The current study is conducted to evaluate the impact of stress and self-esteem and gender’s effect on students’ academic performance in selected private universities of Pakistan. Three hundred students from different private universities of Pakistan were surveyed using cluster random sampling technique by means of Rosenberg self-esteem scale and perceived stress scale questionnaires. Factor, regression analysis, correlation, and t-test were employed. The findings revealed that self-esteem and stress are strongly correlated with each other but gender has no significant impact on students’ GPA, level of stress and self-esteem of the surveyed students. Moreover, when impact of self-esteem and impact of stress on GPA were analyzed discretely, it was found that both of these cognitive factors did not significantly correlate with the academic performance of students. Hence, this study revealed that the level of stress and self-esteem are not as influential on academic performance of students in private universities as it is affirmed in the literature available on the subject matter.