Dietetics is the profession that translates the science of nutrition into practice. In Saskatchewan, the title Registered Dietitian (RD), Professional Dietitian (PDt), and Dietitian are protected by law - through provincial legislation - so that only qualified practitioners who have met national standards for education and training can use these titles and their protected initials (RD, PDt). 

What you need to practice dietetics:

• a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition degree
• professional experience (practicum) -included in our program
• successful completion of the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination
• registration with a provincial regulatory body, which gives registered dietitian status

The term nutritionist is not protected by law. People with different levels and types of training and knowledge can call themselves a nutritionist. They are not necessarily qualified in nutrition nor are they accountable to a provincial regulatory body.

Nutrition and dietetics is an ever-changing and ever-challenging field. Choose to study nutrition and dietetics and you will join a group of professionals who have a positive impact on society and share a gratifying work experience.

Clinical dietetics in hospitals and health centres

Assess nutritional status of patients and provide nutrition care; specialize in pediatrics, geriatrics, eating disorders, intensive care, weight management, diabetes, cardiology, nephrology, HIV/AIDS and other areas.

Private practice

Provide expertise to individuals, athletes, sports teams, workplaces and the media.

Food services in hospitals, long-term care homes and other institutions

Manage food production and distribution systems.

Community health and international agencies

Work with social programs such as food banks and international agencies on hunger and food security issues. Assess nutrition needs of populations and develop health promotion strategies and nutrition education programs.

Industry and business

Participate in food and nutrition research and product development, marketing and consumer education

Government and universities

Develop food and nutrition policies, educate future dietitians and conduct research. Advanced studies are needed for university faculty positions.

To prepare for the Personal Video Interview, the college encourages all applicants to investigate the profession of nutrition/dietetics. Although the specific focus of the individual interview questions may shift from year to year, you should be prepared to discuss why you have selected nutrition as your choice of health care profession, your exposure to the profession, and how you perceive the role of the dietitian.

Direct nutrition/dietetics experience is not a specific admission requirement, but if you have gained such exposure you may be better prepared to respond to at least one of the questions in the Interview. If you are unable to gain work or volunteer experience directly related to the profession you should explore other options which would help enhance your knowledge of the profession. You should also reflect upon your previous life/work experiences and how ‘transferable’ they are to those attributes expected of a student in a health care profession.

Individuals who have lived and worked full-time in Saskatchewan for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the admission deadline without being a fulltime student. To qualify, you must pay income taxes in Saskatchewan and have a Saskatchewan health card for the year prior to the admission deadline. You cannot qualify for residency by attending school if your home is elsewhere. Applicants from border communities (e.g., Lloydminster, AB or Flin Flon, MB) are considered Saskatchewan residents for the purpose of their admission application to Pharmacy or Nutrition.

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and proud to support academic opportunities for Indigenous students. We continue to grow our partnerships with Indigenous communities across the province, nationally and internationally and value the unique perspective that Indigenous students provide to strengthen these relationships. Verification of Indigenous membership/citizenship at USask is led and determined by the deybwewin | taapwaywin | tapewin: Indigenous Truth policy and Standing Committee in accordance with the processes developed to enact the policy.

Up to 15% of seats in this program are designated for Indigenous Saskatchewan residents who verified Indigenous membership/citizenship and verification of Indigenous membership/citizenship with documentation is required if you wish to be considered for one of these seats.

Please visit the Indigenous Membership/Citizenship Verification channel in PAWS and proceed through the verification system.

You can learn more about learn more about deybwewin | taapwaywin | tapwewin at indigenous.usask.ca. If you have any questions or require additional information about deybwewin | taapwaywin | tapwewin please contact: indigenoustruthpolicy@usask.ca.

Up to 4 of 28 positions may be offered to out of province and international applicants.

One Saskatchewan student may be admitted under special circumstances or for compassionate reasons. Any Saskatchewan resident can apply in this category if they feel there are circumstances which merit special consideration. For example, if someone has had a health problem or some personal circumstance which has impacted their academic average in a pre-year, they should write a letter documenting the situation. Additional supporting documentation must also be submitted (e.g. medical information, funeral notices, etc.). Applications which are not considered in the special consideration category are automatically considered in the Saskatchewan resident pool. Applicants applying under this category are considered on a case-by-case basis. This position may not be filled every year.

The admission scores of applicants who have met the minimum standards for all admission criteria (as described above) are calculated as soon as all data is received.  Because the last date for receipt of transcripts is June 1, the admission decisions cannot be completed until mid-June. 

Letters to the individuals selected for admission will be sent via email in late June, offering positions in first-year classes, according to established quotas. Individuals will have approximately 7-10 days to respond to this offer. 

You cannot defer entry to the program until the next year. Since the number of applicants far exceeds the number of available places, we are not able to reserve admission spaces for future years.

When we send you an offer of admission, we will also send information about the program of study (i.e., the classes to take in each year) and a copy of your individual program record.  If you have been granted any credits for courses you have taken, this will be reflected on the record form. 

Once you have accepted an offer of admission, you will receive registration information from the university, and you must register for all the courses in the first year (for both terms) by accessing the PAWS registration system online. 

Spaces in required courses are guaranteed for all our first-year students.  If you have already registered in some courses (e.g., in the College of Arts and Science) by the time you are offered admission to Pharmacy or Nutrition, you will be removed from those courses and switched into our college which will then allow you to register for your courses.

A certain number of the remaining qualified applicants are placed on waiting lists, and are also informed of their status by email in late June. If an applicant declines the offer of admission, the next person on the waiting list is contacted. Generally, the admission process is complete by late July, but occasionally the college has accepted students from the waiting lists right up to mid-September. Once quotas are filled, all remaining applicants on the waiting lists are so informed by email. The remaining qualified applicants who are not offered admission also receive an email in late June.

Applicants who are unsuccessful are notified as soon as possible.  Applicants are told the reasons for their lack of success (e.g., failure to achieve the minimum admission average, incomplete transcripts, prerequisites not met and/or failure to meet the critical skills performance standard) but individual results on the Test of Critical Skills or the Personal Video Interview, and subsequent admission scores are not released. 

Two waiting lists may be created for each program, one for Saskatchewan residents, and one for non-Saskatchewan residents. The numbers on the waiting lists vary each year, as does the number of individuals who are actually offered admission.

If you have completed the prerequisites for Pharmacy and/or Nutrition, you should choose an alternate degree program (e.g., BSc, BA) and take courses which will lead toward that degree. There is no guarantee that your application to Pharmacy or Nutrition will be successful on subsequent application(s) - we expect that competition for available entry positions will remain high. Therefore, you should NOT take courses at random, and you should not take courses that are included in our degree programs unless they are also needed for your alternate degree. To determine what courses you need to take to complete another degree, you should consult the appropriate college or department offices.

If you wish to continue at the university and wish to improve your academic average, you would be well advised to take courses in which you can do well. You should also think about developing or improving your skills in reading, writing and critical thinking, and to investigate the nutrition profession. No preference is given to applicants who have completed several years of study or to those who may already completed a degree(s). Each year you apply you are competing with new applicants and are ranked relative to the performance of the others.

It is not possible to get into Pharmacy by being admitted to Nutrition and then transferring to Pharmacy after one year.
You would have to reapply to enter Pharmacy and would have to meet all requirements, including completing the Test of Critical Skills and completing the Video Interview again. You would be competing against all others who are also interested in admission to Pharmacy in that year. Your grades in the first year of the current program would be included in the calculation of your admission average.