BACKGROUND
 Stress in life can deteriorate the physical and mental health of a person. Stress is higher among medical college students. The present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence and causes of stress in different professions, in different countries, and different sexes to compare with the control and suggest possible solutions for the same in the future.
 METHODS
 A cross-sectional study was undertaken among different professional college students (PCS) (Medical, Engineering, Dental, Pharmacy, and Nursing) at a randomly selected King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia with control from the same university. A similar study was conducted at one rural engineering college and one urban engineering college in India. The level of stress was assessed using the perceived stress scale (1983). Data was collected, tabulated, and analyzed using Excel and SPSS software. Complete data was available from 426 PCS at KFU, including 120 students from rural engineering colleges in India and 31 students from urban engineering colleges in India. A total of 60 controls were taken from non-professional colleges in SA.
 RESULTS
 The overall prevalence of stress was high in all PCS, and it varied from 65.33% to 87.10% in different PCS. The causes of stress were a vast and difficult syllabus, pattern of exams, lack of counselling and guidance, fewer co-curricular activities, etc. Stress in nonprofessional control was 30.00%.
 CONCLUSIONS
 The incidence of stress is more in different professional college students irrespective of colleges, countries and sex compared to control. The causes of stress among all these students are similar. So the planning and managements for professional colleges must take it seriously. These issues can be solved by providing more teaching and learning facilities, creating a relaxing atmosphere within the college, changing the patterns of examinations, regular counselling, inclusion of recreations like cultural activities, educational tours, music, sports, etc. along with the curriculum. All these things might create more and more healthy and educated professionals to serve our society.