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  1. #1
    Registered User norm92's Avatar
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    Registered Dietitian (nutritionist)

    I'm wondering if anyone here is a registered dietitian. I need to choose a major for college, and I was wondering if anyone here is a registered dietitian. If so, what type of jobs are there for this profession, what what's the pay. At my local Jr. College, the admin staff wasn't able to help me out, so I was wondering if anyone here can help me.
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  2. #2
    Banned alan aragon's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by norm92 View Post
    I'm wondering if anyone here is a registered dietitian. I need to choose a major for college, and I was wondering if anyone here is a registered dietitian. If so, what type of jobs are there for this profession, what what's the pay. At my local Jr. College, the admin staff wasn't able to help me out, so I was wondering if anyone here can help me.
    A member named foodandfitness is an RD, you might wanna pm him if he doesn't see this. Short of that, my 3-part article series on the topic of fitness careers might help (go here).

    As far as RD earnings go, here's a rough idea, & note that the bold is a more realistic expectation unless you really make it as an entrepreneur or secure a management position in a large corporation. (source here):

    "According to ADA's 2009 Dietetics Compensation and Benefits survey, half of all RDs in the US who have been working in the field for five years or less earn $51,100 to $62,200 per year. As with any profession, salaries and fees vary by region of the country, employment settings, scope of responsibility and supply of RDs. Salaries increase with years of experience and RDs, in management and business, earn incomes of $85,000 to $88,000."
    Last edited by alan aragon; 12-15-2010 at 11:50 AM.
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    Registered User Reformed90's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by alan aragon View Post
    A member named foodandfitness is an RD, you might wanna pm him if he doesn't see this. Short of that, my 3-part article series on the topic of fitness careers might help (go here).

    As far as RD earnings go, here's a rough idea, & note that the bold is more realistic expectation unless you really make it as an entrepreneur or secure a management position in a large corporation. (source here):

    "According to ADA's 2009 Dietetics Compensation and Benefits survey, half of all RDs in the US who have been working in the field for five years or less earn $51,100 to $62,200 per year. As with any profession, salaries and fees vary by region of the country, employment settings, scope of responsibility and supply of RDs. Salaries increase with years of experience and RDs, in management and business, earn incomes of $85,000 to $88,000."
    Thanks for posting this alan.

    All the pay is salarie based then?

    No hourly?

    Hope to hear back from you soon

    Thanks,
    Will
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    Banned alan aragon's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Reformed90 View Post
    Thanks for posting this alan.

    All the pay is salarie based then?

    No hourly?

    Hope to hear back from you soon

    Thanks,
    Will
    Hourly vs salary varies with the employer. It's not always salary. In private practice counseling, it's usually per session (in SoCal, the range is roughly 50-100 bucks per half-hour session).
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    Registered User Reformed90's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by alan aragon View Post
    Hourly vs salary varies with the employer. It's not always salary. In private practice counseling, it's usually per session (in SoCal, the range is roughly 50-100 bucks per half-hour session).
    Ah I see

    Is it hard to get work?

    If you worked in a hospital would some of the doctors refer their patients to you?

    Say diabetics or people with hypertension?
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    Banned alan aragon's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Reformed90 View Post
    Ah I see

    Is it hard to get work?

    If you worked in a hospital would some of the doctors refer their patients to you?

    Say diabetics or people with hypertension?
    Tough questions to objectively answer -- it all depends on you & how resourceful, persistent, and/or skilled you are. Is it a tough field to get into? That's far too subjective to answer (tough is relative; getting lead roles in movies or becoming an astronaut is probably more difficult). As far as doctor referrals, that happens both in clinical & private practice. I'm in private practice & have docs referring to me for nonclinical stuff. Heck, I have clients who are MDs.
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    Registered User Reformed90's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by alan aragon View Post
    Tough questions to objectively answer -- it all depends on you & how resourceful, persistent, and/or skilled you are. Is it a tough field to get into? That's far too subjective to answer (tough is relative; getting lead roles in movies or becoming an astronaut is probably more difficult). As far as doctor referrals, that happens both in clinical & private practice. I'm in private practice & have docs referring to me for nonclinical stuff. Heck, I have clients who are MDs.
    Wow that's impressive. Thanks for the info, alot of questions I had have been answered
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    Banned alan aragon's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Reformed90 View Post
    Wow that's impressive. Thanks for the info, alot of questions I had have been answered
    To be fair, it did take me some serious pounding since the early 1990's to get where I am, so even "impressive" is relative...

    Thanks though - I appreciate the compliment & wish you the best on your journey.
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  9. #9
    Come at me, bro! foodandfitness's Avatar
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    Most of the answers to your questions can be found here http://www.eatright.org/students/edu...starthere.aspx

    My advice:
    1. Unless you plan on starting your own business or have some sort of special plan, don't do this for the money. The time you invest is definitely not worth the pay you make compared to other degrees.

    2. Try to get a combined BS degree and internship program. Otherwise you have to enroll in a 1200 hour unpaid internship after you graduate. My internship COST me about $10,000 and was 6 months long, 40 hours a week, non-paid. Not complaining, just the facts.

