Oct 03, 2024  
2024-2025 University Catalog 
    
2024-2025 University Catalog

Nutrition Science, BS

Location(s): West Lafayette


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About the Program


The Nutrition Science major provides a foundation to pursue careers that improve lives, prevent diseases, promote health, and make a difference. What you eat can not only promote health, but it also influences your risk of many diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and obesity. Nutrition Science majors often go on to obtain doctoral, masters, medical, physical therapy, physician assistant, and dentistry degrees, as well as earn careers as research assistants, chemists, program managers, product developers, pharmaceutical sales representatives, and many other important roles in areas such as medicine, government, industry (food, agriculture, pharmaceutical), and non-profit. Students who major in Nutrition Science develop a knowledge base in science and nutrition to understand and explore the relationship between what we eat and human health. Courses specific to this major emphasize the fundamentals of nutrition, the metabolism of nutrients in health and disease, and nutrition science research.

Graduates from the Nutrition Science major are recognized as having a strong grasp of biomedical research. Many will spend their careers discovering new knowledge that will directly impact the way that nutrition-related diseases are treated and managed. Medical practitioners rely on discoveries made through research to develop new recommendations for the improvement of public health. While earning their degree, Purdue Nutrition Science students work alongside world-renowned faculty experts to gain a deeper understanding of the process whereby such discoveries are made.

Degree Requirements


120 Credits Required

Other Departmental/Program Course Requirements (75-84 credits)


Electives (13-23 credits)


GPA Requirements


  • 2.0 Graduation GPA required for Bachelor of Science degree.

Course Requirements and Notes


  • Biology sequence option A: BIOL 11000 and BIOL 11100   Biology sequence option B: BIOL 12100 (not required in major, counts as STS core, counts in BIOL minor); BIOL 13100+13500; BIOL 23100+23200.

Pass/No Pass Policy


  • A student may elect the Pass / Not-Pass grading option for elective courses only, unless an academic unit requires that a specific departmental course/s be taken Pass / Not-Pass.  Students may elect to take University Core Curriculum courses Pass / Not-Pass; however, some major Plans of Study require courses that also fulfill UCC foundational outcomes.  In such cases, students may not elect the Pass / Not-Pass option.  A maximum of 24 credits of elective courses under the Pass / Not-pass grading option can be used toward graduation requirements. For further information, students should refer to the College of Health and Human Sciences Pass / Not-Pass Policy.

University Requirements


University Core Requirements


For a complete listing of University Core Course Selectives, visit the University Senate Website.
  • Human Cultures: Behavioral/Social Science (BSS)
  • Human Cultures: Humanities (HUM)
  • Information Literacy (IL)
  • Oral Communication (OC)
  • Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
  • Science #1 (SCI)
  • Science #2 (SCI)
  • Science, Technology, and Society (STS)
  • Written Communication (WC) 

Civics Literacy Proficiency Requirement


The Civics Literacy Proficiency activities are designed to develop civic knowledge of Purdue students in an effort to graduate a more informed citizenry. For more information visit the Civics Literacy Proficiency website.

To obtain the Civics Literacy Proficiency, students will complete an educational activity as part of their chosen Civics Literacy Pathway and pass the Purdue Civics knowledge test.  The knowledge test can be completed at any time while the pathway is being perused.  There are three different pathways:

  • Civics Event pathway - Attend six approved civics-related events and pass the required exam; or
  • Civics Literacy Podcast pathway - Complete 12 podcasts created by the Purdue Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement that use C-SPAN material and pass the required exam; or
  • Approved course pathway - Complete  one of the following approved courses and pass the required exam.

More details about each pathway and how to complete the requirement can be found on the Civics Literacy Student Dashboard in myPurdue.

Upper Level Requirement


  • Resident study at Purdue University for at least two semesters and the enrollment in and completion of at least 32 semester hours of coursework required and approved for the completion of the degree. These courses are expected to be at least junior-level (30000+) courses.
  • Students should be able to fulfill most, if not all, of these credits within their major requirements; there should be a clear pathway for students to complete any credits not completed within their major.

Sample 4-Year Plan


16-17 Credits


Spring 1st Year


14 Credits


14 Credits


16-17 Credits


Fall 3rd Year


15 Credits


15 Credits


Fall 4th Year


12-17 Credits


Spring 4th Year


12-14 Credits


Pre-Requisite Information


For pre-requisite information, log in to mypurdue.purdue.edu and click here.

World Language Courses


World Language proficiency requirements vary by program. The following list is inclusive of all world languages PWL offers for credit; for acceptable languages and proficiency levels, see your advisor. (ASL-American Sign Language; ARAB-Arabic; CHNS-Chinese; FR-French; GER-German; GREK-Greek(Ancient); HEBR-Hebrew(Biblical); HEBR-Hebrew(Modern); ITAL-Italian; JPNS-Japanese; KOR-Korean; LATN-Latin; PTGS=Portuguese; RUSS-Russian; SPAN-Spanish)

Critical Course


The ♦ course is considered critical.

In alignment with the Degree Map Guidance for Indiana’s Public Colleges and Universities, published by the Commission for Higher Education (pursuant to HEA 1348-2013), a Critical Course is identified as “one that a student must be able to pass to persist and succeed in a particular major. Students who want to be nurses, for example, should know that they are expected to be proficient in courses like biology in order to be successful. These would be identified by the institutions for each degree program.”

Disclaimer


The student is ultimately responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements. Consultation with an advisor may result in an altered plan customized for an individual student. The myPurduePlan powered by DegreeWorks is the knowledge source for specific requirements and completion.

Comparative information about Purdue University and other U.S. educational institutions is also available through the College Navigator tool, provided by the National Center for Education Statistics, and through the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

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