Taken from the Dietetic Internship Program Policy and Procedure Manual:
- Recruitment: The Program administrative staff provides marketing material and Dietetic Internship Centralized Application Services (DICAS) information to those potential applicants inquiring about the Stony Brook University Dietetic Internship Program (DI) via our website and/or brochure. The website and brochure include information regarding the mission of the DI, accreditation status, concentration, description of rotations, admission requirements, fees, and computer matching information and DICAS. Potential candidates are notified of information sessions held in the fall/winter of each year for the spring match and in July for the fall match. The submission deadline will be mid-February (spring) or late September (fall) and is set by D&D Digital. The applicant uploads the completed application material onto the DICAS Portal. (Students are responsible for submitting their ranking information directly to D & D Digital.)
- Number of Interns: Each spring, the Program will still accept 16 interns for the onsite track, with the possibility that 2 of the 16 will be part-time, completing the Internship within 24 months. At maximum, 2 part-time interns per academic year can be enrolled in the Stony Brook Dietetic Internship Program. Therefore, a maximum of 18 interns may be enrolled at a time. The Program will accept up to 15 interns for the distance track, with the possibility that 2 of the 30 interns will be part-time, completing the internship within 24 months. Part-time dietetic interns would be required to meet all requirements, competencies, and learning outcomes as detailed in the curriculum for full-time interns. Each fall, the Program will accept up to 15 interns for the distance track only.
- Dietetic Internship Program Application Review Committee: There will be separate Application Review Committees for the on-site and distance tracks. The onsite Committee will consist of the Program Director, the Program Associate Director, and one preceptor or registered dietitian in the community. Preference will be given to those preceptors with the greatest precepting load. The distance Committee will consist of the Program Director, Program Associate Director and the Program Coordinator. Members of the committee will be required to interview all applicants who meet interview criteria (see below), review each of their applications, and complete a review of application form. Interviews will be by telephone and scheduled at the committee members’ convenience. For each candidate interviewed, the interviewer must complete an interview scoring form.
Screening of Applications: DICAS will review all applications for completeness. DICAS calculates the applicant’s DPD Science GPA, DPD Professional GPA and Total GPA, based on the institution’s accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics curriculum. The Program staff will calculate an undergraduate cumulative GPA if there is a complex academic history. The program administrator will download all applications, review all applications and sort by GPA. The minimum criteria for a full application review are a complete application, a preferred overall undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or greater, an AND verification statement or letter of intent, and receipt of the $25 application fee. Applicants for the distance track must also provide a preliminary schedule with secured preceptors and sites for all rotations. Applicants can apply to both the onsite and distance track in spring, only distance in the fall. The candidates with the highest GPA will be selected for telephone interviews for each Program. In addition, committee members will review these applicants’ professional statements, letters of recommendations, GPA and official transcripts, work/volunteer experiences, and honors/awards/other achievements when completing the application review form. Scores can range from 1 to 35 per reviewer.
Interview and Review of Application: During the interview, interviewers will clarify all aspects of the applicant’s application and pose standard questions approved by the committee. Each interviewer will select a unique set of standard questions to pose to each candidate. The same sub-committee members will interview each candidate. Immediately following the interview, each interviewer will complete an interview scoring form for which scores can range from 0-30 for each interviewer.
Recency of Education Policy: The following recency of education policy is for those applicants with a signed Verification Statement dated more than 5 years from the Internship start date for which the applicant is applying. The courses taken to satisfy the requirements of this recency of education policy must be completed at an American accredited college or university, preferably through an approved/accredited DPD program.
- If the signed Verification Statement is dated within the last 5 years, no extra coursework is required.
- If the signed Verification Statement is dated within 5-10 years from the starting date of the Internship program, the applicant must have completed, with a grade of C+ or better, 6 credits of coursework. Contact Dietetic Internship Program for advisement. The following courses are highly recommended:
- An advanced medical nutrition therapy or diet therapy course
- A nutritional biochemistry or nutrition metabolism course (or similar course)
- An additional advanced level nutrition course
- If the signed Verification Statement is dated 10 years or longer from the starting date of the Internship program, the applicant must have completed with a grade of C+ or better 12 credit hours of coursework. Contact Dietetic Internship Program for advisement. The following courses are highly recommended.
- An advanced medical nutrition therapy or diet therapy course
- A nutritional biochemistry or nutrition metabolism course (or similar course)
- An additional advanced level nutrition course*
- An anatomy and physiology course
Official transcripts of all coursework must be submitted with the application packet.
* In lieu of an additional advance level nutrition course, work experience in the field of nutrition can be counted on a case-by-case basis with a supervisor's letter of recommendation.
Prior Learning Experience: Stony Brook University Dietetic Internship Program does not grant credit for prior learning experience.
- Decision: After all interviews are completed, the program administrator will compile the cumulative score (30 potential telephone interview score points and 35 potential application review points for each reviewer) for each applicant, and generate a ranked list of applicants. The Program Director will present this information to each Application Review Committee. Issues or concerns regarding the ranking will be discussed. The Application Review Committee will then vote on the ranking and the number of applicants to submit to the computer matching company. All ranked candidates will be submitted to the Admissions Committee and, upon approval, submitted to the computer matching company. Candidates will be notified of acceptance or denial by the computer matching service. In addition, the Chair of the Admissions Committee forwards an official letter of acceptance to only those candidates matched to the Stony Brook Dietetic Internship program. Those applicants not ranked or not matched will receive notification of status only by D&D Digital Systems.
