Prerequisites: Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD)

In order to become a Registered Dietitian, you must complete an accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD).

Please note: you do not need to complete a DPD before applying to the 40-credit Clinical Nutrition master's.

Our Mission

The NYU DPD strives to educate students on the role of food, nutrition, and health in society. Integrating knowledge and research into coursework, the program provides students with an understanding of basic sciences, and theoretical and applied aspects of nutrition and dietetics to facilitate the preparation of students for supervised practice leading to eligibility for the Commission on Dietetic Registration credentialing exam to become a registered dietitian. 

DPD Goals

1. Students who complete the DPD will have basic and applied knowledge of food, nutrition, and dietetics.

2. Students who complete the program will be prepared for supervised practice leading to eligibility for the Commission on Dietetic Registration credentialing exam to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. 

Please see the DPD Handbook for corresponding objectives for each goal.

The DPD and Outcomes

The DPD for those in the Clinical Nutrition master’s consists of eighteen courses — sixteen at the undergraduate level and two at the graduate level (total of 57 credits: 51 undergraduate and 6 graduate) — that meet the 2012 Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) Accreditation Standards. If taken on a full-time basis (12 credits/semester plus summer sessions), you can complete the DPD in approximately two years. 

Upon completion of all of the DPD courses, you will receive a DPD Verification Statement, which confers eligibility to enroll in graduate-level courses and to apply to an ACEND-accredited dietetic internship. Most students complete their master’s in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics after completing a dietetic internship.

When to Take DPD Courses

You are not required to take the DPD courses prior to applying to the 40-credit MS. Rather, you can take them while matriculated in the degree. Please note, however, that undergraduate-level DPD courses will not count toward the master's degree. 

If you think you have already met the requirements of one or more of the NYU Steinhardt DPD courses, you should discuss this with a graduate nutrition/DPD adviser at the time of admission. The adviser will review your transcript and may also request additional materials (e.g., course descriptions, syllabi, examples of course work) in order to determine if the course(s) meet our requirements.

To receive a DPD Verification or Declaration of Intent from NYU, you must take at least 29 credits at NYU and get pre-approval from a program adviser for all DPD courses taken outside NYU. Courses taken at two-year colleges that do not have an ACEND-accredited DTR program do not meet our DPD requirements.

DPD and Dietetic Internships

Completing a dietetic internship is part of the process of becoming a Registered Dietitian. You may apply to dietetic internships in your final semester of taking DPD courses, but all DPD courses must be completed prior to starting the internship.

DPD Course Requirements

All courses taken to meet DPD requirements must be approved by a graduate nutrition/DPD adviser and completed prior to receiving a DPD Verification Statement. 

DPD courses may not be taken for graduate credit with the exception of Research Methods, NUTR-GE.2190, and Nutrition Education, NUTR-GE.2199. DPD courses taken for graduate credit outside of NYU, whether prior to or after matriculation, will not be counted toward the graduate degree at NYU.  

The following courses constitute NYU Steinhardt's DPD. For help with planning the sequences in which these courses must be taken, consult the DPD Sequence Map and obtain the approval of a graduate/DPD adviser.

If you are applying in Dietetic Internship Centralized Application Services (DICAS) you will need to upload the DPD Course List Form. 

Accreditation

The NYU Didactic Program in Dietetics is currently accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (200 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60606-6995, 1-800-877-1600) until 2021.