Nutrition

Types of Degrees Nutrition Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many food, nutrition & related services graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	1,093
Graduate Certificate	72
Doctor’s Degree	20

What Nutrition Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to nutrition and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Nutrition Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in nutrition should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Nutrition Majors

When studying nutrition, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Nutrition Majors

As a nutrition major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Nutrition Major?

People with a nutrition degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Dietetic Technicians	9.3%	$27,140
Dietitians and Nutritionists	14.6%	$60,370
Food Service Managers	9.0%	$54,240
Home Economics Professors	8.6%	$71,380

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Nutrition?

The major attracts more women than men. About 88% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of nutrition majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	58
Black or African American	86
Hispanic or Latino	113
White	662
International Students	38
Other Races/Ethnicities	136

Geographic Diversity

Nutrition appeals to people across the globe. About 3.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Nutrition

Some degrees associated with nutrition may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for nutrition careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	12.3%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	40.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	5.8%
Some College Courses	5.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	1.7%
Bachelor’s Degree	6.7%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	6.0%
Master’s Degree	10.3%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.5%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	11.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.2%

Online Nutrition Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	18	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	107	3
Bachelor’s Degree	25	8
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	80	17
Post-Master’s	5	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	14	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Nutrition

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to nutrition.

Major	Number of Grads
Human Development & Family Studies	40,263
Textile & Apparel Studies	2,961
General Family & Consumer Sciences	2,454
Family & Consumer Economics	1,208
Human Sciences Business Services	560
Housing	314
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences (Other)	142
Work and Family Studies	10

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.