<p>DD is a rising Sophomore who was selected to be an RA next year. Any good advice, observations or RA stories from those with children have been through it?</p>
<p>My D was an RA last year (junior) and will again this year. She has absolutely love it. It is a lot of work and quite time consuming so make sure she is good at time management. I also hope she is not afraid to confront fellow students, be a referee, a shoulder to lean on and a creative person. My D has spent all summer getting her bulletin board material ready and planning floor activities. The training she has received will serve her well in normal life as well. She has learnt a lot about fire evacuations, identifying drug and alcohol use and poisoning. She has also been trained to assist in suicide prevention. She has to go back early at all breaks for training and room set up.</p>
<p>My D was an RA for second semester of her freshman year (only the 6th freshman ever to get the position in the history of the school) in a sophomore dorm, and will return this year to work in a freshman dorm. She loves the work, and has found that the trick was to come in as committed to what is best for the students, but not as the “cop” or “heavy”. The few times she had to write up students, they were actually able to acknowledge that they understood she was just doing her job! She liked being able to help students problem solve, and motivating students during academically tough periods was fun for her. She is now considering a career in higher ed residential life sort of stuff! The fact that she also had her own room second semester freshman year, and again this coming year was just a bonus! She intends to be an RA every year. If your DD enjoys her privacy, that may be hard to come by, but otherwise, if she enjoys people, has a sense of humor, and can be assertive when she needs to, she should have a great year!</p>
<p>My D has had to write up a few students and in general teachandmom you are right that those students achknowledged the situation, but there have also been a few times when that was not the case and yes she has had to call in the U police and it can get a bit messy. Her biggest beef is when people are burning popcorn in the middle of the night and setting off the fire alarm. In general though she loves it and is actually going to apply for an RA position when she apllies to her graduate schools this fall. As a parent I was concerned because this is not something to be taken lightly and as I said is quite time consuming but being the organized person my D is it ended being just fine. It looks extremely good on her resume and the experience as I said will be good in all parts of her life. As I said the only real drawback is that she has had to miss some long weekends at home because she was on call and some of the dorms are always open so they must take their turns to cover them. One of the siliest good things for parents is that move in and move out are a whole lot easier because they are before and after everyone else so there are no line up or rushing.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing your inspiring stories!</p>
<p>Just a story:</p>
<p>H and I first met as RAs back in the dark ages. Most of our best friends were also RAs. 30 years later we are still very close with those friends, and with the hall directors, the Director of Housing, and the Director of Student Activities, some of whom are still working in student services. Several of our fellow RAs went on to work in housing and in administration at colleges all over the country. Clearly we all had a wonderful time as RAs!</p>
<p>However, 30 years ago the legal drinking age was 18, and a little pot smoking in the dorms was handled in a much less punitive way compared to now. We mostly felt like bouncers in the late evenings: making sure the doors were’t propped open at night, that there were no drunks in the restrooms, that the halls were safe and quiet at night, that overnight guests weren’t bothering anyone, that the “quiet floors” were quiet all the time. We knew our residents well enough to develop mutual trust, but I don’t remember doing much counseling. We planned get togethers with other dorms, and activities to foster residents getting to know one another. I think RAs today are tasked with a much more difficult job.</p>
<p>My D is going into her third year as an RA. She gets her own private room and an allowance of about 50% or so towards her meal plan. She really enjoys it and finds it very worthwhile and rewarding. Her first year she was primarily with sophomores and last year, she worked at a dorm with primarily international students. This year, she is doing the international route again. She finds that they are more likely to participate in dorm activities than sophomores and she enjoys the planning, etc. She’s won prizes for her activities, including getting her residents to volunteer and do community service.</p>
<p>My H was an RA back in the day and he enjoyed it alot, as well.</p>