The Road to Being an RD: All nutrition majors do is cook and count calories, right?

Some people might be wondering, especially those who aren't nutrition majors, what exactly I do during the week as a nutrition major. A lot of people have the common misconception that all we do is take cooking classes and learn how to count calories. That could not be any more false. Nutrition majors actually have a pretty busy schedule, and it only gets busier if you're in a coordinated program. For those who don't know, a coordinated program allows the student to do their supervised practice hours, which are required for the certification exam, while working on their bachelor's degree in nutrition. I am one of the few people in my class crazy enough to want to fit 1400 supervised practice hours into a full course load. Coordinated Programs usually start the junior of college and will continue through the summer between junior and senior year, and end at graduation. I am currently doing some of my supervised practice hours twice a week, Tuesday's and Thursday's, at two different facilities off of school property. Tuesdays I am doing a Food Service Management rotation at a local hospital, and Thursday's I have my Community Nutrition rotation at an insurance office doing corporate wellness. Both facilities have certain goals and objectives I need to meet in order for me to get credit for these hours. Besides being off campus for two days a week, I also am taking 16 credits worth of classes. Mondays are packed solid for me with classes like, Management-to learn how to be an effective manager and leader in all areas of the profession, Sports Nutrition- my favorite and focuses on fueling and refueling athletes for performance, as well as learning about different aids that may be used by athletes, Community Nutrition- learning how to develop strategies for health improvement and disease prevention for all people of an area, and Music and Theater- "to make me a more well rounded professional" at least that is what the university says it'll do. Wednesdays include all of these classes, except Music and Theater, and with the addition of Weight Lifting, as part of the requirement for my minor in exercise science. On top of having an 8 hour rotation on Thursdays, I also have my Food Service Management and Production class at night. The best part of my week is that I have no class on Fridays! But this time is always used to work on some of the many projects I have this semester, as well as work on events for a committee I am on at school.

This week I have been working on my goals and objectives for my community rotation, as well as designing an infographic to accompany a brief educational presentation on handwashing for my Food Service Management rotation. So, to the question that was posed in the title of this post, no, we do so much more than cook and count calories. If that's all we did every day, then anyone could be a dietitian! There's so much this profession and major has to offer, that we learn something new every day and the scope of nutrition expands daily worldwide.