This paper, based on a study conducted at a premier B-School in Ahmedabad, India, discusses different kinds of stress faced by management students. A stress checklist for students is used to determine the major sources of stress among management students, who were in the first semester of their MBA program. The scale consists of 32 potentially stressful situations. The checklist addresses academic, intrapersonal, environmental, interpersonal, placement-related concerns and financial issues as sources of stress. The participants were 138 students in the age group of 20-25 yrs. The study shows that five major sources of stress are: increased class workload, placement issues like package and job profile, problem in some subjects due to varied backgrounds in graduation, and change in sleeping habits due to poor time management. The findings from this study may further be used to construct a suitable and reliable psychometric device, to assess the degree of psychological stress experienced by students of professional courses. The results from this study also place importance on the training needs for stress management in professional courses, which can be designed on the basis of these stressors.

Consistent increase in the rate of psychosomatic and mental diseases, and the feeling of dissatisfaction with life in general, among a majority of the people in the present day world, very well reflects the sad consequences of high psychosocial stress being experienced by them.

Although much work has been done on the stress faced by executives, medical students and technical students, nothing much has been done on the stress levels of management students in India. The present study is an attempt to explore the extent of stress levels of management students.

A sample of 138 students was taken from a leading B-School of Ahmedabad, of which 100 were males and the rest females. A stress survey among students was conducted to determine the primary sources of stress among management students. The checklist consisted of sources of stress from academic, intrapersonal, environmental, interpersonal, placement and financial issues.

Soft Skills Journal, Management Students, Descriptive Analysis, Sources, B-School, intrapersonal, environmental, interpersonal, financial issues, psychometric device, professional courses, psychosomatic, technical students, executives, medical students.