what to expect in a dietetic interview

These are my experiences of a dietetic university interview; however, I did my interviews in the 2016/17 academic year so some of the questions and/or interview processes may be different. They should help provide a good basis though. Try to get lots of practice for interviews, preferably with someone you don’t know very well, like a teacher, because that will make it more realistic for the real thing.  

Questions to expect

Why do you want to be a dietitian? This is a very obvious question that the interviewer will ask so it helps to prepare your answer. Try to sum up why you want to be a dietitian, in a few sentences, and show how passionate you are about it.  

Scenario based questions: these are situation-based questions and the interviewer is looking to see how you would respond and what skills you would use to respond to the situation. I had questions about how I would deal with conflict in a certain environment, whether I would choose to spend my weekend with friends or volunteering, and if I was on a challenging hike, how would I motivate my teammates. I think it’s important to practice some scenario-based questions and think of any experiences you have had that you can use as examples to show off your skills.

Food based questions: some interviews ask you questions like, how would you make the following menu healthier or how would you use these foods to create a healthy three-course meal. Knowing some basic food swaps would be helpful but you don’t have to be a chef to be able to answer the questions. I aimed my answers at the 3 main macronutrients so for making something healthier I tried to reduce fats and sugars but increase protein and fibre. For the menu planning questions, I tried to ensure my meals contained a healthy source of all three of the macronutrients.

You may also be asked about current public health issues, so it’s good to keep up to date with the latest food trends and any diseases that are making headlines. Try to think of ways they can be treated using diet.

My experiences at my interviews

I was lucky to get interviews at all five of my choices: Nottingham, Surrey, Kings College London, Coventry. and Leeds Beckett.

Surrey was my first interview so feeling nervous was an understatement. Surrey did multiple mini interviews (MMI) with six stations. They organised interviews based on how far away you lived, so if you lived further away you would be interviewed first and allowed to leave. I live an hour away so was in the second to last group, waiting all day definitely did not help my nerves. The unique thing about this interview was that the interviewer was not allowed to talk to you, apart from reading the question. did this, so the interviewer couldn’t help you out or ask any further questions to stimulate your ideas, as this could give an unfair advantage.

Coventry was a group exercise followed by an MMI with 3 stations. I didn’t feel that nervous before I went in because I thought I was going on a tour of the campus first. I blindly followed the helper into a room and was a bit confused, why was this room part of the campus tour? It was then I realised I was actually having my interview first and the butterflies in my stomach let loose, not good. In the group exercise, try to listen as well as speak and bring an idea to the table. It can be easy to let someone else do all the talking, but this won't impress anyone.

My application process with KCL was interesting, but I won't put my personal opinion into this. We had to watch a short video and then have an MMI interview, with one of the stations asking about the video we saw. I found this interview very difficult.

Nottingham was an individual interview with 2 interviewers. The actual interview went very quick but there was talks and campus tours that took up the whole day.

Leeds was a group interview and then an individual interview with 2 interviewers. This was my last interview and I can't remember that much about it.

I hope you found this post helpful.

Bye for now! 👋