Undergrad Years - Do More than Study

From my observation most people who choose dietetics as a career have a passion for food, wellness, exercise or maybe even hospitals that pre-disposed them to becoming an RD. That's great because it leads them to naturally seek out jobs, volunteer opportunities or organizations related to those passions. If you are an undergrad student and haven't done that yet, do so post haste. There's a section on the internship application that asks for nutrition-related experiences and you want to have something interesting to put there. A really dedicated advisor will make sure you're doing this and may even fill your inbox with information about possible summer internships and other opportunities.

Rather than wait for your advisor to do the work for you, here's a short list of some of activities to pursue taken from the diverse undergrad experiences of myself and all the dietetics students I know:
- internships at a bakery and food coop
- working for WIC
- EMT/Paramedic
- student dining service on campus
- hospital or nursing home food service
- hospital volunteer
- working in a research laboratory on campus or at a hospital
- working for Extension and 4-H
- volunteering at a soup kitchen or food bank
- summer program teaching nutrition to mothers in Peru
- involvement in the American Dietetic Association and Student Dietetic Association
- became a certified personal trainer
- TA for a nutrition or food science class

So the moral of the story is that for the 3 (or more!) years before applying for internships, dietetics students do a lot more things related to nutrition than just study chemistry, food composition and nutrient tables.