Methods: The sample consisted of 200 female students (100 science, 100 arts) from various colleges of, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, aged between 17–22 years. The Mental Health Battery (MHB) by Sinha and Gupta was applied to measure six dimensions: emotional stability, overall adjustment, autonomy, security–insecurity, self-concept and intelligence. Data were evaluated using mean, standard deviation and t-test at the 0.05 level of confidence.

Results: Most of the students from both streams belonged to middle or low socio-economic groups and attained average or poor in mental health components. No significant differences were identified between science and arts students apart from autonomy, where arts students scored higher than the science students. Science students demonstrated a little enhanced mean score in intelligence, but not reached in significant level.

Conclusion: Rural female students, in spite of of academic stream, features similar mental health status due to shared socio-economic and cultural conditions. The only remarkable difference was identified in autonomy score in arts students. The mean score of arts students in autonomy was higher than the science students and their difference was significant. The cause of this outcome may be due to the creative characteristics of their course. These findings highlight the requirement of specific interventions and counselling to improve coping skills, autonomy and overall well-being.