There’s no feeling in the world quite like the one you have as a senior nursing student in college. It’s a time when excitement and nervousness crash into each other on a daily basis. You know your way around campus, but you miss those days as an exploring freshman. You want to hang out with your friends as much as possible, but you know you need to ace that upcoming test. You can’t wait to be a grown up, but you worry constantly about your future. As part of our occasional chat series, we picked the brain of Curry (MA) College senior nursing student Chelsea Bancroft to get some further insight on the magical year.

Chelsea is a self-proclaimed retail therapist and might be styling your hair if she wasn’t going to become a nurse in 2008. See if your answers match up with hers:

1. In five words or less, why do you want to be a nurse? 
Science; the love of people
2. What one thing do you need to do everyday before your first class? 
I always make sure that I take my time to do something, anything, for myself. Whether it is do something new with makeup or get myself a Starbucks coffee.
3. What’s your favorite color scrubs? 
My favorite color scrubs would have to be black flared pants and then any brightly colored top-like pink, purple, white, or green and blue.
4. What’s the toughest class you’ve taken at nursing school?
I would have to say the class that was the toughest for me would be mental health and community nursing, just for the sheer fact that it wasn’t black and white; there were a lot of gray areas. I don’t like to think that way.
5. What’s the best way to study for a test?
I actually have found the way that helps me: I have to go over everything by myself first and then I study either one-on-one or with two other students. I can’t study in groups larger then three or else I will get sidetracked-and the craziness begins.
6. On a scale from 1-10, how nervous are you about the NCLEX®? 
I would say about an 8.  Just for the sheer fact that it’s an exam to give me admittance into my field.
7. When you need to relieve stress, what do you do? 
I am definitely a retail therapist. I love to go shopping and buy myself something new.
8. If you weren’t studying to be a nurse, what other profession would you like to try?
I would be a hairdresser.
9. What’s the first thing you’ll do on graduation day? 
It is going to be a day filled with mixed emotions.  I know I will be sad, but I also can’t wait to start my life as an adult and a nurse.
10. Where do you want to be in 10 years? 
In 10 years, I hope I’m married with some kids and working in an ICU or NICU at Beth Israel [Deaconess Medical Center in Boston]. I hope that I have my master’s in nursing and that I am still so in love with this profession.