Students may declare a major in nutrition and dietetics when they have completed, or are concurrently completing, all liberal studies and program pre-requisites. However, there are two concentrations in Nutrition and Dietetics, a Registered Dietitian concentration and a Community Health concentration. The Registered Dietitian concentration is accredited by CADE (Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education) for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). This concentration prepares a student for an internship that is required to become a registered dietitian. The Community Health concentration prepares the student to work in nutrition in health related positions that do not require the registered dietitian status. To be admitted to the ADA accredited Registered Dietitian concentration, students must formally apply and must meet the following criteria to be eligible:

• Must have completed at least 62 hours of college credit and be enrolled in the first semester of the junior year of nutrition courses at time of application.
• The 62 hours must include CHEM 132 and 133 (or higher), ENVH 260 & ENVH 261 or BIOL 313 and 293, MATH 170, ND 239 and 330*.
• The semester of application, the student must be enrolled in at least ND 331 and 335.
• Must have an accumulative GPA of 3.00.
• Must have at least a “C” (not a C-) in all sciences and MATH 170.
• Must have at least a “B” in ND 239 and 330.
• Must complete an application form.
• Must understand that to obtain an internship at WCU after graduation, at least a 3.0 is required to apply.

All students who complete the ADA accredited Registered Dietitian concentration will receive a verification statement. Having a verification statement is not a guarantee of acceptance into an internship. The verification statement qualifies graduates to pursue further training in ADA-accredited dietetic internships, after which they will be eligible to take the ADA registration examination to become registered dietitians. Western Carolina University offers this training within the dietetic internship, which is a part of the master of Health Sciences (MHS) degree program.  Admission to the internship is very competitive.

If students do not meet the requirements to enter the Registered Dietitian concentration, they may choose to enter the Community Health concentration. Upon completion of this option, the student will receive a degree in nutrition and dietetics but will not receive a verification statement and will not be eligible for an internship since the Community Health Concentration is not accredited by CADE. The required courses are exactly the same as the Registered Dietitian concentration for the first five semesters of the degree, hence the application process being in the fifth semester. From that point on, the Community Health option does not include many of the ADA required courses but replaces them with courses more appropriate for the community health setting. There are no requirements to enter the Community Health Concentration.

*CHEM 132 = general chem ; CHEM 133 = Organic/Biochem; ENVH 260 & ENVH 261 or BIOL 313 = micro; BIOL 293 = human physiology; MATH 170 = statistics; ND 239 = our intro to being a RD; ND 330 = basic nutrition course.