Objective: to understand, according to the perceptions of the nursing students, the stress-generating factors during graduation. Methods: this is a qualitative study, developed with 236 undergraduate nursing students, in a Higher Education Institution. The production of information was carried out by a semi-structured instrument, processed by the Software Interface for Multidimensional Analyzes of Textes et de Questionnaires and submitted to Bardin content analysis. Results: six classes were created: the type of activity carried out, the amount of activity, the period to develop them, the infrastructure, the pedagogical organization of the course and the professors. Conclusion: the study identified as potential source of stress stimuli in the activities that involve performance and concentration of efforts performed in constant and increasing study routines.