RD School: How Can I Become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist?

It was about this time of year during my senior year of high school that we were challenged to look at 2 or more careers to prepare for college the following year. Thanks to Mrs. Malone, my amazing AP English teacher, I found dietetics as a career. I grew up loving science and learning, so I was preparing to become a science teacher. After looking at the job opportunities for teachers and dietitians, I decided to pursue a career in dietetics with the hopes of pursuing teaching on the collegiate level later in my career. 

Today, we will review how you can become a Registered Dietitian (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). Notice, that I did not say "nutritionist." Nutritionists are not the same as a Registered Dietitian. I repeat, dietitians and nutritionists are NOT the same. 

Technically, everyone is a nutritionist - meaning you do not have to have any schooling to use this title. This would be like someone being able to say that they were a "doctor" without pursuing medical school and their MD. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be seen by a "doctor" who hasn't completed medical school. 

Registered Dietitians complete undergraduate education, a dietetic internship, and all who want to sit for the RD exam in 2024 will have to earn their Master's degree. If you want more information about becoming a RD, check out this series where I walk you through each step of the process and give tips on how to succeed in every step.

 Becoming a Registered Dietitian: Undergraduate

Becoming a Registered Dietitian

Undergraduate Education in Dietetics or Nutrition

Becoming a Registered Dietitian: Dietetic Internship

Applying for a Dietetic Internship

Succeed in Your Dietetic Internship

Becoming a Registered Dietitian: Pass the RD Exam

Pass the Registered Dietitian Exam

Registered Dietitians have the credentials RD or RDN after passing the national RD Exam. The RD and RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist) are the same credentials. The "N" in RDN was added to help regulate the use of the title "nutritionist" and protect consumers. If you want to find a RD in your area, you can use the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website to find RDs and verify credentials. Be an educated consumer. Make sure you know what credentials your healthcare practitioners have. Be safe and healthy!

For more tips about healthy eating and information about becoming a RD, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in:

What do Registered Dietitians do?

Where do Registered Dietitians work?

Dietitian Myths

August Favorites Roundup

Thank you for all of the love this month! August has been a busy month for me as I finish preparing for Fall classes and finish some consultation work. If you missed any of the posts this month, here are the top five favorite posts you visited this month. Enjoy!

Five Things You Should Know About Becoming a Registered Dietitian

How Do I Build a Healthy Plate

8 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget

Recipe for Green Chips

What Can Dietitians Do: A to Z

Let me know if there are any nutrition-related topics you would like to know more about. Please comment below. For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

July Favorites Roundup

Thank you for all of the love this month! The Summer is a busy time for me as I prep for Fall classes and finish some consultation work. If you missed any of the posts this month, here are the top five favorite posts you visited this month. Enjoy!

Five Things You Should Know About Becoming a Registered Dietitian

What Can Dietitians Do: A to Z

Being a Collegiate Professor Roundup

Vacation Tips Roundup

Being a Collegiate Professor: 10 Basic Principles of Human Nutrition

Let me know if there are any nutrition-related topics you would like to know more about. Please comment below. For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

What Can Dietitians Do: A to Z

30 Job Ideas for RDs from A to Z

Dietitians do a lot! The specific role of a dietitian is tied to what area they practice in. If you want even more information about RDs, check out "where dietitians work" and "what do dietitians do?".

Since I love a list, here are just some of the specialty areas RDs can work in and some of the different places dietitians can work . . . from A to Z!

• A = Administration, Academia
• B = Business owner (private practice), Blogger
• C = Consultation, Corporate Wellness, Clinical RD (aka hospital RD)
• D = Disease prevention and treatment (think malnutrition, overweight, kidney disease, heart disease)
• E = Enteral nutrition expert (Example: Tube feedings)
• F = Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (FAND)
• G = Geriatrics, General Pediatricians Office
• H = Health care
• I  = Intensive Care Units (ICU)
• J = Jails and other institutions
• K = Kitchen management (or food service)
• L = Label-reading educator
• M = Media relations (Example: news, radio, television, magazines)
• N = Nutrition consultations (Examples: individual counseling, restaurants, etc)
• O = Outpatient RD, Oncology (cancer) RD
• P = Pediatrics
• Q = Quality Assurance (Example: food service, airlines, food manufacturers)
• R = Recipe development (Example: restaurants, cookbooks)
• S = Supermarket RD (grocery tours, healthy eating on a budget, etc), Sports nutrition (Examples: college or professional sports teams, Olympic athletes. You can earn your CSSD a specialty degree for Certified Specialists in Sports Dietetics).
• T = Teacher (Examples: collegiate, masters, doctorate, or preceptor for dietetic interns)
• U = USDA RD (Examples: agriculture, school breakfast program, school lunch program)
• V = Vegetarian or vegan counseling (Example: protein complementing, adequate micronutrient intake)
• W = Weight management counseling, Wellness or health coach
• X = Examine patient for nutritional issues (ex: tricep skin fold measurements, Subjective Global Assessment, etc.)
• Y = Your personal nutrition coach (ex: weight management, triathlon training, Olympic training, etc.)
• Z = Zoology (Examples: veterinary nutrition, develop and analyze pet foods)

These are only some of the examples of where dietitians can work and watch dietitians can do. Do you work as a RD in another area? Please leave additional job opportunity ideas  in the comment section below.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

How I became a RD and College Nutrition Professor

Being A College Professor

Since my last posts about being a college professor and why I became a college professor,  many of you have asked questions about how to become a collegiate professor, what does it look like be an online professor? How do I come up with coursework? These were the same questions that I had when I started teaching. So, I'll address some of these topics today and in future posts, since you had questions. So, stay tuned.

