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Admissions & selectivity

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# Nicholls State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions

Updated October 1, 2026

[Overview](/school/nicholls-state-university/)[Cost & aid](/school/nicholls-state-university/cost/)[Outcomes](/school/nicholls-state-university/outcomes/)Admissions[Majors](/school/nicholls-state-university/majors/)[Similar schools](/school/nicholls-state-university/similar/)

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## What is the acceptance rate at Nicholls State University?

Nicholls State University’s reported acceptance rate is 90.8%.

**Acceptance rate · Fall 2024**
90.8%

Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.

How to interpret the acceptance rate

Nicholls State University admits 90.8% of applicants, a rate that sits close to the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). Most applicants receive an offer.

## What SAT and ACT scores do Nicholls State University students report?

The middle half of enrolled students who submitted SAT scores fell between 934 and 1,196. For those who submitted ACT scores, the range was 19 to 24.

These figures describe the twenty-fifth through seventy-fifth percentiles of recent score submitters, not a minimum for admission.

The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Nicholls State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range

**Approximate lower endpoint**
934

**Approximate upper endpoint**
1196

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.

ACT: enrolled-student score range

**25th percentile**
19

**75th percentile**
24

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Figures cover fall 2024.

## Who enrolls at Nicholls State University?

**Pell Grant recipients**
34.1%

**Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group**
16.4%

**First-year retention**
76.6%

Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.

About these student measures

The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.

Nicholls State University is a public university in Thibodaux, Louisiana, enrolling 4,737 undergraduates. The student body includes a substantial share of Pell Grant recipients, at 34.1%, and an estimated 16.4% who arrive as transfers or part-time students.

That composition means the campus draws from federal grant aid recipients and from people continuing coursework begun elsewhere, rather than from a single entry route.

Students who start full time at Nicholls State University return for a second year at a rate of 76.6%, and 53.8% finish within six years. Both figures run ahead of the medians for comparable institutions, where retention sits at 73.7% and completion at 49.1%.

Pell recipients in the same entering cohort complete at 41.3%, which is 12.5 percentage points below the overall rate. The gap is a fact about outcomes, not an explanation of them.

The pattern is one of persistence and completion that exceed the peer benchmarks. A prospective student should weigh the Pell completion gap alongside the net price and debt figures.

## Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: [methodology](/methodology/).

Analysis and methodology by [Daniel Rogers](/about/#founder), founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. [About College Azimuth](/about/).