Monday, April 21, 2008

GREAT NEWS! Life Update

Back in January, I went through the semi-stressful process of applying for a dietetic internship. This including writing a 2-page essay about why I want to be a dietitian, collecting references from 4 major advisors, filling out a form explaining my strengths and weaknesses, tallying my GPA from undergraduate (and I've been in school now for 11 years....) with a new calculation, and giving all my past dietetic work experiences.

This information was submitted February 15th of this year and today I just found out the results. I was PLACED at UMass Amherst to do my dietetic internship!!! This was fabulous news as the placements are very limited and VERY competitive. Many students I competed against didn't get a placement and now have to figure out what they're going to do with their Bachelor education. I feel that I was easily placed because I've done MANY years of school, have 5+ years of dietetic work experience and have worked in dietetic research for 6 years now. I've known that I've wanted to be a dietitian for many years now (since my undergraduate dietetic days), and have in turn collected as much experience to make my application for this day very strong -- and it paid off :)

So, starting the week after my wedding in Mid-August (yes, I'm getting married August 2nd... another stressor to add to the stress pile I've got on my plate), I'll start my internship rotation for the next 11 months. It's all free-labor (no payment at all), but it will give me the experience necessary to be qualified as a Registered Dietitian.

Another interesting thing going on with me (other than planning a wedding and doing and PhD and counselling clients and trying to work on another book and taking care of a fiance and three dogs... [you get the picture]) is that I'm taking my "Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist" (CSCS) examination this Sunday April 27th. I've JUST started studying for this yesterday and I've got 26 chapters of a textbook to get through, two videos of exercise techniques and two practice examinations. I paid money to take this exam so I do hope I pass the first time around. After 11 years of school I've gotten pretty good at studying, so I should possibly pass, but if I don't I know I'll just have to put more effort in considering that some people study for months for this...[I'll let you know how I do next week].

One last thing: one person commented last week on the Zero Impact Protein Bars and said that according to the Vitamin Shoppe website, they do have maltitol in them. However, the bar that I've got in my hand right now does not have maltitol in it (which is actually just a harmless sugar, unless you have too much of it), so I'll check with the company and find out why there is this discrepancy. Thanks!

Wish me luck on my CSCS exam! I'm getting nervous!!!!

4 comments:

Roland Denzel said...

Wow! So much good stuff! Congratulations on all the great things going on in your life, Cassandra!

Good luck coming up on that test! You'll do great!

Roland

Jimmy Moore said...

And I thought MY life was busy! LOL! CONGRATS on the dietitian residency, Cass. I wonder how many times you'll have to bite your tongue over those 11 months with the advice you'll hear the dietitians giving out to people. :P By the way, August is a great month for a wedding...Christine and I got married on August 5, 1995. Best thing I ever did. My one tidbit of life advice for you: BREATHE! :D

jhazen said...

Congrats on your internship, and thanks for checking on those bars.

Also, I learned about Glucomannan and shiratake noodles here (after finding my way here via Jimmy Moore). Tried the noodles for the first time this weekend, and it's great to have some low-carb noodles to eat with the fabulous meat sauce I make. It's not bad by itself, but it's just not the same without noodles.

Thanks for your research and congrats again!

Mike T Nelson said...

CONGRATS on the internship!! From what I've heard it is very competitive, so congrats a job well done!

As a fellow CSCS and crazy PhD student I wish you no worries on the CSCS as you will rock it! I found the MP3s that I could listen to in my car very helpful. Just make sure to answer the questions the way THEY want them answered and don't over think them too much. Don't do like I did and oversleep and show up late--yikes. First time I had done that in years, but it went well.

Rock on!
Mike N