Background and Aim: Medical science students are considered as high-risk groups in terms of mental and physical disorders due to the special condition of their majors. Some students are faced with the psychological consequences of military service. This study was aimed to assess the public health status of male college students under the military service and school exemption in Maragheh faculty of medical sciences, Iran.

Method and material: This analytical cross-sectional study was done in eighty five male medical science students in Maragheh, Iran. All students were selected randomly. Public health status was assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 19) and were presented as descriptive statistics. Pearson correlation coefficient and students sample t-test were used to interpret the obtained results.

Results: The mean age of students was 22.69±1.01 years. Total average of students' GPA was 17.35 ± 0.36. 

Mean score of hopes of students to get a permanent exemption from military service after graduation item was obtained 3.92 ± 1.57 from 10 score. The scores of public health status in 32.95% of students were higher than cut-off points. There was a significant correlation between the ages of students (p-value=0.014) and the hopes of students to get a permanent exemption from military service after graduation (p-value=0.02) with public health status.

Conclusion: About a third of students were exposed to the public health disorders. The subject of military in male students can be one of the affected factors on the poor score of public health status, so using the various strategies such as holding consulting courses to enhance students' motivation and ability to continue study can increase public and mental health status.