Michele LaRock is pursuing her MS in nutrition. She is 35 years old and in her second and last year of studies. She received her BA degree in women’s studies from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She always thought she wanted to go to law school, but at some point found herself developing an interest in nutrition.

Michele, who’s been active within her program and has formed lifelong friendships with the other women in her program, has some valuable feedback on what she likes about Bastyr and some recommendations for students considering Bastyr.

Tell me about your study groups and the friends you’ve made here.

I really like my classmates and the people I’ve met. You get really close with the people in your program, who, for me, are the people I’ve had in 90 percent of my classes. The close-knit class is both a benefit and a drawback. It’s great but it can also be a negative thing if you don’t fit in or are not philosophically in line with the other students.

When I first arrived at Bastyr, I took advanced macronutrients, which was quite a challenge. Very quickly, a handful of us in the class formed a weekly study group, meeting every Sunday for three to four hours. Right now I’m in a group of 11 master’s students studying for the comprehensive exit exams -- which are required for the clinical counseling track.

How was the science aspect of the nutrition program for you?

I had not taken much science before I decided to come to Bastyr. I had to take a full year of general chemistry and then a full year of organic chemistry before ever coming here. I hesitated to come into the nutrition program because I thought I could never do the chemistry.

Surprisingly, I ended up getting straight A’s in all my chemistry classes. It turned out not to be what I had expected. I had some difficult teachers along the way, but I also had some really great teachers who were really excited and motivated about chemistry, and also really cared that their students left there both learning and liking chemistry. So I was really fortunate in that way. Having a good foundation in chemistry definitely helps in the nutrition program. It’s very hard to talk about vitamins and minerals if you don’t know their structure. And you get that from looking back at your chemistry.

How do you like living in this area?

I’d never been to Seattle before moving here for school. I found housing that was eight miles away from campus the first day I got here, so that worked out. But overall, I am more used to country living, lots of farms and a slow pace of life. Seattle has more traffic and pollution – it’s one of the largest cities in the country. Some people love that we are in a city, but to each their own. I came here for a specific reason.

What will you do after you graduate?

After graduating, I will return to Massachusetts, where I am from, and pursue private nutritional counseling, teaching at the college level, and also instructing whole foods cooking.

What’s your advice for incoming students?

My advice to students is to think of what you want to get out of the experience and about what your passion and your goals are. You should talk to students who are here presently to find out about the program. It’s small and it’s not for everybody. Pinpoint your expectations and find out if Bastyr can meet those expectations. If you want to find out more about alternative issues in nutrition, you want to go to a place where the faculty are writing the textbooks -- where there are people in the area doing lectures like Dr. Jeffrey Bland and the Functional Medicine Institute -- a place like Bastyr. If you want to study, for instance, the structure of a potato, go where they’re spending money researching that.

Read more student, faculty and alumni interviews in our academic degree programs section.

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