Path to Dietetics
While the path looks different for everyone, here’s a basic outline:
Barriers to Becoming an RD
Barriers to become a dietitian play a big role in the lack of diversity of our field. Financial barriers include the cost of tuition, living expenses, pay over tuition (POT), cost of healthy food on campus, internship tuition, CEUs. Hidden barriers include the time spent on scholarship/job applications, unpaid labour for pre-placement ‘experience’, transport expenses for placements, relocation expenses for internships, language barriers (expectation for English) and emotional toll caused by a competitive & workaholic culture.
Calls to Action
- Pay Students for Work (especially in clinical and private practice settings).
- Inclusive Application Process that makes non-nutrition experience relevant, anonymizes applications, addresses implicit biases.
- Increasing the Number of Opportunities for post graduate opportunities (Master’s or internships).
- Eliminate Tuition for Internships. Why are we paying to work for free??
Nutrition Diversified 