Dietetics Major undergraduate admissions is based on both academic and non-academic components. The admissions process is guided by the policy, Admissions to the Dietetics Program Undergraduate. For more information, applicants can visit the UBC Academic Calendar and review application details below.
Academic Component
To apply to the Dietetics Major, you must complete the following year 1 and 2 prerequisite courses (or their equivalents), as well as a minimum of 54 credits of university or college coursework by April 30 in the year of application. Applicants are not allowed to defer prerequisite courses.
**This table outlines the prerequisite course requirements for Sept 2024 admission**
| Course (Click for course details) | Course | Requirements to take course |
| FNH 160 (3) and FNH 161 (3)
note: BIOL 155, or CAPS 301, or other institutions transfer credits to BIOL 153 will also be accepted |
Integrated Physiology for Human Nutrition | One of CHEM 12, CHEM 100, CHEM 111 and one of BIOL 11, BIOL 12, BIOL 111
|
| BIOL 201 (3) OR BIOC 202 (3) | Introduction to Biochemistry; Introductory Medical Biochemistry | BIOL 201: BIOL 200 and one of CHEM 233, CHEM 260 (or BIOL 200 and a corequisite of CHEM 213; or a corequisite of either CHEM 313 or CHEM 330) |
| CHEM 233 (3) OR | Organic Chemistry for the Biological Sciences OR Introduction to Organic Chemistry |
CHEM 233: One of CHEM 123, CHEM 130, SCIE 001 |
| LFS 150 (3) OR WRDS 150B 1(see notes) | Scholarly Writing and Argumentation in Land and Food Systems; Strategies for University Writing | |
| FNH 200 (3) 2 (see notes) | Exploring Our Food | (At least second year standing required) |
| FNH 250 (3) 2 (see notes) | Nutrition Concepts and Controversies | Either
(b) one of BIOL 111, BIOL 112, BIOL 155 or transfer credit for BIOL 153 (c) all of KIN 131, KIN 132 (At least second-year standing required) |
| LFS 250 (6) 2 (see notes) | Land, Food, and Community I | |
| LFS 252 (3) 3 (see notes) | Land, Food, and Community: Quantitative Data Analysis | One of MATH 100, MATH 102, MATH 104, MATH 110, MATH 120, MATH 180, MATH 184 |
| Math courses are not required prerequisites for Dietetics and are, therefore, not used towards admission GPA. However, math courses are required for year promotion within the Food Nutrition and Health Major, and to meet prerequisite requirements for some required courses. | ||
| Notes: 1. Or equivalent LFS communication requirement. 2. Faculty-specific courses FNH 200, FNH 250 and LFS 250 may be taken online via UBC non-degree studies. 3. Students who apply to transfer into 3rd year Dietetics from other institutions may take a statistics course in lieu of LFS 252. Equivalent courses include BIOL 300, EPSE 482, FRST 231, STAT 200. |
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If you wish to take the prerequisite courses at UBC, apply to UBC to become an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Land & Food Systems, B.Sc. (Food, Nutrition and Health) (BSFN) program. Dietetics prerequisite courses can be met by following year 1 and 2 of the Food, Nutrition and Health Major and making focused elective choices.
If you are a student in another UBC faculty, consult your faculty advisor for guidance on how to incorporate the dietetics prerequisites into your current program (note: students not in our faculty have lower registration priority for our faculty-specific courses).
In advance of applying, you are responsible for determining if your courses are equivalent to those required. If your coursework is from BC institutions, refer to the BC Transfer Guide. If your coursework is from out of province or if you have other course equivalency queries, you must contact the Land and Food Systems student advising office (lfs.advising@ubc.ca) well in advance of applying. You may be required to verify course equivalency, in which case written proof of equivalency must be submitted with your dietetics application.
Faculty-specific prerequisite courses are available online via UBC Access Studies. See the Non-Degree Studies page for further information for applying to UBC as an Access Studies student.
It may be challenging for students to obtain all of the required courses at other institutions; therefore, many students choose to transfer to UBC for their second year of study prior to applying.
Please note: Transfer students may apply a maximum of 60 transfer credits towards their program.
In addition to attaining all of the program's prerequisite and program course requirements, students completing the Dietetics Major as a second degree must obtain a minimum of 73.5 new credits of UBC coursework while enrolled in program. The majority of these credits will be from required upper level campus-based and practice education courses. This is in keeping with UBC’s second degree policy, which requires second degree students to satisfy at least 50% of the total credits required for the program while registered in the program.
Note that the standard program length is 3 years, regardless of previous courses a student has taken.
If you have further questions about completing the UBC Dietetics Major as a second degree, contact the Land and Food Systems student services at lfs.advising@ubc.ca.
For more information about other routes to becoming a Registered Dietitian see FAQ#9.
Admission is based on a minimum academic standing of 70%, calculated as a cumulative average of grades from all required prerequisite courses (years one and two) and most recent 30 applicable credits. Marks are weighted based on their credit value (for example a 6 credit course will contribute twice as much weight to the calculations as a 3 credit course). For students who have repeated courses, the higher mark is used for the GPA calculation.
Non-Academic Component
In addition to the academic component, applicants are scored based on the written application package and interview (for shortlisted applicants only). For further guidance on these components, refer to the Application Package found on the Application and Process Deadlines page under step number four.
For further information see Dietetics Major page.