Admission Requirements
Enrollment in the DPD is limited to 40 students. To be considered
for admission, applicants must be officially admitted to BYU, and:
- Four of the following eight courses must be completed at
the time of application: NDFS 100, 200, 290; PDBio 220, 305; Chem 285;
MMBio 221; Acc 200
- Major GPA and performance in NDFS courses will be considered. Successful applicants typically have a major GPA > 3.0 and NDFS course grades > B-.
- Applicants need at least 300 hours of dietetics-related work and/or volunteer experience (see examples below).
Application
- The application must be submitted by February 15 prior to the Fall Semester of desired acceptance and include:
- the completed application form (located under DPD Application on this web site.)
- an official transcript or ABC Report
- two recommendation forms (send directly to the Program Director)
- personal interview by the selection committee
Dietetics-Related Work and/or Volunteer Experience
Admittance to the BYU Didactic Program in Dietetics requires 300
hours of dietetics-related experience. [Many internships, including BYU
's, require 1000 hours of related experience-the additional 700 hours
are added to the 300 required for the DPD.] The experience can be
gained through paid employment, volunteer activities, or a combination
of both. Obviously, the types of experience you can gain while still in
school are not the things a dietitian actually does, but rather are the
things dietitians might plan and supervise.
The experience should be completed under supervision in an established
organization. While it is impossible to list all of the experiences
that might "count," here are some examples:
FOODSERVICE
Healthcare, (hospital, nursing home, assisted living center,
etc); School Lunch/Child Nutrition Program; University/College Dining
Service; Commercial restaurant (Restaurant work "counts" only if in a supervisory or food production position-not wait staff, host, cashier positions.)
PATIENT CARE
Diet clerk, diet tech, or dietary aid may have direct patient contact. CNA (nursing assistant), physical therapy aid, occupational therapy aid,
and other positions involved with direct patient care in a hospital or
nursing home provide excellent experience. Working in the medical billing and reimbursement area of a hospital provides experience with an important part of health care.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Many of the opportunities in the community will be volunteer rather
than paid, although some paid positions exist. Any agency that has
nutrition education/feeding as a component of its mission is a
possibility-Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Heart
Association, Diabetes Association, Cancer Society, March of Dimes, food
banks, food/shelter coalition, soup kitchens, meal preparation for
Special Olympics, Headstart, Aging Services etc.
GOVERNMENT
Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, US Department of Agriculture,
and other agencies provide experiences in the legislative and oversight
aspects of nutrition and food. If you happen to be in or near
Washington DC these may be an option.
TEACHING/LAB ASSISTANT
Being a teaching or laboratory assistant in nutrition or food science classes, anatomy lab, or other major classes, or the sensory analysis lab gives good experience.