Not Just a Cooking Major: What It’s Like to Study Nutrition at NYU

As I stated before, NYU’s Nutrition program is part of our Steinhardt school, available as a major or minor. Within the program, there are various paths you can follow based on the goals you are pursuing.

• B.S. Nutrition & Dietetics: This is the nutrition department’s largest program (albeit still relatively small). It fulfills the requirements for the Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) curriculum, which allows you to continue studying to become a Registered Dietitian. Therefore, the program features more hard sciences like chemistry along with practical courses that prepare students to work with patients.
• B.S. Nutrition & Food Studies: This track is more humanities-based, with some science, and focuses on the cultural, historical, and sociological aspects of food. It also includes more practical courses involving cooking and handling food. This allows students to pursue a variety of careers including government work, culinary arts, food science, and more.
• B.S. Global Public Health & Nutrition: This can be completed along the Dietetics or Food Studies track. It incorporates the curriculum from NYU’s School of Global Public Health, allowing for a well-rounded public health focused education. Students can continue to pursue careers in nutrition or a more public health focused job.
• B.S./M.S. Nutrition & Dietetics/Food Studies: This dual-degree program allows students to obtain a B.S. Nutrition & Dietetics or Nutrition & Food Studies alongside a M.S. in clinical nutrition. It spans five years, and students can apply during their sophomore year at NYU. This can be especially helpful for students who hope to become Registered Dietitians. Becoming an RD now requires a Masters degree, so it can be very convenient to do both at once.

Many students also combine nutrition majors with NYU’s Pre-Health curriculum, which prepares students for careers like physician or physician’s assistant.

The curriculum of NYU’s nutrition major varies between tracks, with many commonalities. The main commonality is that all paths follow Steinhardt’s core curriculum. This includes two semesters of a foreign language, four credits of a science class, and core humanities classes such as Writing the Essay, Cultures & Contexts, and Texts & Ideas. There are also some nutrition core classes like Intro to Foods & Food Science and Nutrition & Health.

As stated earlier, the Nutrition & Food Studies track follows a more humanities-based approach. It includes requirements like Food & Identity and Food History. There is also an internship requirement to be completed alongside the major.

Nutrition & Dietetics combines more hands-on, clinically focused classes with science-based courses. It gives students the science foundation needed to understand how food works in the body along with the skills to work directly with patients. Some courses include Clinical Nutrition and Nutrition & the Life Cycle. It also includes an internship requirement, with a class called Fieldwork in Nutrition.

Students who add a double major in Global Public Health will take additional courses within the GPH core. In these courses, you may be with students from a variety of other majors like biology, psychology, communications, and more. Some classes include Environmental Health, Epidemiology, and Public Health Ethics. The dual-degree Masters program includes additional courses that satisfy the requirement for a M.S. in Clinical Nutrition during the later years of the program.

A question I tend to get is, “How hard is the curriculum?” Of course, this depends on the individual. I can only speak for the Global Public Health and Nutrition & Dietetics track since that is what I’ve experienced. There is a general consensus that three courses pose the biggest challenge for Nutrition & Dietetics students: Principals of Organic & Biological Chemistry, Intro to Human Physiology, and Nutritional Biochemistry. The rest of the curriculum is extremely manageable. However, though you will have to dedicate lots of time & effort to those challenging hard science courses, professors are always extremely helpful and take steps to make sure every student can succeed.

The curriculum within the nutrition program is extremely engaging. Not only is it applicable to your future career; it is directly usable in everyday life. I often find myself reminded of things I learned while I am cooking or at a restaurant. I am able to answer nutrition-related questions from my friends & family. Professors are incredibly passionate and make the courses super manageable & interesting.

My favorite class so far has been Intro to Foods & Food Science. It is a popular core class, and many students from other majors take it as an elective. It involves a lecture component on the principals of food science, but the most fun part is the food lab. Students learn to cook all types of foods, from chocolate cupcakes to eggs Benedict. My final exam for this class was a poached egg! I learned many practical skills from this class. As a vegetarian, I had never cooked any meat before and was honestly quite scared to, but now I’m a pro at making roasted duck.

The academic advisors within the nutrition department are incredibly helpful. They make sure all students have a balanced schedule of the lighter, hands-on classes with more challenging clinical or science-based courses. If you choose to add GPH or the Masters component, you will have an additional advisor that can answer questions about that.

I can tell you all of this information, but that doesn’t explain what makes nutrition at NYU so special. There are a few reasons why I love this program so much and cannot imagine studying anywhere else.

Program size: NYU’s nutrition program is quite small. I have personally never had a class within my major that was over 60 students. Most are seminar-style courses of around 20 students with lots of discussion & collaboration. This allows for a very tight-knit environment. Seeing the same people in class every semester is quite comforting, and everyone is super helpful & collaborative.

Professors & advisors: All of our faculty is extremely accomplished & passionate. I have learned so much about the field and have been able to narrow down what I’d like to specialize in just based on conversations with my professors. Many of them do fascinating research, are Registered Dietitians who see patients, or work somewhere else in the food industry. In my opinion, they are truly the best resource within the program.

Resources & opportunities: Our advising department provides a variety of resources through the Undergraduate ListServ. When opportunities, either within or outside of NYU, arise, advisors notify students via email. Students can access so many internships, resources, volunteer opportunities, and more simply by keeping an eye on their inbox. Furthermore, professors may offer opportunities from themselves or colleagues to students who show initiative.

Life balance: While the curriculum is rigorous, it is extremely manageable. I have been able to build productive habits and study sufficiently while maintaining a social life, working, and participating in extracurriculars. Professors understand that we are studying to be dietitians, not neurosurgeons – while the careers are equally important, the rigor of our curriculum is proportional to that of our career path.