Objective: To study the prevalence of depression in students of preparing for pre-medical and preengineering competitive examinations at coaching institutes located in Jaipur city of Rajasthan. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study in six coaching institutes of Jaipur city of Rajasthan. Participants: A total of 1200 students (males 53.75% and females were 46.25%) aged 15 to 23 years selected by simple stratified sampling. Methods & Analysis: Cross-sectional study by using simple screening instrument Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) among students. Statistical analysis was carried out by using Microsoft Excel for analyse the data. Results: Based on the cut-off scores, 819students (68.25%) were found to be non-depressed, 167 (13.92%) were mild mood disturbance, 89 (7.42%) were borderline clinical depression, 87 (7.25%) were moderately depressed, 31 (2.58%) severely depressed and 7 (0.58%) were extreme depressed. Conclusions: The prevalence of depression in coaching students was found to be quite high(31.75%) and is a matter that should evoke public health concern.