Well that went by quickly. Next week marks the end of my first year on my four year Dietetics degree with the last of this year’s exams. I’ve had two already, one that went well, one not so well. Revision is so hard – and boring!
I thought I’d update you on how I’ve been getting on over the past year, the modules I’m taking and give an insight into next year.
If you haven’t read my previous posts about my decision to retrain as a Dietitian, please read the below first;
How to Become a Registered Dietitian
Studying to be a Registered Dietitian Part 1
Studying to be a Registered Dietitian University Choices
Studying to be a Registered Dietitian First Day at Uni
A lot of people ask me how the course is going, and my answer is always ‘meh’. There are parts that I really like, and parts that I really dislike.
In all honesty, I think London Met was the wrong uni for me. I find the course very disorganised, with poor communication between the lecturers and students. It seems that none of the tutors speak to each other, and they seem to make things unnecessarily complicated.
For example, this term we had to do two presentations; one marked for our final grade and one unmarked. Logically you’d think they would do the non-assessed one first to give us some practise and feedback before the real deal, but no. I did my assessed presentation two weeks before the other one.
Similarly, our tutorials for each topic occur just after the lecture, which means we have to do the prep work for them before learning about them in the lecture – so weird.
However, I am grateful that I was only in Uni two days a week this year which enabled me to continue working a lot. I’ve got four days of lectures next year which may take some juggling, late nights and even more weekend work to ensure I can keep earning the dollar while I study. I’m not sure I could have kept up with the work and study at my first choice, Kings – so I guess everything happens for a reason.
I’ve got some lovely friends on my course, plus a lot of nice people on my course which helps a lot when working in groups.
This year our modules have been;
- Human Nutrition (my fave)
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Cell Biology and Biochemistry (urgghhh)
- Sociology and Psychology
My strengths are definitely the less science based Human Nutrition and Sociology & Psychology, whilst I’m struggling with the Biochemistry (I had thought my Organic Chemistry days were behind me after last year’s horrendous exam!)
Next year’s modules;
- Catering and Infection Control
- Food Science and Microbiology
- Clinical Dietetics
- Metabolic Biochemistry
- Techniques in Nutritional Science
You can probably guess which ones I’m most looking forward to/dreading!
The course is so in-depth, and at times part of me wonders why I didn’t take an easier option and go for an online nutrition course that didn’t have so much biochemistry, but then I remember how much the info, science and skills I learn on this course are going to help me in the long run!
According to the Association of UK Dieticians, dieticians are the only nutrition professionals to be regulated by law, and are governed by an ethical code to ensure that they always work to the highest standard. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, however only registrants with the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) can call themselves a Registered Nutritionist (RNutrs).
I’m hoping I’ll have more relevant nutritional info to share with you guys next year, at the moment it’s all double bonds, labelling reproductive systems and motivational interviewing techniques…
Cell Biology and Biochemistry – heaven! 🙂
King’s isn’t any better when it comes to organization etc… I m currently doing my Phd here and trust me it is quite unorganized and pretty hard to figure out a few things! So much red tape!! Congrats for finishing your first year 🙂 If you need help with the sciency bits let me know, i’d be happy to help!
My uni wasn’t much more organised either….. Common theme! I found the entire course a bit weird to be honest and even when I qualified I didn’t feel like I knew that much about actual in depth nutrition. I was however very good at prescribing extra puddings. Well done for getting through the first year though, the nutrition stuff does become more interesting after that.
So good to hear you are still at it. I was starting to wonder when I didn’t see regular updates. Your passion will shine through to your future clients and I know you will help so many people. x
You are going much, much further than I am. I am almost finished with my Sports Massage certification and if anyone out there thinks you “just” massage people, you are dead wrong! I also had anatomy and physiology! In addition to those I had client care and Sport Massage Technique (including First Aid and Taping amongst other things). My course was also VERY unorganised and I actually had my exams before all the classes were carried out! It’s been very, very challenging because on top of that the whole course is in my second language (Dutch) with latin thrown in 🙂 My point being, I get where you are coming from to a certain degree!
It will be challenging next year I’m sure, but you are already ONE YEAR DOWN!! that is great news! well done!
(PS my certification final is June 4th. Just found out today. It’s 100% pass or you fail. No pressure or anything!!!)
Can I just say – what a pretty dress! and well done, of course. So glad you STARTED this journey, and it does indeed go quickly. Here’s to next year. xx
It was so lovely meeting you and doing this photoshoot – I wish you all the luck in your studies. x
So many universities are really disorganised and lack effective communication. I’ve been insanely lucky at Birkbeck, but I suspect a lot of problems are avoided because my department is tiny and only teaches post-grad. Although I do still have back to back lectures and tutorials! All academics have their ups and downs, and you’ll never love everything on the course, but it’s awesome that you’re doing it and it will be worth it!
B x
Hey Charlie!
I wanted to say that I’ve been following your uni journey, as I’m starting my masters’ degree in Sport Psychology in September (and hopefully blogging about it as well) after three years of working. I wanted to ask, now you’re at the end of your first year, what are the three pieces of advice you’d give to someone else starting a postgrad degree, after being in work? Really interested to hear your thoughts!