    3. If you plan on working in the field of sports nutrition realize that the bulk of the RD world is set in a hospital or clinical setting. Calculating parental nutrition in ICU units. I only had 5 weeks of sports nutrition specific stuff in my internship.

    4. I'm assuming you want to work in sports because you are on the bb.com forums? If so, seek education in other disciplines to get a competitive edge. Become a personal trainer, get some practical experience, take some ex phys classes.

    5. Its a female dominated field. I've only met 2 other male dietitians. The benefit is that the vast majority of the women are fitness/health minded and smoking hot. The downside is that you work with in an enviroment of mostly women, will probably have a woman boss, etc. You gotta be able to put up with a lot of unnessesary drama and borring personalities. Lots of RDs also went to school to get a MRS degree.

    I hope that helps. I really love what I do.The RD isn't necessary to become a nutrition expert (example- Alan), but it is a great credential and will expose you to areas and applications of nutrition you never knew existed. The RD is recognized as a nutrition expert and most companies won't hire you for clinical work without it.
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    Agree with foodandfitness... Really do your research on the Dietetic Internships (required to sit for the registration exam). They are VERY competitive to get into, for example - some of the LEAST common ones have over 100 applicants for say... 6 spots. Your really gotta have your A game on from the start!
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    Originally Posted by racindude52 View Post
    Agree with foodandfitness... Really do your research on the Dietetic Internships (required to sit for the registration exam). They are VERY competitive to get into, for example - some of the LEAST common ones have over 100 applicants for say... 6 spots. Your really gotta have your A game on from the start!
    ^^ True. Sat in on my school's dietetic internship application process meeting, about 50% of people get matched for an internship apparently. It sounds like a very long process. My advisers have told me that being a male is good, because like foodandfitness said, its a female dominated field. They also told me that getting a MSRD would help put me ahead of internship competition, so you might keep that in mind.

    The most important thing I was told is getting a variety of experiences as soon as you can. For example, I am looking into becoming an NSCA certified strength and conditioning trainer as well as trying to work with the schools football team.

    Google search all access internships too for more information on the internships. The owner gave a presentation that I sat in on, the site has a lot of tips/information and listings of different institutions with internships and even listings of places you can get experience for your resume.
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  12. #12
    Registered User norm92's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by foodandfitness View Post
    Most of the answers to your questions can be found here http://www.eatright.org/students/edu...starthere.aspx

    My advice:
    1. Unless you plan on starting your own business or have some sort of special plan, don't do this for the money. The time you invest is definitely not worth the pay you make compared to other degrees.

    2. Try to get a combined BS degree and internship program. Otherwise you have to enroll in a 1200 hour unpaid internship after you graduate. My internship COST me about $10,000 and was 6 months long, 40 hours a week, non-paid. Not complaining, just the facts.

    3. If you plan on working in the field of sports nutrition realize that the bulk of the RD world is set in a hospital or clinical setting. Calculating parental nutrition in ICU units. I only had 5 weeks of sports nutrition specific stuff in my internship.

    4. I'm assuming you want to work in sports because you are on the bb.com forums? If so, seek education in other disciplines to get a competitive edge. Become a personal trainer, get some practical experience, take some ex phys classes.

    5. Its a female dominated field. I've only met 2 other male dietitians. The benefit is that the vast majority of the women are fitness/health minded and smoking hot. The downside is that you work with in an enviroment of mostly women, will probably have a woman boss, etc. You gotta be able to put up with a lot of unnessesary drama and borring personalities. Lots of RDs also went to school to get a MRS degree.

    I hope that helps. I really love what I do.The RD isn't necessary to become a nutrition expert (example- Alan), but it is a great credential and will expose you to areas and applications of nutrition you never knew existed. The RD is recognized as a nutrition expert and most companies won't hire you for clinical work without it.
    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. This is exactly what I was looking for. If you don't mind me asking what exactly do you do for a living? do are you a nutritionist in a hospital or private? I live in Southern California and Looking to transfer to Cal State LA. They offer an intership program while you get your Bachelors. Money is important, but I rather do something that I love rather than something that pays good and don't enjoy.

    http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/h.../ntrs_bs_I.php
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  13. #13
    I Train to Bring You Pain kfisherx's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by foodandfitness View Post
    5. Its a female dominated field. I've only met 2 other male dietitians. The benefit is that the vast majority of the women are fitness/health minded and smoking hot. The downside is that you work with in an enviroment of mostly women, will probably have a woman boss, etc. You gotta be able to put up with a lot of unnessesary drama and borring personalities. Lots of RDs also went to school to get a MRS degree.
    As a woman I feel compelled to neg you for this generalization and degrading comment towards my fellow women, but I actually have to agree with you. I work in engineering around mostly men just for that reason.
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    Registered User copeboy26's Avatar
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    May take this?

    OK i may take this but i want to start my own business but am wondering if this is a good idea as from what i read this is a low pay job so on and so forth so all in all is this something to get into if i want to start my own business to help others lose weight and i am thinking of taking Food & Nutrition business and industry is this a goof filed to study under?
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    I spoke to an RD once. He was about 150kg. Told me that I NEED to eat 5 pieces of fruit every day and more than 50g of protein will kill my kidneys. He was employed by the army, Can't imagine his pay was great, however he could afford to eat lots of food.
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    Lift and learn.
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