Freshman‐15 is a phenomenon of first year university students enrolled in cafeteria meal plans resulting in weight gain due to new eating patterns and stress. Eating habits established at a young age continue into later adulthood and contribute to obesity. Walnuts are a nutrient dense snack that may improve weight control in middle to older aged adults. This study determined if a pre‐meal walnut snack alters hunger and satiety before and after a subsequent standardized meal, and meal‐time nutrient intake. Healthy university students (18.1 ± 0.5 years; 33 female and 3 male; BMI 23.6 ± 3.9) received a standard dinner (1760 Calories) with three treatments (90 minutes pre‐meal) in single crossover design: 1) Snack of 190 Cal (1oz) of walnuts (WS; Jugans regia), 2) Snack of 190 Cal of gummi candy (GS), or 3) No snack (NS; control) on three consecutive evenings. Visual analog scale (VAS) surveys were administered 5 minutes before and after dinner ingestion to measure sense of hunger, desire to eat, fullness, and intent to eat 30 minutes after study completion. Digital meal images were used to determine caloric and nutrient intake during the meal (LSM ± SE; Significance: P< 0.05). Pre‐meal VAS for desire to eat during the subsequent meal after WS, GS, and NS was 8.1 ± 0.5, 8.6 ± 0.5, and 9.3 ± 0.4 (WSNS; GS>NS). Post‐meal sense of hunger for WS, GS and NS were, 1.6 ± 0.4, 1.3 ± 0.2, and 1.4 ± 0.2. Pre‐meal sense of fullness for WS, GS, and NS were 2.5 ± 0.4, 2.1 ± 0.3, and 1.2 ± 0.2 (W>NS; G>NS). Post‐meal sense of fullness for WS, GS, and NS were 8.5 ± 0.5, 9.2 ± 0.3, and 9.1 ± 0.4. Sense of intent to eat 30 minutes after study completion pre‐ or post‐meal time was not significantly affected by treatment. Calories consumed after WS, GS and NS were 982 ± 62, 1050 ± 61, and 1079 ± 61 (WS