Student blogs

Hey guys! The application period is open and on the way. I still remember the stress of filling out the CV form like it was yesterday. Now being here it was all worth it. One reason is my amazing peers and that’s why I wanted to present my class! I conducted a survey of our class and here are the results.
Without further ado, let me present you the Nutrition Science class of 2022-2024!

Nationalities

Before I got to Karolinska Institutet I was expecting an international student community. However, my peers exceeded my expectations. Our class consists of 32 students and their backgrounds are spread around the globe.

As you can see there are people representing 20 different nationalities! The majority of people are from Europe with Swedes being the most prominent group but we also have representatives from Africa, Asia, and South America. You can imagine how much you can learn in this diverse environment!

Languages

With people from all over the world also a variety of languages can be spoken next to English. Swedish is the most known language followed closely by Italian. Our class can speak 26 different languages in total! This gives me plenty of opportunities to pretend to be a native speaker of all of them.

Age

What about the age of a regular Nutrition Science Master’s student? You can clearly see a varied age distribution in our cohort. Some people have lots of life experience while others just started. Therefore, if you are wondering if you are too old or too young to start studying. This serves as inspiration that there is not one single age for a Master’s. Because learning is a lifelong journey!

Professional and educational backgrounds

If you are thinking of applying to the programme, please keep in mind that the subjects listed or the background do not mean that a person with these degrees or experiences automatically meets the specific entry requirements. Please go to the official site of the Master’s Programme in Nutrition Science to learn more about explicit entry requirements.

In our class, the biggest portion of students did Nutrition or Dietetics. However, plenty of my peers did something else before like neuroscience, pharmacy, or public health.

I was concerned that everyone had studied purely nutrition and that I would be at a disadvantage because my bachelor’s was an overall natural science degree. During the first two months, I realized everyone has different knowledge that can contribute to our learning experience. The previous clinicians can give insight into practical applications. On the other hand, the people focused on Biomedicine or Biology share their work on molecular mechanisms. Nutrition incorporates a lot of aspects and together we can solve modern-day issues that are related to it.

Considering the path we took and our work experience. Our class took many different routes before they ended up at KI. 12 students first worked for a couple of years and others took a gap year. For instance, four students first did an internship before they applied for this Master’s. Eleven actually went directly from their first bachelor’s to this Nutrition Science Master’s. Showing that there is not one way to end up here.

Looking at the years of full-time work experience it fluctuates in our programme. Some people don’t have any while others have more than six. Initially, I was worried that I don’t have enough work experience but I was not the only one. I realized through the collaborative teaching style, we can learn from our peers who have more real-world experience in exchange, we can show them the latest trick for presentations.

What lies ahead?

Nutrition is a broad subject therefore our future is wide open. Most of us want to continue with a Ph.D. or conduct research and follow an academic path. Although, a large portion is interested in working as a dietitian or pursuing a career in the industry. There is also ambition towards entrepreneur opportunities such as opening their own supplement company. This is one of the things I appreciate about this programme people have different ideas about what they want to do with Nutrition and everyone brings in their perspective!

I hope you enjoyed this class overview and got the idea of why it feels so special to me. If you want to learn more about past Nutrition Science students read this blog.

I am excited about what the coming months bring and I hope you are too! If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at tade.idowu@stud.ki.se

-Tade