In this blog, I am going to introduce the course I am studying:) Hopefully, it is useful for prospective students that are interested in this course. Please do comment below if you would like to know any further info!
How do you get into this course?
Following the UCAS application, short-listed candidates are invited for interviews. The interview is in MMI or multiple mini-interview format consists of a series of short interview stations that are independent of one another. And you may receive conditional or unconditional offers depending on the interview performance. More details concerning entry requirements could be found here: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate/nutrition-and-dietetics#entry
What to expect from this course?
This is a science subject. You will learn general science topics such as biochemistry, microbiology and pathology with the other students studying science during your first year. So, I would say the first year is a foundation year, building up all your concepts and basic understanding we will cover in the following year.
You will have a 4-week placement during your first summer in uni. So just some shadowing work and having a glance and taste of what a dietitian does. Unfortunately, mine got cancelled due to covid, so I don’t really know how’s it like. But people generally find it helpful as they can identify themselves whether they are suitable to continue their course or drop out. Working in a hospital setting can be quite stressful for some people.
Then moving on to year 2, you will narrow down your study to a little bit more about food and move on to the nutrition part, we will study food sciences, going through different nutrients such as carbs, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. And, have training on calculating nutritional requirements for individuals, doing assessments, running a consultation, understanding different medical conditions and how they impact an individual’s food intake etc. And this makes up the dietetics part.
And then you will have 1 year out of uni, going out to NHS hospitals, and completing 2 12-weeks placements. And this is what I am doing currently, shadowing dietitians, working out some bits from the consultation, and at the end of the whole placement, you could be working totally independent. This is also the year where you put your knowledge and theory learnt from school into practice.
After you have successfully passed the 2 placements, you will then back to school for your final year. This will be going deep into some area you are interested in and specialising further. You will be also completing a project, bringing all the skills you have developed over the past year as a wrap-up.
What is your possible career path?
This course is accredited by the British Dietetic Association and approved by the Health and Care Professions Council. Upon graduation, you will become a registered dietitian. Other possible career paths include working in the food industry, for major food and supermarket companies, etc.
Hi.
Thanks for sharing such useful information. As usual, starting from university it is important to eat healthy food. It’s important to eat well, especially if you are caught between classes or going out with friends. Of course, when you are a student you don’t have much time for study and a healthy lifetime. So, your blog is great for everyone!
Hi Irene,
Thank you for your support of the blogs! It has always been a challenge to strike a good balance among studies, socials and living a healthy life xd. Perhaps in my future blogs, I could share my own experience in time management and some of the healthy and easy-to-make recipes:)
Dear Janis,
May I also know the class size of Dietetics and how many students are from HK in general? Thanks very much.
Hi Janis,
It is so grateful to see your blog. I am also interested in Dietetics. Can you share more about your placement, such as accommodation during placement, preparations for the placement, and coursework during the placement. Thanks very much.
Hi Rosa,
Thank you for your support of the blogs. You might want to check out my latest blogs about my placement experience:D Thank you for all the questions (some good ideas for my next blog xd)
Here’s the answer to your queries:
– accommodation during placement: It depends on the placement provider. Some of the hospitals provide on-site accommodation, while some do not. If they don’t, you will have to search by yourself. Some popular sites include Airbnb, spare-room, and private student accommodation.
– preparations for placement: I made a proforma before the start of the placement, they are some questions/tick boxes to prompt me during consultation. You might want to revise modules from Year 1 and 2, and get yourself familiar with all the guidelines, equations etc.
– coursework during placement: You have to complete a portfolio, where you have to demonstrate how you have met each learning outcome. The learning outcomes will be signed off once you have collected sufficient evidence from different assessment tools. (No worries if you can’t understand xd, you will have training and tutorials on that:)
– class size of dietetics: It varies between years, class size ranges from 30 to 50.
– how many students from HK in general: It also depends, there are a total of 5 students from HK for my year.
Hope this is helpful. And as mentioned, I will cover your queries and explain them in detail in the coming blog. So please stay tuned!