As a potential applicant, you should review this admissions information before you apply.
All students will be given one at the start of the program. Upon completion of supervised practice in year three, you will be able to sit for the RD exam.
Application requirements and steps for the Doctorate in Nutrition and Dietetics
Eligibility requirements
To be eligible to apply for the Doctorate in Nutrition and Dietetics program you need to meet the following requirements.
- Completion of all prerequisite courses for non-dietetic majors OR verification statement from an ACEND-accredited didactic program in dietetics.
| Subject area | Minimum credit hours | Comparable IU courses |
| Human anatomy (with lab) | 5 | BIOL-N 261 |
| Human physiology (with lab) | 5 | BIOL-N 217 |
| Statistics | 3 | STAT 30100 |
| General chemistry I (with lab) | 3 & 2 | CHEM-C 105 & CHEM-C 125 |
| General chemistry II (with lab) | 3 & 2 | CHEM-C 106 & CHEM-C 126 |
| Organic chemistry | 3 | CHEM-C 341 |
| Microbiology (with lab) | 3 & 2 | BIOL-K 356 & BIOL-K 357 |
| Introductory human behavior, psychology, sociology, or anthropology | 3 | Multiple |
| Human nutrition | 3 | NTRD-N 265, KINE-N 220, NTRD-N 365, OR NTRD-N 420 |
*Online courses with labs will be accepted for these prerequisites. Any combination of these course subjects will be allowed but must be covered.
Read the prerequisite course descriptions to make sure your prerequisites are a suitable match.
- Completed—or will complete—your undergraduate bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university, college or foreign equivalent as determined by a recognized credentialing agency, before your intended fall start date.
- Earned a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
- Current manager-level food safety certification. You may have one of the following certifications or equivalent:
Prior Course Credit
Doctoral students with work experience as food system managers or clinical dietitians may be given credit for required DND courses following demonstration of competency.
To qualify for prior learning credit, the doctoral student must have a minimum of six months’ full-time employment as a food systems manager or clinical dietitian. Doctoral students seeking prior learning credit will be assigned an experienced preceptor/faculty who will evaluate their competency following an agreed-upon length of time, usually one to two weeks. For example, a doctoral student with significant experience as a clinical dietitian would be assigned an experienced preceptor for the Clinical II nutrition rotation. At the end of the week, the preceptor would evaluate the doctoral student’s performance. Subsequent rotations will be designed based on the competency level and interests of the doctoral student. Doctoral students judged to have insufficient competency would complete the usual coursework and supervised practice experiences.
Applicants who have earned a master’s degree may apply up to 30 credit hours toward the DND course requirements depending on review of the course syllabi by DND faculty.
Application deadlines are January 1 for early admission and May 15 for regular admission in the fall semester.
Application instructions
- If coming from an ACEND-accredited didactic program in dietetics (DPD), secure a verification statement from your program. If not coming from a DPD program, be sure to complete the required prerequisites. If you do not have a verification statement, or have not yet completed your bachelor's degree, you will need to submit a Declaration of Intent to Complete form. Enter your information, print the form emailed to you, obtain necessary signatures, and submit as a document upload.
- Craft a personal statement, including your career aspirations. Tips for writing are included on the IU CAS graduate application page.
- Find your ServSafe Certificate at the manager level, the Food Safety Manager Certificate from NRSFP, or an equivalent.
- Plan to secure two letters of recommendation to submit to DICAS. You will need the names and email addresses of your submitters. Please make your recommenders aware of your application deadline giving them three to four weeks to prepare. They will be sent a link to submit the letters.
- Request official transcripts from all universities and colleges attended to submit to DICAS. Please allow additional time for international transcripts. Send by email to hprofadv@iu.edu or mail to: School of Health & Human Sciences, Attn: SHHS Graduate Admissions Coordinator, 1050 Wishard Blvd., Third Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
- Be prepared to pay application fee.
- GRE test scores are not required.
Information for international students
In addition to the requirements above, international applicants must follow the international application process and admission standards of the Office of International Affairs.
To earn admissions as an international applicant you must also meet these program requirements:
- If you are a non-native English speaker, you must meet the minimum requirements for English proficiency.
- Applicants who complete coursework outside of the United States must have their official foreign transcripts evaluated and translated by an approved independent educational evaluating service based in the United States at their own expense. The evaluation should establish a degree equivalent and course-by-course equivalent for all foreign coursework.
Minimum requirements for English proficiency
The test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) test is used and you must meet the following scores for each sub-section and total.
- Reading: 22
- Listening: 22
- Speaking: 26
- Writing: 24
Approved evaluation services
International Education Research Foundation (IERF)
P.O. Box 3665
Culver City, CA 90231-3665
Phone: 310-258-9451
www.ierf.org
Josef Silny & Associates
7101 SW 102 Avenue
Miami, FL 33173
Phone: 305-273-1616
www.jsilny.com
World Education Services, Inc. (WES)
PO Box 745
New York, NY 10113-0745
Phone: 212-966-6311
World Education Services
www.wes.org
Support for transcript services is available for international applicants.