Montana State University Dietetic Internship

aerial view of Montana State University, home of the Montana Dietetic Internship
With a view like that, I’m ready to pack my bags and visit now!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I’ve got an internship post on the Montana State University Dietetic Internship, also known as the Montana Dietetic Internship (MDI). It’s one of the schools I found the other day that looked interesting. So of course I had to do some more research and share with y’all! Here’s all you need to know about this school’s DI.

Internship Basics

From MSU’s website, I found that the school offers a 10-month long, non-degree dietetic internship. The program accepts up to 24 students each spring out of an average of about 72 applicants (33% acceptance rate). The program starts in late July or August. Although it doesn’t provide a Master’s degree, by the end of the internship, interns will have “12 non-degree graduate credits.”

Besides the required rotations in community nutrition, food service management, and clinical settings, MSU’s internship offers a concentration in Sustainable Food Systems. This focus allows students to learn more about long-term growing techniques through at least 4 weeks of work. Possible locations for the concentration include organic farms, a student-run community garden, non-profits, and agricultural businesses in the area.

For the first six weeks, interns spend time together in and around MSU and the city of Bozeman. Eventually however, the interns relocate to different areas in the region in order to complete their rotations. The areas are based around eight total cities or urban areas. In Montana, this includes Kalispell, Missoula, Great Falls, Helena, Billings and Butte. Some interns rotate out of state in nearby Gilette or Sheridan, Wyoming. Although the interns may be separated, their rotations are similar in experience and opportunities to grow as a dietetics professional.

What Stands Out at Montana State

As I searched through the MDI website, it stood out to me how much the program focuses on experiences. Maybe it’s because clinical, food service, and community rotations are standard practice for internships or rotations may constantly change, but the MDI chose to share less about typical internship things. I think they have several fun, unique extras that are worth noting!

For example, regardless of what urban area an intern rotates within, everyone gets a 2 week rotation at a rural hospital. Although the number of rural hospitals has dropped, they’re still an important part of our country’s healthcare system and have different emphases than larger hospitals.

Finally, interns finish the MDI with 4 weeks of self-selected rotations. This gives interns the chance to work in areas that relate or overlap with dietetics. Examples of past interns’ experiences include working in nutrition policy, wellness, specialized clinical rotations, sports nutrition, and public health. The interns also attend the Montana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (MTAND) Food and Nutrition Summit (FANS) together as part of their final week.

Why Choose the Montana Dietetic Internship?

The Montana Dietetic Internship’s mission is “to prepare highly capable entry-level registered dietitian nutritionists who can integrate sustainable food systems into dietetic practice when employed in clinical, foodservice, community nutrition and integrated practice settings located in rural or urban facilities in Montana or the Rocky Mountain region.” Therefore, the MDI might be a good fit for you if you…

  • Enjoy Montana and the Western U.S. in general
  • Want to learn more about Sustainable Food Systems
  • Have a possible interest in working in a rural area

Resources

Interested in learning more about MSU and the MDI? Here’s some websites that I sourced for information or found useful!

Interested in the Montana Dietetic Internship? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Until next time,
Emmalee

5 thoughts on “Montana State University Dietetic Internship

  1. Kelan Sarnoff says:

    Thank you for featuring the Montana Dietetic Internship. We’re excited to announce that we will also offer an MS/DI program in 2020/21 as well. It will consist of online coursework for the first year, moving into the supervised practice during the second year.

    We will have 24-26 slots available for our standalone DI and 24-26 slots for our MS/DI program in 20/21. This will be the only time that we admit a full cohort into each program, so it’s definitely a good year to apply.

    Finally, our new website is live with updated information: http://www.montana.edu/hhd/graduate/dietetics/index.html

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