University life corresponds to a period in which the individuals are exposed to several psychosocial influences that can lead to stressful situations, harming the students' health and quality of life. From this perspective, the objective of the present study was to analyze the symptomatic differences, levels and the presence of stress among freshmen (n=57) and veterans (n=48), of both genders, from a Journalism course of a public university in the countryside of São Paulo State. To the participants, it was delivered the Term of Free Consent, and applied the "Inventory of Symptoms of Stress for Adults of Lipp". In the obtained results, it was highlighted predominance of stress among women; a bigger number of students stressed and in the phase of barely-exhaustion in the last year; predominance of physical symptoms among freshmen and psychological ones among veterans. New researches are necessary to elaborate institutional policies that promote favorable conditions to the students' academic potentialities development .
quality of life; health; stress; college students