway in my journey. Even though I’ve been dancing for six years, I still considered myself a progressive learner who is not constrained by rules. I taught aerobic exercise to my parents, and still continue to teach more elementary private dance lessons to my friends. I am looking forward to work in a private practice that will improve dancers’ perspective and aspiration on diets and weight management in a long run.
Overall my academic background is my weakness that I have an unsatisfied GPA, however, I learned many lessons from this. Starting from the beginning of my university life, I kept earning unsatisfied grades for science courses while I was taking three or four science courses with labs each semester. Even though, I’ve always done better in laboratory, I couldn’t apply the knowledge for the exam. Handling this difficult situation in my taught me that it’s important to persevere, even when you feel like giving up, something that applies to any situation, but especially academia. I’ve decided to work on time management and comprehension of the studying materials instead of just simply memorizing them. All the mistakes I’ve made keeps me motivated to learn and strive for better. Through all of my accomplishments and disappointments, I have always been especially proud of the dedication and fervor I possess for my beliefs and values.
Because it fits in perfectly with my career aims. I’m good at organizing things, and keen to get involved with running events for the department.
Sincerely,