Welcome to the first article of our Registered-Dietitian-To-Be (RD2Be) Series!
Since you’re here, you're likely interested in the dietitian training process and may be somewhere in that journey yourself. Regardless, I’m writing this to help answer the MANY questions I had when I was in your shoes!
So first things first: if you’re not already aware, a dietitian is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy (MNT). Examples of this include managing feeding tube regimens, teaching people how to properly manage diabetes, mitigating the effects of cancer cachexia, diagnosing and treatment of eating disorders, ensuring athletes fuel and recover properly, and more. Even doctors have minimal education on nutrition – Registered Dietitians (RDs) are the trained experts in nutrition therapy!
Career possibilities for an RD include numerous clinical settings (private practice, inpatient & outpatient clinics, hospitals, rehabs, etc and long-term care with specialties such as endocrine, renal, cardiac, bariatrics, GI, eating disorders, allergies, and much more) as well as non-traditional settings including schools, sports teams, movie sets, pharmaceuticals, marketing, research & development of food products and recipes, media consulting, corporate wellness, non-profits, writing, teaching, and more. Here's a free webinar for more behind-the-scenes info about the field as well as some non-traditional RD jobs!
Once you pick this path, the journey from student to dietitian goes like this: you’ll need to obtain an undergraduate degree from an ACEND-accredited program, a master’s degree, and a Dietetic Internship (or DI) consisting of supervised practice hours & assignments to sit for the CDR-RD exam to officially become a Registered Dietitian. Once you pass that exam, you’re nationally qualified to practice MNT, but you’ll need a license depending on where you are. You have to be licensed in the state where your patient is being seen, and while providing MNT you must be in the United States or its territories. In addition, there are multiple specialties you can go into - read more about credentialing here!
Instead of going into details here on how all that works, I’ve written separate articles for those portions of the journey. That way, the information isn’t overwhelming and people can skip any parts they’ve already completed! For example, if you’re ready to apply to an MS/DI program, click here!
But if you’re just getting started, here’s the rundown on how to get the education you need. Earlier I mentioned getting an undergrad degree from an ACEND-accredited program - this would be a Didactic Program in DIetetics (DPD) which is a BS with extra requirements, or a Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP or CPD) which is an undergrad or grad plus the DI portion built in. If you go the DPD route, you then go into an MS/DI program before taking the CDR-RD exam (this is what I did, but one of my preceptors went the CPD route).
Once you’re in your degree program, you have to figure out how to study the hard sciences while balancing volunteering, work, friends and family. Not an easy task! Many people don’t realize that the DPD or CPD is actually more credit-intensive than a pre-med program. They are quite similar, except we don't study as much organic chemistry (typically 1 semester of it instead of 2) and physics isn’t required. On top of that, we get to do lots of food science and business management classes on top of the regular biology, chemistry, physiology, etc. plus gen eds of course, that a typical science major takes.
How do you do this without having too many mental breakdowns? I am so glad you asked! This is a very common struggle and I had to learn the hard way how to study effectively and without sacrificing too much. Utilizing the following pieces of advice, you're armed with awesome tools for building success: what do to when things get hard, learn to study effectively as a college or graduate-level STEM student, and how to get jobs & volunteer hours for your application materials for your next steps that will help you gain experience that ultimately lead to your first job as a dietitian!
My favorite piece of advice that will serve you well throughout this journey is to remember why you got started. Whatever or whomever inspired you, when things get difficult (because they inevitably will), try to never forget your reason for doing this in the first place. Keep a support system in place, whether that’s your study buddies, friends, family, professors, preceptors, and program directors - or ideally all of the above! That will help you keep your confidence and when your confidence fails as you make mistakes, that support system will keep you encouraged. Speaking of making mistakes, don’t get down on yourself! As Yoda says: the greatest teacher, failure is. When you get a question wrong on homework or even an exam, it’s hard to be happy about it but try to keep the perspective that you’ll remember it better next time! Learn from your mistakes while you’re still a student and lives aren’t dependent on you. Even though you’ll absolutely continue making mistakes even as an experienced clinician, your mistakes will get less and less severe as you gain experience and learn the hard way.
Studying effectively begins with knowing yourself, how you study best, and being aware that sometimes once you get to upper-level courses you may have to re-learn how to study or customize your techniques for that subject. There are different study styles that you may already be aware of, but as a general overview think about the following and how you might learn most effectively: seeing, reading, listening, touching and manipulating, etc. Are you more of a pen-and-paper notetaker, iPad or typed-notes peson, or do you prefer to listen and learn? Do you like observing and imitating, or tinkering with things yourself?
Sooner rather than later, studying gets stressful - we've all been there. I love learning... until there's pressure to do well on exam! If you don't understand a concept, get a study buddy or group together and teach each other. Try a tutor or office hours if you can. Sometimes listening or watching someone else explain things makes it click! I love Ninja Nerd, Osmosis, Leah 4 Sci for organic chem, and random other professors you can find on Youtube. There are podcasts I can recommend to you as well, just let me know! I just am much more of a visual person so I leaned on Youtube the most. If the material is difficult or simply boring, see if there's a crash course video online or draw or write out diagrams to make it fun. If something like noise is distracting you, listen to music, rain or other mindless noise, or just stick in some earplugs. Soundtracks and classical music are better than your favorite music with lyrics, as it's more likely to distract you into dancing or singing along and not focusing on your work. If you're just mentally or physically exhaused, take a 15-30 minute nap (longer than that and you're messing with your sleep - more on that here), then have some caffeine. Overall, a good study skill is knowing when not to study; recognize when it's time to take a break! Listen to your body and don't waste time with unproductive staring at your books if you just need a quick nap or a snack.
Besides your assignments and exams, you also have to get those patient care experience hours by working and volunteering. Ask around with friends, family, professors, etc. to get opportunities as well as applying to things you see online. Volunteering with student organizations and class projects can sometimes count. I used my community nutrition class project as well as one of my student org experiences to discuss my involvement in community outreach, volunteering, and leadership. If you’re even just a member of an organization or Greek life, you can use that on your resume when applying. In addition to being a full-time student, I worked in a local hospital for about a year. The hiring manager who became my boss was most concerned about my willingness to learn, ability to balance full time school/volunteering/a part time job, and provide customer service. It didn’t seem to matter if it was paid work experience or not. The main job was to deliver trays to patient rooms and provide excellent service by helping them as much as we could, answering their questions, and then we also did food prep and cleaning. You can also use past work/volunteer/class experience to show your worth and ability to help people in your resume, interviews, etc.
Once you've gotten some experience hours, it's time to start applying for the Match process to get into an MS/DI program which is such an involved process that it gets its own section of our RD2Be Series!
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