Background : One of the principles of medical professionalism is altruism. The behavior of altruism must begin to be improved on education in university even since becoming a medical student. This study was conducted to find out how the perception of medical students in School of Medicine, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta to altruism. Methods : The design of this research is qualitative approach involving 24 students of School of Medicine, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta, selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected using in-depth interview and Focus Group Discussion and then analyzed by constant coparative method. Results : After analyzed the interview transcript result, indicated the main theme included 90 meaning units, 16 categories, and five final meanings are: 1) Altruism and attribute of professionalism of doctor; 2) Altruism and its representation in medical student; 3) Altruism and influential factors; 4) Doctor's profession from a student perspective; and 5) unprofessional behavior and its causes. Conclusion : Altruism is one of the professional behaviors a doctor must have. This behavior should begin to be improved when entering the medical education. There are many factors that can influence a person's altruism behavior. One of the things we can do to assess the degree of altruism of medical students is to understand how the profession of doctors according to the perspective of medical students. A low degree of altruism by a doctor causes a lot of problems of professional behavior.