Finding Her Path in Nursing: Meet Julia

The first-year nursing student is using Coach to explore nursing specialties

Julia is a freshman nursing student at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Unlike a lot of students, she’s been sure of her career path for many years. 

“Ever since early middle school, I knew I wanted to go into nursing,” she said. 

But, while she was certain she wanted to become a nurse, she wasn’t sure what kind. Nursing offers dozens of specialties, and without hands-on clinical experience, it can be tricky to know for sure which path might be the best fit. 

During her first semester of college, Julia discovered Coach while browsing online and decided to try one of the nursing-specific career exploration activities. What started as curiosity quickly became a moment of reassurance.  

Early interest in nursing

Julia’s interest in nursing began years earlier, after hearing a family friend describe the impact nurses had during a difficult hospital stay.

“She talked about how the nurses made everything easier to get through,” Julia said. “That really stuck with me.”

As she moved through high school, that early inspiration grew into a clear goal, and she ultimately enrolled at Randolph-Macon College, as part of a small nursing cohort of about 40 students. 

“Being somewhere I could actually get to know my professors and classmates really mattered to me.” Today, she already knows most of the students in her cohort and has built relationships with several professors, reinforcing that she made the right decision.

Julia has shown remarkable self-assurance and decision-making ability. Still, as she approaches her next significant career decision of choosing a specialty, she faces a new set of complex factors to consider. That’s what led her to Coach.

Using Coach to explore nursing specialties

While exploring Coach, Julia found activity options that specifically focused on the nursing industry. Chatting with Coach gave her a chance to think deeply about her interests, strengths, and preferences. Based on her responses, the tool suggested nursing specialties that could be a strong match.

The results caught her attention. “The top three options it gave me were actually the same three I had already been thinking about,” she said. Those specialties included pediatric nursing, emergency room nursing, and surgical nursing.

Seeing those options reflected back to her was reassuring. “It gave me confidence that I’m headed in the right direction.” 

Coach gave me confidence that I'm headed in the right direction.

A different kind of career guidance

Before trying Coach, Julia hadn’t spent much time using AI tools. “I’ve used ChatGPT a few times for small things, but I’m definitely not very tech-savvy,” she said. Going in, she expected the experience might feel like one of the casual online quizzes people take for fun. But as she worked through the activity, she quickly realized it was more thoughtful and structured than she expected. “It actually made me think.”

The experience also shifted how she thinks about mentorship. “When you think of a mentor, you usually think of a person,” she explained. “But something like Coach can work alongside [human mentors].”

As part of her small cohort nursing program, Julia is lucky enough to have been assigned a one-on-one career services advisor for guidance on classes, resumes, and professional development. “Coach doesn’t necessarily substitute advice from people, but it can pair with it, [by providing] more information.”

Looking Ahead

As Julia continues her nursing program, her clinical rotations will help her refine which specialty she ultimately chooses. For now, she’s keeping an open mind.

“One thing I like about nursing is the flexibility,” she said. “You can try one specialty for a few years and then switch if you want.”

Looking further ahead, Julia hopes to gain experience through travel nursing so she can work in different parts of the country. Eventually, she’s also considering returning to school to become a nurse practitioner. For now, she’s focused on continuing to learn and explore.

When it comes to tools like Coach, her advice for other students is simple:

“I would definitely encourage people to try it. It gives you another perspective, and it’s definitely worth your time.”