Undergraduate Minors and Pre-Professional Paths
The Division of Nutritional Sciences offers three undergraduate minors and the Didactic Program in Dietetics.
Please see each of the tabs below for more information, and contact us at dnsstudentservices@cornell.edu with questions about these offerings.
For undergraduates interested in pursuing dietetics, Cornell University offers a Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD). This program is a wonderful opportunity to complete the undergraduate requirements for those who wish to go on to become Registered Dietitians.
The DPD is a program (not a minor), and as such you may complete DPD coursework with any major. DPD coursework fits best, however, with majors in the Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Cornell University students interested in pursuing a career as a Registered Dietitian will need to apply (typically in their junior year) to the DPD offered by the Division of Nutritional Sciences. Before completing the requirements for admission, interested students should register as "Pre-Dietetics" students by downloading and submitting the DNS Didactic Program in Dietetics Student Intent Form to dnsstudentservices@cornell.edu.
As soon as you decide to complete the requirements of the DNS Didactic Program in Dietetics, please complete this form. Also, please schedule a meeting as soon as possible with the DPD Director, Dr. Erin Green, to discuss your plans for dietetics. If at any time you decide not to complete these requirements, please notify us. Thank you!
Read more about the DPD.
You may minor in Global Health as a complement to any academic major you choose from the university, other than the Global and Public Health Sciences major. The Global Health minor will provide you with basic knowledge about global health, as well as the necessary skills and experience to begin to build your own unique global health career.
The minor is designed to achieve specific educational objectives for students: to learn more about the problems of global health in a classroom setting; to experience the issues in global health firsthand in a field setting.
Read more about the Global Health minor and find associated forms here.
DNS majors who are interested in pursuing a career in nutrition and physical fitness, sports medicine or a related field might consider the Applied Exercise Science minor.
The minor requires completion of courses in kinesiology, exercise physiology, and biomechanical principles of human movement, which are offered through Ithaca College’s Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, School of Health Sciences and Human Performance.
DNS majors who have completed the introductory biology requirement as well as courses in physiology and anatomy (NS 3410 and NS 3420) at Cornell are eligible for the minor. Completion of the minor is most feasible if NS 3410 and NS 3420 are taken in the sophomore year at Cornell.
Program completion is good preparation for the examination for Fitness Instructor Certification by the American College of Sports Medicine. Students who wish to apply to graduate schools to study physical therapy should complete a year of introductory physics, a course in statistics, a course in ethics, and three courses in psychology.
Read more about the Applied Exercise Science Minor and find associated forms here.
The Nutrition and Health minor provides a broad overview of nutrition through an introductory course and three advanced electives. It is available to all Cornell undergraduates in all Colleges and majors except undergraduates in DNS, i.e. NS, HBHS, or GPHS majors, as well as Biological Sciences majors with the Human Nutrition concentration.
The minor requires completion of introductory nutrition plus nine additional credits from a closed list of NS courses. Students may choose from courses covering the topics of human health and nutrition, economic influences on human nutrition, epidemiology and public health, food quality and food service management, nutritional biochemistry, and the psychological and social influences on human nutrition. Some NS courses are excluded from use toward the minor.