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What is all the education background that I'll need before pursuing being a nutritionist full time?

I'm a high school student who needs to find information on a career project for school.

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Nicole’s Answer

Hi Reese! Your question is pretty broad, but I'll try to help. There are many kinds of nutritionists, and not all of them need clinical experience, a PhD, or a registered dietitian (RD) certification. It's a good idea to pick a specialty and focus on that.

If you're interested in the clinical side, like working in a hospital, you'll definitely need higher education and an RD or similar certification.

For those interested in sports nutrition, working with athletes, it's best to focus on that area. I suggest getting a master's degree and a sports-specific nutrition certification.

You can also explore roles like food scientist or food allergy specialist. These require some experience in the food industry and a strong understanding of food allergies. These roles can lead to working with food regulations and safety, even as a consultant.

Hope this helps!

Nicole recommends the following next steps:

I'd figure out the specific field you want to focus on and seek out individuals on LinkedIn to ask specific questions to... I have high school and college students reach out to me all the time. Always happy to answer questions!
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Andrew’s Answer

Hello Reese,

If you want to be trained properly to provide nutrition advice or recommendations, at a minimum you will need a 4-year college degree along with certification as a registered dietician. In addition you could also go to graduate school and earn a PhD in Nutrition or Nutritional Sciences. It really depends on what you want to do as a Nutritionist. I hope this is helpful for your project.
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Jimmy’s Answer

Hi there! Focusing on a bachelors degree of nutrition of some sort sorts is a great first step. As both mentioned above, there are different avenues you could explore from there. Dietetics, nutrition science, culinary nutrition, nutrition and community health, or just a few of the bachelors degree you might see depending on the universities that you're looking at. I think it's important to start thinking about where you want to work after your studies. As mentioned above if you want to work in a clinical setting, work with physicians on treatment of specific diseases that include pharmaceutical treatment, you'll want to at minimum plan on becoming a registered dietitian, studying dietetics, getting bored certified, and possibly even further depending on your interest. If you don't have interest in a clinical setting or working with physicians and clients in a disease state, you have a lot more options as far as what you want to study and what your specialty might be. If you don't wanna work in a clinical setting becoming board certified is not essential in all states. If you do wanna work in a clinical setting it is essential and required in all states.
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