Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• March 1 is the deadline for fall admission for international applicants and those that want to be considered for scholarship awards.
• June 1 is the last date to apply for fall semester for domestic applicants.
• September 1 is the last date to apply for spring semester for international applicants
• November 1 is the last date to apply for spring semester for domestic applicants.

• A year of introductory chemistry with lab.
• An introductory nutrition course.
• Students also need a semester of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.  However, the courses may be taken after being admitted into the program.

Visit our How to Apply page for additional details on how you can apply to the MS in Nutrition Sciences program. 

Yes, as long as you’ve met the pre-requisites and admissions criteria you can apply to our graduate program.  

We admit 15-20 students annually; acceptance rates range from 50% -75% of candidates that apply. 

Our minimum GPA to apply is 3.0, which is based on a cumulative review of all undergraduate coursework.

The GRE is not required for admission to our program.

Advance standing credit for prior graduate coursework is determined on a case-by-case basis.  Please contact the Graduate Program Director Sarah Couch to discuss your prior coursework.  Usually you will need to send in a copy of the syllabi for the courses you plan to have approved for advanced standing credit. 

You can choose your pace and complete the program as a full-time or part-time student. You can complete the program in as little as 2 years or stretch the curriculum out a maximum of 5 years. 

The MS in Nutrition is a hybrid program with about half of the courses offered online and the other half offered using a combination of in-class and online delivery approaches.  The program format provides much flexibility for the working professional.

For students that enroll full-time for the first year, the program is designed to be completed in two years.  For students that start part-time, course loads and program length will differ.  To figure out how many semesters it will take you to complete your degree, take the number of credits needed for the degree (37 credits) and divide these by the number of credits you plan to take each semester. 

Many students work while completing the MS in Nutrition. The program offers some paid job opportunities including assistantships, grant funding research opportunities and teaching assistantships. 

Most full-time students take 10-12 credits per semester their first year and 6-7 credits per semester their second year.  The lower credit level in the second year provides time for data collection related to a research project, which is required for graduation.  

Students must complete a thesis or capstone project to fulfill degree requirements.  Students that opt for the thesis option take a greater number of thesis guidance credits as they work to develop their research, collect data and write up their report.  Students on the capstone track engage in a smaller scale research project and take 6 additional credits of graduate elective coursework.

For additonal information visit the Thesis Vs. Non-Thesis webpage. 

You need to take at least 1 graduate credit during the academic year to maintain matriculation status in the graduate program.

Our program offers both research and teaching assistantships that come with partial or full tuition scholarship awards.  In addition to the scholarship awards, these assistantships provide students with a stipend for working with a faculty member for 10-20 hours per week on their research or teaching.  

The program offers scholarship awards as part of assistantships as well as graduate incentive awards that come with partial scholarships.  These scholarships are typically only available to first year students.  Second year students have the opportunity to apply for competitive academic scholarship awards. These awards are determined by a committee and given based on strong academic achievement in the program.  

The most up-to-date Tuition & Fee information can be found on the Graduate Fees by College page.