Nicholls State University Admission
Nicholls State University Undergraduate Program
Nicholls State University Application

The Facts

Nicholls State University is a moderately sized public institution that is a member of the larger Louisiana State University system, and is located in the small town of Thibodaux, just about 50 miles south of New Orleans. The university is home to over 5,200 undergraduate students and approximately 2,000 graduate and part time professional students who are able to study in one of the six undergraduate or four graduate schools. The schools offer programs in the academic divisions of health sciences, fine arts, business, teacher preparation, and agriculture and technical disciplines. These academic divisions offer broad majors in the areas of agriculture (which includes a unique program in agricultural business management), biological science, business, communications and the arts, computer and physical science, education, engineering and environmental design (which is home to an innovative program in petroleum and natural gas engineering), health professions, and social sciences. Some of the most popular majors include language and literature, art, economics, finance, teacher education, general studies, and nursing.

Admission to Nicholls State University is not competitive in the least, as all but several of the students who applied last year were admitted. Last year, over 2,472 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 2,445 of those students were accepted; of those, 1,460 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 965 to 1050, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 20 to 26. Additionally, more than 60% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.54.

Nicholls State University has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 19:1, and while many of the introductory classes tend to be quite large, the more advanced level courses are significantly smaller and usually discussion based. In general, professors get very high marks from students in terms of accessibility and willingness to help, however, there are some exceptions that students feel care more about tenure than their students.

The Social Scene

The town of Thibodaux itself is quite small, and doesn’t offer students much in the way of entertainment; however, the city of New Orleans is less than an hour away by car, and many students head into the city on the weekends for a bit of urban excitement. You can only imagine what Mardi Gras is like in the French Quarter... The schools is also home to 15 national fraternities and sororities, and many students join some form of Greek organization at some point in their college tenure. The Greeks are a big influence on campus, and their parties are very well-attended and very well-stocked with alcohol, which flows almost nonstop each weekend.

The dating scene is an interesting one; there is a good mix of jocks, intellectuals, and counterculture vultures. There’s pretty much something for everyone.

What’s Good

“Yes, Nicholls is a state school, but if no one had told me it was, I would have never known!”

“Being so close to New Orleans is amazing! Going there on the weekends and during time off is like a mini-vacation.”

“The party scene here is like none other. You can have such an amazing time literally every single weekend.”

What’s Bad

“There is nothing to do in this town. The residents definitely haven’t yet embraced the fact they are home to a university.”

“The partying is a bit much for me. Sometimes you just want to some peace and quiet so you can study, but I rarely get that.”

“There are a lot of close-minded people here who don’t really want to hear anyone’s opinion about anything.”

Let the Penn Group help you apply to college.

• View our services
• Send a request now
• Read articles about applying to college