Road To RDN: My Journey to Become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

This year I became a Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist. (Yayy!!) This is one of my biggest accomplishments to date. There are still times I have to pinch myself because there were definitely times of uncertainty throughout my journey. I hope this post will help provide some insight to those of you interested in this career path and acquiring RDN credentials in the future.

I’ve always been an athletic person. I played sports growing up and I’ve always enjoyed exercising in my free time. I have also ALWAYS loved food. Ask anyone I know… I am definitely a ‘live to eat’ type of person. I’ve been cooking since I was little. Food isn’t just food to me.. Food is tradition, food is how I show my love, and food is where I express my creativity.

In middle school and high school, I struggled with some health issues that kept me from being a consistent member of sports teams and even kept me from being a good student at times. It wasn’t until I finally started following a strict gluten free diet my senior year of high school that I started feeling better and was able to participate in my own life the way I always wanted. I have been gluten free for about 8 years now. (I wrote a post about being gluten free). Because I was feeling better, I started working out more. I wanted to learn more about exercise and science so I got a job at a local gym and became certified as Personal Trainer.

I worked as a Personal Trainer all throughout college. I started off at a local community college and got my Associate degree in science. I knew I wanted to get a Bachelor’s degree in something related to health science, but it only became clear that Nutrition and Dietetics was IT after taking a quantity food production (culinary) class at my community college. After taking many science courses, this class was exactly what I needed to remind me of my love for food. I wanted to learn more about food, how it impacts our bodies, and why.

I transferred to Dominican University and started taking the courses approved by ACEND (Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics), which would allow me to apply for a Dietetic Internship/Residency after completion of the program and then sit for the national board exam to become a RDN. I had a 45-minute commute to my school and I worked almost every day that I wasn’t in classes. To say these years were a walk in the park would be a big fat lie. It was tough. The classes were challenging, the commutes were exhausting, and I didn’t fully understand the process of becoming a RDN until I was already in it.

I had to figure out a lot of things on my own. I almost lost faith a few times, but thankfully I stuck it out in the end. I graduated with my Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics and eligibility to apply to Dietetic Internships after 2.5 years of full-time course loads. I applied to two local Dietetic Internship programs through the DICAS matching system (which is very outdated and confusing) and I matched to my top choice, UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial in Harvey, Illinois… Praise be!!

My Dietetic Internship was 10 months long. Most weeks I felt as though I was working a full-time job and going to school full-time. For this reason, many of us RDNs believe the name should be changed to Dietetic Residency to better emulate the experiences that shape it. 10 months of full time rotations, study guides, papers, and speeches may seem intense, but there were MANY silver linings.

First and foremost, I made so many dear friends that I know I will share a bond with for a lifetime. My fellow interns are all amazingly strong women that I have gotten to know so well. We still communicate in our group chat on a weekly basis and I know we will remain friends forever. They taught me how to be better a teammate, student, and friend. 

Also, this internship made me realize that I was becoming the MOST prepared for my career. I had so many wonderful experiences throughout my various clinical, wellness, and foodservice rotations. The Nutrition and Dietetics field is one unlike any other. One day you will learn how the purchasing of food is done for the entire hospital; the next you are educating patients on the diet specific to them and their disease state in their hospital room. The field is multifaceted and the opportunities are endless! As long as you are tenacious and keep a positive mindset, you can utilize your unique experiences to shape your future into whatever you want.

After fulfilling the 1200+ hours of supervised practice hours within my Dietetic Internship, I was eligible to sit for the RDN exam. I decided to take a short-term summer job related to nutrition before studying for and taking the exam. I think this was the best choice for me because I needed some time to refresh and give my brain a break before delving into the books again. Today, about 6 months post-grad from my internship, I’m beginning to look for full-time RDN jobs. Writing this post has made me realize just how far I’ve come the past 5 years.

It hasn’t been easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! If you want to share your road to RDN experience or have questions about mine comment below! XOXO