Given the time demands of their profession, athletic trainers may experience stress as a negative life factor that might eventually lead to burnout. Often the professional preparation of athletic trainers does not include the teaching of coping mechanisms for managing stress, thus burnout and attrition is common in recent graduates as well as seasoned athletic trainers (Capel, 1990; Gieck, 1984; Gieck, 1986). The objective of this study was to examine college athletic trainers’ perceptions of their entry-level preparation in relation to managing the stressful demands of the athletic training work environment. A sample of 222 subjects was drawn from the College Athletic Trainers’ Society’s membership list. One hundred and thirty-two subjects (59%) returned the survey. The survey was designed to provide information relative to the following categories: demographics, satisfactions and stressors in the lives of athletic trainers, coping strategies for those stressors, and the formal and informal education received by these athletic trainers to prepare them for the demands of the athletic training profession. Organization of data related to satisfactions and stressors was based on a structure designed by Quick and Quick (1984). Data were grouped into the following classifications suggested by the nature of work demands: interpersonal, personal, role, task, and organizational. Responses were rank ordered by percentages. Organizational demands represented the majority of stressors associated with the work of these professionals. More than one-third of the respondents stated that they were unprepared to have realistic expectations regarding the demands of the athletic training profession. Respondents indicated that clinical instructors are important components of athletic training education relative to learning appropriate coping mechanisms. Subjects recommended additional formal course work to better prepare for the stressful demands of the profession. This study demonstrates that carefully planned and executed formal education related to coping with the demands of the profession will benefit future athletic trainers throughout their careers.Keyword(s): curriculum development, professional preparation