Abstract Background: Nursing students experience closely the challenges of being professional nurses during their education. This study aims to explain the nursing students’ perception of professional challenges in Fatemeh Nursing and Midwifery School in Firozabad in 2012 Methods: In this qualitative study 15 nursing students were selected by purposeful sampling. They participated in two focus groups and 10 in- depth semi- structured interviews. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze data in three stages. Results: The findings were categorized into four themes and 11 subthemes. The main themes were: challenging education, non standard care, inappropriate social- professional identity, and not being a researcher. Conclusion: The viewpoints of nursing students encompass all aspects of their future profession. These experiences can be used to reduce the students’ perceived challenges.