Pre-Dietetics
Offered by Health Science Programs
A student interested in pursuing a master’s degree to become a registered dietitian must have successfully completed a bachelor's degree and the following required courses. Students should check with the dietetics program(s) to which they intend to apply to ensure that other requirements are fulfilled. Some dietetics programs require a course in Medical Nutrition Therapy as part of their prerequisites, including UNL (2 MNT courses required) and UNMC (1 MNT course required). Specific Medical Nutrition Therapy courses may be taken from UNMC. Students should consult with their advisor to discuss requirements.
Students pursuing a pre-dietetics curriculum are expected to choose a major so that they can be working towards a bachelor’s degree concurrently with the pre-dietetic program. This requires a major/minor combination or a comprehensive major as well as completion of the UNK general education requirements and other degree requirements set forth in the college catalog.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| Take all of the following: | ||
| BIOL 106 | Biology II | 4 |
| BIOL 211 | Human Microbiology | 4 |
| CHEM 160 & 160L | General Chemistry and General Chemistry Laboratory | 4 |
| CHEM 161 & 161L | General Chemistry and General Chemistry Laboratory | 4 |
| CHEM 351 | Biochemistry I | 4 |
| NUTR 108 | Introduction to Nutrition | 3 |
| NUTR 355 | Food Preparation for Optimal Health | 3 |
| NUTR 385 | Advanced Nutrition | 3 |
| PSY 203 | General Psychology | 3 |
| Take one of the following: | 4 | |
| Human Physiology | ||
| Anatomy and Physiology | ||
| Introduction to Human Physiology of Exercise | ||
| Take one of the following options: | 5 | |
| Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry and Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry Lab | ||
| or | ||
| Organic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Laboratory | ||
| Suggested Electives | ||
| Statistics: | ||
| Elementary Statistics | ||
| Community Nutrition: | ||
| Special Topics in Exercise Nutrition | ||
| Nutrition Through the Lifecycle | ||
| Motivational Interviewing: | ||
| Counseling Skills | ||
| Medical Terminology: | ||
| Medical Terminology | ||
| Community Health: | ||
| Introduction to Health Promotion | ||
| Public Health Aspects of Physical Activity | ||
| Sports Nutrition | ||
| Additional Requirements | ||
| Students will need to submit scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) upon application to a master’s degree program in dietetics. A minimum 3.0 GPA is required. Students must earn a grade of C or higher in all science courses and a grade of B or higher in all nutrition courses in order to be competitive. | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 41 | |