<p>I was thinking about becoming a Resident Assistant/Adviser my sophomore year so I can save money on Room & Board. So, what exactly is the catch of becoming an RA? Is it stressful? annoying? Does it look good on your resume? Overall, do you think it would be worth becoming an RA to save some money? (even though I wouldn't mention that I'm applying for the money/ R & B reduction lol).</p>
<p>It can be really stressful, depending on your group of residents. The RA’s for freshmen have it the hardest, because freshmen are the most unused to the freedom college brings.</p>
<p>/lurking/</p>
<p>I’m curious, too. Probably going to wait until after at least the first quarter of freshman year before I start thinking about applying.</p>
<p>I’d wait until you were a junior to do so. I’ve never seen a sophmore RA.</p>
<p>I’ve seen several sophomore RA’s. I wouldn’t think it’s unheard of.</p>
<p>^^ At my school you can become an RA your sophomore year. (I’ve heard from someone you could become one the second half of 2nd semester freshman year, but I doubt that…)</p>
<p>Haha, I applied twice, and got rejected for being too disciplined.</p>
<p>I guess RA policy (Yearwise) depends on the college. I had a sophomore RA last year as a Sophomore.</p>
<p>My advice, if you are up to it, and want to do the job description, go for it.
I’ve seen enough incompetent RAs to go crazy.</p>
<p>It can be stressful, and it can take up quite a lot of time if you’re doing it right. But it’s the best thing I’ve ever done and it’s how I met most of the people who are now my best friends.</p>
<p>You’re responsible for every single person on you floor, on top of all the workload and stress you would normally have. That’s the only thing holding me back from wanting to apply.</p>
<p>The only reason I applied to be an RA was so I could get a room for free. Like I care about freshman’s problems or organizing lame events. It’s like having a job with the government…once you’re hired they can never fire you.</p>
<p>The application process was fairly easy. It included a written essay and verbal group discussion. The individual interview threw me a few curveballs like “when have you had to deal with someone in crisis”. Had to make something up because I never had. Ended up getting accepted to be an RA but put in the “alternate pool” meaning I was qualified but not quite good enough. Oh well.</p>
<p>Although I’m not an RA yet (not until this semester) I worked closely with them last semester. It seems like things can definitely get stressful, but it can also be a lot of fun, especially if you like planning activities or arts and crafts. 
</p>
<p>Whether it’s a great experience or a bad one depends a lot on your personality. If you care about other people, are friendly, and like to meet lots of people, being an RA can be really great. At my school you can be an RA sophomore year (or your second semester of your first year if you transfer), and I have known people who were sophomore RAs, and also very successful at that. </p>
<p>One thing that can kinda stink is that on the weekends when there is the most fun stuff going on (Halloween, school traditions type weekends, etc.) you’re likely to encounter more trouble and have less time to do the things you want to be doing. You also have to be very mindful if you go out to party because if you get caught, at least at my school, it’s instant termination if there are underage residents present. </p>
<p>There’s no shame in letting the money be a factor in deciding to apply to be an RA, but if that’s the only thing that’s motivating you to do it, then that’s probably not a good sign. The residence hall staff at my school is, overall but not entirely, a really tight-knit bunch of super interesting people who make lots of cool and fun stuff happen on campus.</p>
<p>You have to get the job first, you can’t just decide to be an RA and get it. At my school it’s fairly competitive and many people get denied.</p>
<p>Alix - That’s very true. I didn’t get the job at my first school, and at my current school I got a different job in residence life before I got the RA job. My boyfriend didn’t get the RA job until his senior year, which was after he spent a year and a half in the other positions in res life.</p>
<p>My school had a lot of sophomore RAs. In fact it seemed like most of them were sophomores. Juniors are ready to live off campus and seniors have long since moved off campus. </p>
<p>I think it definitely depends on your personality. A lot of the RAs at my school were the very up-beat, almost too happy all the time type. I don’t think our dorm had a lot of problems, but then again a lot of people didn’t seem to care about the problems we did have. Think of it as sort of like being a camp counsellor- if you’re not all that into (or good at) helping people with their problems, putting together events and activities, and generally being happy and ready to be everyone in the world’s best friend then it might not be the job for you. </p>
<p>I think the most annoying part of the job would be having to be on-call so much. I know our RAs had to hang around the dorm a lot in case something came up, and they also had to work at the front desk a lot. They also had to stay most weekends and were there a few days after everyone else leaves for the holidays/summer breaks. You also have to go back early for training and all that, of course.</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore RA, and I’ve worked very closely with my RAs the previous year, so I am very familiar with the position.<br>
The level of stress depends on your residents and how crazy they may or may not drive you. If you’re an RA for freshmen, you have to go that extra mile to be patient and explain things to them since they aren’t used to college life at all. Freshmen also have the most roommate conflicts, so you deal with mediation a lot more than upperclassmen.<br>
Being an RA is pretty time-consuming depending on how many residents you have and how much decorations, bulletin boards, and stuff like that is required of you. Also, you’re the first line of defense between your residents and higher authorities - should any of them do anything bad, you deal with it first. Be ready to give up at least one or two weekends every semester for weekend duty, as well as (possibly) thanksgiving break and spring break. Be ready to be on-call should any emergencies arise in the building, as well as with any of your residents. You aren’t there just to babysit them - you are there to support and mentor them to become good students. </p>
<p>But most of all, don’t become an RA for the perks (free/cheap housing, etc), do it because you want to be a leader and make a difference. The RA selection board (at my school, at least) is very good at sniffing out those who are in it for the housing and meal plan.</p>
<p>My cousin is a senior RA, has been one since she was a sophomore. She likes it, but at her school it is immensely time consuming, and she has virtually no free time in the evenings to go out because she has to be on duty and has to be planning programs and doing all sorts of things. She has weekend duty frequently. The ras at MY school, from what I’ve seen, don’t appear to have to do very much… so I think it probably varies a lot by school. My cousin couldn’t afford to stay in the dorms if she didn’t do it, I gather, or she might have quit this year because she’s upset they’ve switched her to a coed hall-- that’s one of several drawbacks, she doesn’t get to choose where she lives anymore and has lived in all freshman buildings her entire college career now.</p>
<p>Well, at my school, you get to say whether you want to work with freshmen or upperclassmen, but the RLC’s and Res Life office don’t guarantee that you’ll work with the one you picked. That’s terrible what happened to your cousin, though.</p>
<p>She liked working with the freshmen before she got moved to the coed floor-- she’s really upset about it, I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal. But she’s been an RA in the first year center all this time, so she’s never lived in an upperclassmen dorm. I don’t think she minds that part but others might-- I sure as heck would, but maybe being the RA makes it more tolerable, I wouldn’t know.</p>
<p>Maybe she was working with just girls before, and now she has to work with guys and girls. That could be possibly be more stressful.</p>