Dietetics personal statement example

Personal statement example

At six o'clock most mornings during the long vacation, I stand beside my aunt's waakye stall near a junior high school and decide, with a ladle, how much rice and beans a child's one cedi or two cedis will buy. Over time I noticed that the same pupils who bought only gari and shito at dawn were the ones queuing again for bofrot by nine. That small pattern is the reason I want to study dietetics: I want to understand how what people can afford, what they enjoy and what their bodies need fit together, and how a professional can help without lecturing.

I studied General Science, and Biology and Chemistry gave me the vocabulary I was missing at the stall. Learning how carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed made me wonder whether a breakfast of mostly cassava kept a child full for less time than one with beans and egg. Our textbook could only take me so far, so I read the nutrition chapters of an old secondary-level Food and Nutrition book a neighbour lent me, and learned about the food groups, protein quality and why combining legumes with cereals improves the overall protein a meal provides. Waakye, I realised, already does this.

I then set myself a modest project. For two weeks, with my aunt's permission, I kept a notebook recording what each regular child bought, roughly how much, and whether they returned later for a snack. I did not weigh food or question anyone about their health; I simply counted and wrote short notes. I found that children who bought waakye with egg or wele came back for snacks less often than those buying gari alone, though I know my sample was small, I could not account for what they ate at home, and some children simply had more money. Writing up the limitations taught me as much as the pattern itself. I shared the notes with my aunt, and we tried offering a half portion of beans with gari at a slightly higher price. Several children bought it regularly, and my aunt kept it on the menu.

The stall has also taught me practical things a textbook does not. I have learned how quickly cooked rice spoils if it is left uncovered in the heat, why my aunt reheats stew thoroughly before serving, and how to handle money and food without mixing the two. Food safety now seems to me just as much a part of nutrition as what is on the plate.

At home I look after my two younger cousins after school, which includes preparing their supper. My youngest cousin refuses vegetables, so I started blending kontomire into palava sauce until he stopped noticing. It is a small success, but it showed me that changing what someone eats is often about taste and habit rather than information.

Outside food, I play goal defence for my school netball team. Training three evenings a week made me pay attention to how I felt when I skipped breakfast before a match, and it also taught me to listen to a coach's instructions and adjust quickly, which I expect will matter in clinical placements.

I am aware that a dietitian's work goes far beyond school breakfasts, into hospitals, managing conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, and community programmes. I have not yet seen that work directly, and I look forward to learning the physiology, biochemistry and counselling skills it requires. What I bring is curiosity that began with a ladle, the habit of recording carefully before drawing conclusions, and experience of feeding real people with real budgets. I would like to build on that with proper scientific training, so that one day my advice is as practical as it is accurate.