- Technical Standards: It is recommended that all applicants review the program’s technical standards and determine if they have the potential to meet these standards. A statement of technical standards is available on the program website. This statement will be mailed in the admissions packet, and a signed statement must be returned to the Program Assistant.
On April 10, 2024, beginning at 12:00 Noon EST on, students interested in applying to our dietetic internship program in the post-match period should email the Program Assistant and release your application on DICAS to Stony Brook University. If applying to the distance track, applicant must provide preliminary schedule with secured preceptors and rotation sites for at least one non-Stony Brook site. The forms are available in the Forms tab.
This material will be reviewed by the Program Director and the Program Associate Director. Application material will be reviewed on a daily basis, with the following criteria used to select candidates for telephone interviews: GPA (overall GPA > 3.0), work and volunteer experience and personal statement. Based on this information, top candidates will be selected for two telephone interviews. After the telephone interviews are completed, references will be contacted. Applicants will be invited into our dietetic internship on a rolling admissions basis. Applicants invited for admission will be given 24 hours to accept the offer of admission.
- Approximately 50% of undergraduate students each year do not match, and the post-match period is a highly competitive time for internship directors who are trying to attract the most highly qualified remaining candidates. Therefore, a rolling admissions process will be employed during this time. Interested candidates will release their application to Stony Brook University via the DICAS portal. Upon posting their application to Stony Brook, students meeting GPA criteria (same as during the matching process) will have their applications screened. The most highly qualified candidates based on screening scores will be scheduled to interview with two members of the admissions committee.
- During post-match period, required application materials are as previously stated. Applicants meeting admissions criteria will be required to complete a telephone interview with at least two members of the Application Review Committee on a rolling basis.
- For each candidate interviewed, the interviewer must complete the interview scoring form. In addition, the interviewers will score application packets using the initial application review form. Their cumulative scores on the interviews and packets will be determined by at least two committee members. As highly qualified students are identified through a review by the Application Review Committee of application materials and interviews, their names will be submitted to the Admissions Committee. Upon approval by the Admissions Committee, accepted students will be notified by telephone, followed with a letter from the Program Director and Chair of the Admissions Committee. In the post-match period, applicants are asked to respond to acceptance notifications within 48 hours. This process will continue until all seats are filled. Official letters of acceptance and denial will be sent to all applicants in the post-match period who were granted telephone interviews.
Applicants typically do not have a Verification Statement of Completion of Didactic Program in Dietetics or an official transcript conferring his/her baccalaureate degree when applying to the Dietetic Internship Program. Therefore, when applicants are admitted they are sent a letter stating that acceptance is conditional upon provision of original copies of all required application materials. When the Verification Statement and official transcript is received, it is inspected for completeness, especially in regards to a full class completion date (month, day, and year).
Acceptance is also conditional on provision of an official transcript conferring a graduate degree. if the applicant does not have a graduate degree, acceptance into the dietetic internship is conditional on dual matriculation into the Stony Brook University MS in Nutrition.
Applicants who have not yet earned their graduate degree, but who are enrolled in a self-identified graduate degree program, would have to have no more than 9 credits remaining in their degree program at the start of the dietetic internship program. In addition, applicants would need to present documentation from the university/college where they are enrolled that confirms no more than 9 credits remain, as well as a completed Stony Brook University form that confirms that a course plan is in place that would allow for the applicant to complete the remaining credits during the dietetic internship or up to one year following DI completion. In lieu of the form, an email to nutrition@stonybrookmedicine.edu from a graduate program official (director, advisor, staff) would suffice.
In addition to a signed Verification Statement and official transcript conferring the baccalaureate degree, all dietetic interns are required to complete a criminal background check and fingerprinting analysis. The Administrative Assistant for the program will provide information on obtaining both the background check and fingerprinting. Consistent with the Stony Brook University policy, any applicant found to have a past criminal conviction will be evaluated for full acceptance by the Director, Associate Director and Judiciary Officer. If there is a direct relationship between the criminal conviction and the role of an intern, or acceptance would involve a risk to patients, other interns or staff at any of our affiliated sites, the intern will be dismissed. The Stony Brook Dietetic Internship Program does not, at this time, require drug testing. The dietetic intern will pay the cost of the background check, fingerprinting and/or drug testing if required by a site.
Applicants accepted to the distance track will not be formally admitted until a finalized schedule of rotations with secured preceptors is provided and the Clinical Affiliation Agreement between the first site and Stony Brook University is executed.
Interns accepted into the distance track will be provided with a unique Stony Brook ID number and sign on for Blackboard, the learning management system utilized by the Stony Brook University Dietetic Internship Program. At the on-site Orientation, interns in the distance track will have their pictures taken and ID card generated as the on-site interns have done. Interns will be required to have regular video conference calls with the Dietetic Internship Coordinator and their preceptor to ensure that the intern is actually rotating at the sites. There will also be mandatory Zoom calls with the program faculty throughout the year. Submissions on Brightspace will be reviewed during these calls.
