Clinical Nutrition and Personal Statement

[bobeanie95]

Hey everyone,

So I'm in the process of writing a rough draft for next application cycle. Part of my essay I want to talk about my interest in nutrition and hopes of potentially incorporating clinical nutrition as part of medicine. I don't want to be a nutritionist- I just love how certain nutritional deficiencies can manifest themselves into disease. However, I understand nutrition in medicine is really premature. There isn't much medical research or training in the topic. Therefore, I was wondering if this would be something okay to talk about or would adcoms frown down on nutrition within medicine?

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[LizzyM]

Diet does play a large role in patients well-being and medical schools are coming around to incorporating this thinking into the curriculum. At my school, one of the first things that M1 students learn is a little about taking a diet history and making suggestions to improve a patient's diet in some small way.

There are certainly aspects of physiology that depend on specific nutrients and there are clinical trials going on testing the hypothesis that supplements can improve outcomes for patients with specific conditions. There is research going on and there is training if you know where to look for it. There are fellowships and board certification, too.

I'd go with something along the lines of the effect of environmental exposures, including diet, on physiology and pathophysiology and the desire to improve patient outcomes by modifying the diet and other exposures (e.g. cigarette smoke, chronic sleep deprivation, stress, etc).

 

[Mclovin0351]

I talked briefly about this is in my PS which was very well received

 

[toriz]

Not sure if this relates but I talked a lot about my background in nutrition in my interviews and my interviewers seemed very interested and engaged. I have a bs in nutrition and was on the path to becoming a registered dietician before splitting off to the premed track, and I had talked about my experiences both as a community nutrition education and with having private clients. The field of nutrition is evidence based and is a respected scientific field, and so I believe that if you talk about nutrition for what it is (evidence based, preventative medicine) then it will go over well in your personal statement.
Nutrition is also a large component of integrative medicine however I believe this might be potentially controversial to discuss (please correct me if I am wrong) and so I would personally shy away from talking about the "debatable" aspect of nutrition. If you have any questions feel free to pm me!

 

[geredithmrey]

My major is in dietetics and a lot of my volunteering experience is as well. Like you, I don't desire to be a dietitian but I am fascinated by nutrition's relation to disease. I've had two interview days so far, four interviewers in total. All four of them made it a point to discuss my background in nutrition and seemed really interested/excited about it. I think if it is a passion for you, then you should definitely discuss it.

 

[bobeanie95]

Thank you so much for everyone's feedback it was very helpful!