<p>I am a second year at UC Santa Cruz. We have fairly unique housing, with 10 distinct residential colleges that each have a different style of housing (large dorms, small dorms, apartments only, etc), plus the university town center (campus housing downtown), university inn (old holiday inn that's used as a dorm), and "the villiage" (alternative housing, i think it looks like army barracks, but they're nice inside)</p>
<p>I'm currently applying to be an RA for next school year (my Jr year)</p>
<p>Requirements are - be a continuing student, preferably a member of the residential college you're applying to be an RA, be in good academic standing (C average), and go to an info session where they tell you what being an RA is all about.</p>
<p>Perks - free room and board (single room, unlimited meal plan, kitchen access in dorms)</p>
<p>Application process -
(1) written application including 3 essays
(2) group activity
(3) interviews</p>
<p>it's usually pretty competitive, last year there were about 90 applications for ~12 new hires (plus returning RAs), but this year there were only ~40 applications for 8-11 new hires. in my college at least.</p>
<p>Duties -
-Training last 2 weeks of summer break (September for us)
-Be 'on duty' every 2 weeks or so, including rounds of the buildings, be on call for lockouts between 3 - 9 am, deal with any emergencies/etc.
-stay through part of one break (thanksgiving or spring - winter break is an extra paid position)
-Plan hall events (social and/or educational activities)
-be like a mentor to new students
-mediate conflicts (roommate, etc)
-basically be there and be responsible and be awesome. :)</p>
<p>My D will be an RA next year, in exchange for her work, she will recieve room and board, and a pile of experiences that will help her to make future decisions. There is no cash stipend. Since she is in a UC where only freshmen and RAs get dorm space it will save her the off campus experience for a year or more. The application process appeared to be fairly competive so I was pleased to know they recognized her to be responsible and mature enough to do the job.</p>
<p>If you want to be an RA it helps to be friendly, decisive, organized and able to prioritize school and work.</p>
<p>At my son's college (Indiana University) you have to apply in January for the following year. He had to fill out an application, get two letters of reference, and go in for an interview. Things that you can do as a freshman are get to know YOUR RA, so you find out what the job is like and whether you would want to do it. Also, at Indiana, your RA is a good person to get a letter of recommendation from. Helping plan dorm activities and being very involved in them as a freshman may help you get an RA position. Good grades also help, and being active in other campus activities.</p>
<p>My son will be taking a one credit course--I think it starts this week--for RA training and will have to return a couple weeks early from summer break for more training. At IU, he will get free room and board, plus $1200 for the year.</p>
<p>I thought the same thing the frist few weeks of this past year. I am an RA for my fraternity, and i basically did it for several reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Single room. Clemson gave us new updated dorms, aka the frat quad, and ther was no way i was going to live with someone again. After a year of apartment living, I couldnt make the transition back. That and I just need my space sometimes, and there's always the pain of having a roomate when company is over...wink wink.</p></li>
<li><p>Money money money. Clemson doesnt give free housing, unlike most other schools. We get...15 or 20 percent off housing, which is at least something when it costs $2100 to live in that box. It's nice to be on a salary type deal, most weeks i do nothing and get bank. they pay me about 5.75 an hour, which sucks but hey its something. Now i can afford all the busch light cases and cheap whiskey i want.</p></li>
<li><p>Being a leader. Not many people care in my fraternity, and I pride myself on being one of the people who leads the organization. It looks awesome on a resume, and i figured, "why not?" Why not try something new, and if i hate it then at least i tried. If i love it, well, then i made a good choice. I like responsibility, and I'm good at handling situations and being the liason between the University and my brothers. I basically keep them out of trouble, and they give me the respect because I do that. If they choose to ignore me, then I have no cares if they get in trouble. The problem was finding the balance between doing my job and being their friends.</p></li>
<li><p>Meeting new people. I have met so many other people this year. The problem with fraternities here is that fraternities tend to stick by themselves, and i really didnt know anyone outside of my chapter. I know at leas tone person from each of the 25 chapters now, and have a connection if I ever need something or if i want to simply hang out with different people.</p></li>
<li><p>Because no one else wanted to do it. It's like public speaking. The quad was new, and I wanted to set a precedent on how things would be run around there. The next RA will always say "I wonder how he did this, etc." My little brother is even going to be an RA in a freshman hall because he saw what it was like for me. It's not glamorous all the time, but its a heck of an experience. Sorry for the ramble, but I could talk about it all night.</p></li>
</ol>