“Dear Dietitian: What Uni Is Best For A Nutrition or Dietetics Degree”
What uni should you go to if you want to get into nutrition or more importantly, dietetics?
We clarify the roles of nutritionists vs dietitians. We also share our recommendations for Uni’s based on what you want to study, locations and some of the strengths of each uni.
Start with this video, the DAA website and go from there!
Total watch time: < 4 mins.
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Full video transcript:
Tyson: 0.04: What Uni should you go into, if you want to get into nutrition? The short answer is that you probably don’t want to get into nutrition. Get into nutrition and dietetics, and then …
Peta: 0.16: That’s not a good thing to say.
Tyson: 0.19: Well.
Peta: 0.21: I’ve said that
Tyson: 0.24: It’s, because as it…right, okay, it’s hard enough to get a job as a dietitian, to let alone get a job as a nutritionist where every single person that you know can call themselves a nutritionist. Yes, right now, you watching this can call yourself a nutritionist, if you are a dietitian or not obviously. But every dietitian is a nutritionist, accredited nutritionist. But not every nutritionist is a dietitian.
Tyson: 0.44: Anyway, so answer the question around what uni should you go to. It all depends on obviously where you are, what you want to study and what field of dietetics, sometimes. It depends. So, you would first…I would go look at the DAA website. Honestly and just look at the ones that are accredited, so then you actually know that your degrees going to be accredited, because DAA is where we need to be an accredited, practising dietitian to then get registered with Medicare and Department of Veteran Affairs, NDIS and other things. So, looking on there, they’ll have a list of all the unis and the courses.
Tyson: 01.19: As well as that, look at your local unis. If it says nutrition and dietetics, it’ll usually have something around you know, DAA endorsed or something like that, which then tells you that on completion you will become a dietitian. But, in terms of picking which uni, that will depend on what you’re interested in. So, Griffith University – where I went to – had a sports focus when I went in. A lot of the lecturers there were, you know, sports dietitians as well and interested in that aspect, and they’re very research-driven. Whereas other unis are not. I don’t obviously have a lot of experience with that. I know at Sunny Coast there is a lot of sports nutrition study, and sports dietitians there as well.
Peta: 02.01: Monash is very research-driven as well.
Tyson: 02.03: Yeah Monash and probably food intolerance-driven.
Peta: 02.05: Deakin.
Tyson: 02.06: Driven, given Monash FODMAPs (?) and all of that. And then, you know, I don’t know about the University of Canberra, what their focus is on. And then there is a couple in Perth and WA. James Cook University, is that one?
Peta: 02.24: Deakin.
Tyson: 02.25: Deakin’s in Victoria.
Peta: 02.26: Victoria.
Tyson: 02.27: Yeah, then there’s University of Sydney. Then there’s QUT, UQ.
Peta: 02.34: South Australia University.
Tyson: 02.35: Yeah, Uni of South Australia.
Peta: 02.36: Yeah, Uni South.
Tyson: 02.37: And there’s one, another one in Perth. There is two over in Perth. So yeah, it all depends on obviously where you are, what you’re interested in and then where you can get in. So, if you are applying for it, I would apply for absolutely everything. There’s a lot of bachelor’s degrees, but then if you’ve done a bachelor’s already of something else, then there is a lot of Master’s programs as well. So, just apply for every are, I would say. Give yourself the best chance of getting in, because it is getting quite competitive.
Tyson: 03.05: And then when you come out yeah, you’ll be a dietitian. But, whether or not you get a job. Unfortunately, is one of the things, we’re a very, very saturated market. I think yeah, there might be five graduate jobs in Queensland with 160 new grads coming out each year. So, that gives you a bit of an idea as to what the job market is like.
Peta: 03.32: She tight.
Tyson: 03.33: Yep. All those are hospital jobs obviously, but they’re the graduate positions that most Uni’s kind of tailor their courses to. Like, not a single uni – like Bond on the Gold Coast is probably one that’s moving more towards private practice and business-related aspects of their course. But outside of that, I don’t know a lot that are really supporting practitioners coming through with that. Because that’s likely where you’re going to get a job. Getting a job in a hospital is few and far between, unless you are freaking amazing, plus you also know the right people. Unfortunately. But yeah, that answers that.
Over to you…
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