Become a certified Registered Dietitian (RD)

A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD or RDN) is considered the top nutrition expert who will link good nutrition to better health. The RD credential is the only credential nationally recognized in foods and nutrition. This credential is necessary for most employment in the healthcare industry as well as for many other opportunities in food and nutrition. Dietitians can work in a wide range of settings. They can be employed by hospitals, universities, specialty outpatient centers (i.e. eating disorder, bariatric, or gastrointestinal clinics), food banks, schools and universities, private practices, and numerous other settings. Dietitians are advocates for preventative care and for advancing the nutritional status of people around the world. The RD credential is earned following the completion of academic training, supervised practice experience, and the successful passage of the nationally administered board exam.

Once you become a dietitian, you’ll participate in menu planning and overseeing the preparation of food, and educate groups such as senior citizens, expectant women, and diabetics about which types of food to eat and which foods to avoid. You may also study nutrition for food companies and test new food products and equipment. You’ll have opportunities to work in diet therapy, nutrition research, and counseling.

TTI has partnered with the University of New England to offer a Masters of Science in Applied Nutrition with a Dietetics focus. After successfully completing the program, students will receive a verification statement which makes them eligible to sit for the RD exam.

Before beginning the dietetics focus area coursework within UNE’s Masters of Applied Nutrition program, students will need to have a bachelors degree from a regionally accredited college with a minimum 3.0 GPA, and they will need to complete or show equivalency to three foundational courses with a grade of B minus or better.

Our MSAN–D program has a required supervised experiential learning component (SEL) component that is the equivalent to a traditional dietetic internship. The SEL hours are equivalent to the traditional dietetic internship, the major difference being that you will complete your SEL hours concurrently with your online graduate courses. This will allow you to finish your SEL hours by the time you graduate from the program. Students average three different preceptors to complete their SEL hours, usually one for a clinical site, one for a community site, and one for a food service management site. Students will complete the required SEL hours in their local community.

The coursework is 100% online, and the courses are asynchronous, so you will never be expected to be signed in at any specific date or time. UNE utilizes Brightspace as their learning platform, and the lectures are all pre-recorded, so you can access them at any time.

The UNE MS Applied Nutrition (MSAN-D) Dietetics focus is designed to be completed in 2 years full-time (two 3-credit dietetic courses paired with two 1-credit lab courses per semester inclusive of summers). The program is a total of 48 credit hours. Students will average 15-20 hours on coursework and around 15 Supervised Experiential Learning (SEL) hours per week.

Contact us for details about this exciting new program!

2.5 years

$60,000

According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the median annual wage for nutritionists in May 2021 was $59,410. Median salary with 4 years or less experience is above $60,000. Median salaries for serving in business, education, and research is above $90,000.