Self-medication is taking any therapeutic drug without doctor's prescription. This practice is a potentially hazardous public health problem. It is commonly practiced in India as it provides a low-cost alternative treatment. Our objective was to find out the correlation between self-medication in medical vs. nonmedical students. It was a cross-sectional study, carried out using a pre-validated, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire, a medical and a anon-medical undergraduate group consisting of 100 students each. Established statistical methods were used for analysis. It was found that 68% of the medical students self-medicated compared to 48% of the non-medical counterparts, higher in females. Awareness about side-effects, disadvantages, need of correct dosage and importance of course completion was more among the medicos. Upon analyzing the data from medical and non-medical groups we observed that most of them cited mild illness (82% and 69% respectively) as a reason for self-medication. Common-cold was the most common complaint and antipyretics (78% and 77% respectively) were the most commonly taken drug. Drug stores (78%) were the primary sources of obtaining medicines, while previous medication experience from the same illness was the main source of knowledge of dosage. More than 50% participants supported the use of self-medication in the treatment of common illnesses. Conclusion is that main reason of self-medication among medical students can be a better knowledge and understanding about the various aspects of medication, reflecting the influence of medical training and studies. However, an incomplete knowledge and understanding makes self-medication a potentially harmful practice.