The dietetic internship will begin on August 24, 2009 and end on August 6, 2010. In the fall semester the dietetic interns will complete a set of core classes and complete 125 hours o f supervised practice experience. During the second part of the internship (January thru August) the student will participate in a six hour graduate course and complete a 30-1/2 week supervised practice experience at 36-40 hours per week for a total of 1,120 hours. The total number of supervised practice experience is 1213 hours.
Number of Openings
• 8
RD Exam Results
• The UNL dietetic internship has a pass rate of approximately 90%
Graduate College
• Students must be admitted to the UNL Graduate College - On-line Application is available on the
UNL graduate student site. .
Although you are not required to complete a master's degree program the majority
of our students during the past years have completed their master's degree. Please
Note: This is a separate application procedure from the dietetic internship program.
Admission Requirements
The student must:
a) Hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.
b) Provide evidence of having completed Didactic Program in Dietetics Minimum Academic \
Requirements as specified by the American Dietetic Association.
c) A minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4 point system is recommended.
d) Completion of Graduate Record Exam (GRE).
e) Be admitted to the UNL Graduate College.
Students admitted to the dietetic internship program must complete Master's Level Dietetic Internship Core Courses with a minimum GPA of 3.0 before beginning the part II supervised practice experiences in January, 2010.
Dietetic Internship Core Courses
- NUTR 805 Research Methods
- NUTR 986 Graduate Seminar
- Graduate Level statistics course
- Graduate Level basic science course
Recency of Education Requirements
Additional courses in dietetics or a related area are required to update a degree which was completed five (5) or more years prior to application to the internship program. Courses taken to satisfy the requirements must be completed at a U.S. regionally accredited college or university. An official transcript verifying completion of the courses with a grade of "C" or better must accompany the internship application. Only courses completed within the last five (5) years are acceptable and approved by Program Director.
- 0-5 yrs.-Updating not required
- 5-10 yrs.-6 semester or 9 quarter hrs.
- 10 yrs. or longer-12 semester or 18 quarter hrs.
Prior Experience
The dietetic internship does not give credit for prior work experience. However, rotations may be
modified based on a students prior work experience. The student must complete all rotations no matter
what their previous work experience was.
Facilities/Learning Experiences
A major strength of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dietetic Internship Program is the opportunity
the interns have to complete experiences in a variety of facilities. This provides the intern with
an opportunity to interact with a variety of management styles, counseling styles, philosophies, etc.
All supervised practice experiences take place at facilities in Lincoln and Omaha. The internship
requires 40 hours per week. Additional evening and weekend time is required to complete assignments,
projects, and professional reading and review.
- (6 weeks) Foodservice Management
- (6 weeks) Community
- (13 weeks) Clinical Nutrition
- (1 week) Long Term Care
- (65 hours) Professional Development
- (60 hours) Research
Concentration Rotations
Medical Nutrition Therapy in Critical Care:
In this concentration interns will gain experiences in the area of critical care medical nutrition
therapy. They will send a week in neonatal intensive care, burn-wound critical care unit, medical a
nd surgical intensive care and a trauma unit.
- Veterans Administration Medical Center-Omaha
- BryanLGH Medical Center East
- BryanLGH Medical Center West
- St. Elizabeth’s Regional Medical Center
Public Health/Nutrition Education Outreach:
Interns in this concentration will take leadership of a public health nutrition program for four weeks. They will develop, implement, evaluate and report on a community based nutrition intervention program. The interns will work on budgets and reporting systems for federal, state and local nutrition education programs.
- UNL Extension
- Lincoln/Lancaster County Public Health Department
- Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Criteria for Selection
- Complete internship application
- Grade point average - A GPA of 3.0 is recommended (A total GPA below 3.0 based on a 4.0 scale will not be considered. Special attention is given to grades in the basic sciences; food, nutrition and food service management courses.)
- Letter of application
- Compatibility of applicants' goals with the goals of the program
- Work experience
- Professional Potential and Characteristics (i.e. leadership roles, volunteerism, professional activities)
- References
- GRE scores
Application to our program requires students to make a separate application to the Graduate College. Students are required to enroll in the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Interns will complete 10-12 hours of graduate credit in the fall semester and 6 graduate credits associated with the dietetic internship in the spring and summer. Although you are not required to complete a master’s degree program the majority of our students during the past years have completed their master’s degrees. In the past we have been able to provide support to dietetic interns in the form of graduate assistantships and fellowships to assist them in completing their graduate degrees.
Application to the Graduate College needs to be completed by February 1, 2009 in order for us to proceed with the selection process for the 2009-2010 dietetic internship class. Application to the internship program must be postmarked by February 17, 2009.
We feel that our program provides a challenging educational experience for the development of future professionals in the field of dietetics and welcome your application to our program. Our current plans are to accept 8 students into the Dietetic Internship for 2009-2010. The academic and supervised practice portion of the Dietetic internship will begin on August 24, 2009 and be completed on August 6, 2010.