I have always loved teaching, and I knew I wanted to teach eventually. But, I took a slightly different approach to becoming a teacher. I became a registered dietitian (RD) first. To become a RD, you must complete an undergraduate degree with prerequisites for entrance into a dietetic internship. You apply and match to an internship program. Once you complete your dietetic internship, you are eligible to take the RD exam. . Once you pass the RD exam, you can practices as a dietitian. 

Master of Science
After I passed my RD exam, I began working as a clinical RD. I worked full-time at a pediatric hospital and worked to complete my my Master of Science (MS) part time. 

I earned 12 graduate level credits during my dietetic internship. I was fortunate enough to find a Dietetic and Nutrition MS program that was mostly online. Having online courses was great for me since I was working full-time, I am self-motivated, and I had a good base understanding of the subject matter from my undergraduate degree. Also, it provided me with personal experience taking online courses as a student. This has been very valuable since I'm now on the "other side" teaching online courses. 

My MS degree did require some face-to-face classes, which I enjoyed. It was nice to have classes with people. I love meeting new people, so this was a nice change of pace from the online courses.

CSP or specialty certification

I earned a specialty degree in pediatric nutrition. I did this because I am a clinical pediatric RD, but I was offered the Lifecycle Nutrition course because of this degree. The Lifecycle Nutrition course is the only course I had as an undergraduate student that had a pediatric portion. So, it never hurts to specialize. And, keep learning.

Sending out your resume
When I decided to pursue teaching as an RD, I sent out resumes to local universities, community colleges, dietetic internship programs, and cooking schools. All of these institutions provide courses on food, nutrition, health, and food safety, which an RD can teach. I met several people through this, but ultimately there were no jobs available.

Networking
I actually got my first job through networking. I reached out to my dietetic internship program director to see if she knew of any jobs in her institution or at another institution. There were none at the time. But, she gave my contact information to a Undergraduate Director

Volunteering
If you are interested in teaching or any other aspect of being a RD, I would recommend volunteering. It may take some time and effort to find a RD that has the time to have a volunteer, but it will be worth it! Also, some dietetic internships have "alternate" or "staffing" weeks where you can request to shadow a RD in a specific setting. Take advantage of this opportunity and explore some different job opportunities for RDs.

I now have the pleasure of teaching several online courses, Basic Human Nutrition and a Lifecycle Nutrition. So, wish me luck as I work to finish reading 19 chapters of Lifecycle Nutrition. 

Are you a college teacher? Do you have any advice for those wishing to become professors? Do you have any questions about becoming a RD or professor? 
If so, comment below with your questions or advice about being a RD or professor.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

What Do Dietitians Do?

Dietitians do a lot! The specific role of a dietitian is tied to what area that practice in; if you missed yesterday's post, check out where dietitians work.

I work primarily as a clinical dietitian. In other words, my primary work setting is a hospital. I work with the medical team to provide adequate care and appropriate nutrition, which is also called Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT). I am able to work with physicians to write TPN (total parenteral nutrition or IV nutrition) and tube feeds for patients who can not eat by mouth. I help counsel patients with many nutritional needs: malnutrition, failure to thrive, formula mixing, healing wounds, post-surgery nutrition, post-transplant nutrition, dialysis, diabetes education, and much more.

In the outpatient setting, I counsel and educate patients in a clinic similar to your doctor's office. The type of education or MNT is only limited to what type of doctor you work with or what types of patients are seen. In a Nutrition Clinic, dietitians see patients that are referred by doctors. So, the range of nutrition counseling is endless.

Dietitians can teach in schools and colleges. RDs can write menus for schools, restaurants, or large corporations. RDs can be policy-makers. RDs help fuel collegiate and professional athletes to help improve their athletic performance. If it has to do with nutrition, dietitians can be involved because dietitians are nutrition experts. Nutrition is a broad field with varied job opportunities. Did I leave out one of your favorite areas of practice for a RD? If so, leave a comment with more information about what RDs can do.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter . You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in:

Where do Registered Dietitians work?

Dietitian Myths

Where Do Registered Dietitians Work?

One of my passions is helping people. I also love teaching, and these two things are combined in my being a dietitians. Registered Dietitians (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) can work in many settings: hospitals, schools, dialysis centers, outpatient clinics, schools, college sports teams, professional sports teams, research, food service, and in so many other settings.

I work primarily as a clinical dietitian. In other words, my primary work setting is a hospital.
In an outpatient (aka not in the hospital) setting, I counsel and educate patients in a clinic similar to your doctor's office. 

I also work in academia as an adjunct professor teaching collegiate courses. I currently teach two, 1,000-level courses in Basic Human Nutrition. I will also be teaching Life Cycle Nutrition I and II this Fall and Spring! I love teaching; my favorite part of teaching is that "light-bulb" moment where everything clicks and makes sense. I also enjoy helping preparing dietetic students and dietetic interns for the future careers in dietetics.

There is a lot of misinformation about nutrition, so I work to help people understand the basic of nutrition and how it relates to their health. In my career, I have had the opportunity to work ins several different areas including pediatrics, nephrology, diabetes, general nutrition, critical care, clinical, and higher education. As a RD, I also have the opportunity to help people every day by teaching them bout good nutrition. My hope is to help and encourage people to become healthier by making small, healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle choices.

My goal for this blog is to provide valid, science-based nutrition information that can be used in real life. I will also provide cooking tips and recipes for healthy living. And, you'll get a little slice of my life as a dietitian.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter . You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.






If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in:

What do Registered Dietitians do?

Dietitian Myths