College freshmen face several unique stressors, such as adjusting to a new living and academic environment and dealing with mounting financial obligations. Chronic stress leads to structural changes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus that cause cognitive impairment. But interestingly, exercise is a physical stressor that facilitates function in these brain areas. The goals of the current study were to: 1) compare the effects of physical fitness vs. stress on memory performance in college freshmen (n=22), and 2) compare the effects of fitness vs. stress on the students’ acute stress response. Preliminary data indicated that higher fitness levels may have been associated with improved hippocampus-dependent memory scores (p = 0.08, Cohen’s d=0.7) , but not prefrontal cortex memory. Higher fit students had an increased salivary cortisol response but decreased blood pressure response to a mild, cognitive stressor (p < 0.05). Students with higher self-reports of stress performed significantly worse on the prefrontal cortex-based task (p < 0.05) and showed a statistical trend for impairment on the hippocampus-based task (p = 0.06). Higher stress levels resulted in a significant decrease in salivary cortisol and increase in blood pressure to a mild, cognitive stressor (p < 0.05).