Navigating the Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship Program: A Comprehensive Guide

Morrison Healthcare is a prominent employer in the healthcare food service and nutrition sector. The Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship (MHC DI) offers an innovative learning experience customized to the intern's location. It aims to educate and train future dietitians, providing a structured and guided path to supervised practice completion and online supplemental didactic training.

Overview of the Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship

The Dietetic Internship Program provides a customized educational and training experience. Part of the strength of the program lies with Morrison Healthcare (MHC). MHC DI provides an innovative learning experience that is customized to the location of the intern. This distance education program distinguishes itself by arranging all rotation sites and preceptors for its students.

Key Features and Benefits

Customized Learning Experience: The Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship provides an innovative learning experience customized to the intern's location.
Distance Education Model: A unique distance education program, MHC DI arranges all rotation sites and preceptors for its students.
Structured and Guided Program: This program includes the structure and guidance for supervised practice completion and online supplemental didactic training utilizing training modules and webinars.
Diverse Rotation Sites: MHC DI has many rotation sites nationwide to host the students' experience. The intern will be assigned to one city/location and complete all rotations there.
Specialty Rotations: Opportunity to specialize in an area the student is interested in. Specialty rotations may include nutrition support, sports nutrition, pediatrics, telehealth, food insecurity, long-term care, business management, corporate leadership, wellness & sustainability, teaching kitchens, school nutrition, nutrition informatics, marketing/social media communications, and culinary patient nutrition.
Online Learning: To help prepare the intern for the upcoming supervised practice experience, online modules and/or e-based scenario learning experiences are provided as pre-work before each rotation. Online quizzes are supplied throughout the clinical rotations. Interns will participate in scheduled online classes throughout the program.
MSDI Pathway Partners: The internship partners and coordinates with our MSDI Pathway Partners to allow students to enroll in a fully online graduate degree program while concurrently completing the dietetic internship.
Tuition Discount: A $500 tuition discount to students who are Compass associates or students from our partner universities, provided they are accepted into the program. This exciting offer is available for the first 70 students who are admitted to the program! ✨

Program Structure and Requirements

Dietetic interns are considered Morrison students. The program takes dedication, including 28 weeks for full time interns (34 weeks for interns in graduate school) and a minimum of 1000 hours of supervised practice. A minimum of 1000 hours of supervised practice is required to complete the internship.

Rotations

Rotations for the internship include food service management, clinical nutrition, community wellness, and specialty rotations. The internship provides all the required sites for the intern in their designated locations/cities. Rotation sites may be within an 80-mile radius of the designated location/city.

Work Schedule

The work week is 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday.

Orientation

Dietetic students must participate in the internship orientation (Aug 17-21 in Atlanta, GA) before beginning the internship. Students must attend all days in person. Rotations will start on August 31, 2026.

Graduate Degree Requirement

Per the CDR 2024 Graduate Degree Requirement, after January 1, 2024, dietetic interns must complete all requirements of the dietetic internship and complete a graduate program to receive a DI verification statement and to be eligible to take the registration examination for dietitians.

Application Process

Applications for the Fall 2026 Internship will open on August 5, 2025, and the application deadline for November decisions will be October 25, 2025, and March decisions will be February 25, 2026. Note: Applications for the Fall 2026 Internship will open on August 5, 2025. The application deadline for November decisions is October 25, 2025, and for March decisions is February 25, 2025. All Compass/Morrison Employees and Priority Partner students are encouraged to utilize the November decision timeline for early decisions and admittance to our internship Application Process. (Students enrolled in MSDI Pathway Partner programs will automatically become eligible to participate in the MHC DI program.

Application Steps

Applications for the Fall 2026 Internship will open on August 5, 2025, and the application deadline for November decisions will be October 25, 2025; for March decisions, February 25, 2026.
All Compass/Morrison Employees and Priority Partner students are encouraged to utilize the November decision timeline for early decisions and admittance to our internship Application Process. Students enrolled in MSDI Partner programs with Auburn, Nicholls, Stony Brook, University of Arizona, and University of Tennessee Martin will automatically become eligible to participate in the MHC DI program as long as the student is in good standing with the university.
Students should indicate the university partnership and participation in the Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship in their DICAS application. Select the option “DI w/ online MS degree’ on the Morrison Healthcare DI supplemental application. For UA or TTU admission, programs will work together to review and notify the student of their acceptance. The student must apply to both programs simultaneously for collaborative admission.

Tips for Applicants

Attend Informational Panels: Whether you’re applying, figuring out how to make your DICAS application stand out, or prepping for Day 1, this panel is a must-watch. ✨ Seek answers on your career path toward dietetics!
Highlight Relevant Experience: Showcase your experiences in food service management, clinical nutrition, and community wellness.
Express Interest in Specialty Areas: If you have a particular interest in areas like sports nutrition, pediatrics, or telehealth, be sure to highlight this in your application.

The Morrison Healthcare Advantage

Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship offers an innovative learning experience customized to the intern's location. “One of our biggest differentiators is that we have a lot of geographic locations to place students,” said Sunitha Zechariah, PhD, RDN, LD, CNSC, FAND, Associate Director, Dietetic Internship. “We also have the capacity to hire them. When the program first began, they took about 20 students. It has grown to more than 65 students per year.

Career Development

“It’s a competitive program,” said Zechariah. “We take pride in educating and training the next generation of dietitians. This program puts them in a position to be successful. MHC DI is about creating a customized experience that caters to the career aspirations of the student.

Read also: Morrison's Gonzaga Statistics

“They are getting experience out of their internship beyond just the basics,” said Michelle Sagristano, MS, RDN, Associate Director, Dietetic Internship. “They can go anywhere. They aren’t following the same path. They have so many options.

“Unlike most internship programs, we place them in a rotation and help them find a job,” said Sagristano. Sagristano and the team pride themselves on finding the right experience for interns. Beyond healthcare, the program is backed by Morrison Healthcare’s parent company, Compass Group, which can provide additional exposure to other industries.

Success Stories

The program’s leadership takes pride in seeing students succeed. “What’s most rewarding is seeing these interns become colleagues,” said Zechariah. “Some of them are doing such fabulous things. Many of them have gone on to become regional leaders by building impressive careers, either through private practice or the corporate world.

“We have a lot of previous graduates who are shining stars now,” said Zechariah. “Many of those come back to work with our current students as preceptors.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Compass Group is committed to providing a work environment for all associates that is free from discrimination and harassment based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, color, disability, age, pregnancy, childbirth or any related condition, national origin, veteran status, genetic information or any other unlawful factor. We believe an inclusive and welcoming work environment helps to attract and retain the best talent to better serve our clients and guests across all 50 states where we do business.

Additional Opportunities and Recognition

Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship Scholarship: Congratulations to the Fall 2025-2026 dietetic students who received the $2500 Morrison Healthcare Dietetic Internship Scholarship.
Featured Recognition: Have you recently passed the RD exam, landed a new job, earned a new certification, or started a private practice? We would love to feature you next!

Getting Your Questions Answered

Ready to apply? Questions? Our Program Director is happy to answer any questions you have and can support you throughout the application process. Please send any questions to Dr.

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