How to Become a Registered Dietitian

Remember last week when I told you all about a day in my life as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist? Hopefully you found it fascinating.

Hopefully you found it so fascinating that you too want to take the necessary steps to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, or an RDN.

I get a lot of inquiries about the path to dietitian-dom on social media, via email, and at work. Nutrition is being taken more seriously than ever as a viable method for disease prevention/treatment, and dietitians are finally having our day in the sun. Not only are job opportunities increasing, but so are our salaries!

Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind.

So whether you’re in the process of selecting a major or looking to make a big move from your current career path, I hope you find the following helpful.

Step 1:

Complete the educational requirements through an undergraduate or graduate degree. Most people choose to do this by getting a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, or something of the like.

note: If you’re changing careers, I recommend you schedule meetings with several dietetic internship directors to find the best course of action to efficiently complete the internship prerequisites. Some programs will vary in their requirements, so look into a few programs that are interesting to you.

Step 2:

Complete an accredited internship. If you’re in a Coordinated Program, then your internship will be part of your undergraduate program. If you graduated from a Didactic Program, you will need to apply to your internship and go through a matching process.

note: I graduated from the Coordinated Program in Dietetics at The University of Texas, so I’m by no means an expert on the matching process.

Step 3:

Take (and pass) the RDN exam!

Step 4:

Keep up with your continuing education hours so you can be a dietitian 5ever after all that hard work!