Sodexo NJ/Philly requires you to attend at least two professional meetings/continuing education seminars during the internship. I attended a seminar on weight management/obesity at College of St. Elizabeth, and volunteered at PADA\'s annual conference in King of Prussia. The internship Director is very good at informing you of opportunities available, so don\'t worry about finding these things on your own. (Unless you want to.)

My clinical experience was not the best by far. I got stuck at a hospital in Northeast Philly, right in the Ghetto. My preceptors were very catty and less than willing to work with me and teach me. I was on my own most of the time. I feel I could have learned a lot more if I had had more involved preceptors. However, from the programs\' end, the homework and class days really taught me the girth of what I learned. The homework is long and tedious, but it\'s WORTH IT! I also had my foodservice and management rotations at Nazareth hospital. What a joke! They were all very nice, and were agreeable to work with me to get done what I needed to get done, but again, I was on my own most of the time and there is a LOT of downtime. I would come in in the morning, eat breakfast for an hour, surf the internet and check my e-mail for a couple hours, then do maybe an hour of actual work, go eat lunch with the Dietitians for an hour, and then leave. They basically threw me back away in the office. They didn\'t want me there. They didn\'t want to extra responsibility. But, in general, be prepared to be BORED during foodservice. BUT- try to teach yourself everything they throw at you because I hear there are a LOT of foodservice questions on the RD exam!. I enjoyed the community rotations. We get to schedule them ourselves, so we get to pick what we really want to see and experience things that we would normally not be exposed to. It is good to experience other aspects of Dietetics. (I also enjoyed being away from Nazareth hospital where people actually have motivation to teach!) However, if you observe outpatient counseling, it can be quite a yawner because you are sitting there for an 8 hour day just observing. Not really doing anything. Very boring. Oh yeah, and it can be A LOT of driving to all of these different sites.

I lived in an area of Philadelphia called \"Fishtown.\" It\'s kinda between Center city and Northeast Philly. BAD AREA! Everyone warned me that it was \"not the safest area,\" but I chose to live there anyways because the rent was cheap. Take my advice and, if you have to live in Philly, go up the street a few blocks to Northern Liberties where they have gated communities. Rent: $1400/month total. (Split 3 ways, I paid $466/month.) Utilities: We had a sweet deal: water was included in rent. The only utilities we paid were electric and cable.

I applied to Sodexo NJ/Philadelphia honestly as a last ditch backup choice. I wanted Sodexo Allentown so I wouldn\'t have to move and I would be able to continue working because it was part time. I was just so afraid of not getting placed in one at all that I decided to add Sodexo Philly. Also, I thought it would be a good life experience to live in a major city for a while. Believe me, it was!

Occasionally there will be volunteer opportunities on weekends or nights, such as community events, reading to children in a library, working at cooking demos or health fairs, etc. But it all counts towards community rotation days so you can have off during that rotation. It\'s like the more you do during other rotations, the more days you will have off later.

Children, Elderly, Adults, Caucasian, African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Russian

Savings, Loans, Parents\' help

During the interview, be confident and just keep trying to answer the questions even if you have no idea what the right answer is. My internship Director told me that they were impressed with my interview not because I necessarily had all of the right answers, but because I kept trying and showed confidence. And on the application and personal statement, just don\'t make stupid mistakes. If the Director sees you mailed a generic statement/application with another college\'s name on it, it goes straight in the trash. And yes, it happens. Be careful!!