So today I thought I'd talk a little bit about being an RA. For those of you who don't know, RA (in the world of colleges and universities) typically stands for Resident Assistant or Resident Adviser. I have also heard them called CAs (for community adviser, I'm assuming). A lot of confusion seems to float around the concept of RAs so I hope, with this brief post, I will be able to explain some of that confusion away.
There are a lot of things RAs do and a lot of things RAs don't do. I know, really specific, right? But you'd be surprised. Here is the typical life of an RA in an academic year.
RAs arrive early for training. In my experience, they are trained for two weeks before being unleashed on their residents. In many instances, RAs have influence over their placement on campus -- that is, in what building and/or for what class year. In the case of my university, first year housing is separate from everyone else (sophomores, juniors, and seniors are all mixed together). We also have apartment housing and specialty housing (which includes a wellness hall [ie no drugs, no smoking, no drinking, focus on the healthy lifestyle], a French house, a Spanish house, an arts house, a service house, an international house, an outdoors enthusiasts house, and a fandom enthusiast house). For a campus of around 800 students, we typically hire about thirty RAs to cover the spaces. I have only ever worked in first year housing.
After the two intense weeks of training finish, the residents arrive for the fall semester. By then, RAs have prepared door decs (door decorations -- some kind of decoration for the door which also features the resident's name), and typically at least one bulletin board for their hall (these range in topics throughout the year; they may be on how to find things on campus to getting to know each other, to service opportunities, to safe sex tips).
Throughout the year, we will encounter anything from residents needing help with a maintenance request to suicidal residents or residents with eating disorders. The job can be really difficult and emotionally and mentally demanding (and, depending on the set up of your campus and rounds situation, physically demanding).
In a typical week, RAs spend about three hours in meetings or doing official RA work. However, we are pretty much on-call twenty-four hours a day, unless we request time off ahead of time and direct our residents to see another RA should an emergency arise. Otherwise, we are the residents' first resource and if they need something at three in the morning, there's a chance we will have to respond.
RAs are also responsible for planning programs or socials for their residents that may or may not be educational. The purposes of these programs include giving the residents something to do that's safe and productive, giving them a place to bond with each other, and giving them a place to bond with the RA. If the program is educational, they may also learn something. Some programs are also service-oriented. In the organization I work for, RAs should base their programming on our "core values" which are Service, Leadership, Inclusivity, Creativity, and Exploration (or, SLICE).
Last year I decided go ahead and apply for a head resident assistant position. For the 2012-2013 school year, I've served as the Head RA of New Student Programming. Though I have not had my own set of residents, my main work involves planning programs for the first year class as a whole. This year, I've planned and executed twenty programs since September. I did twelve programs in the first six weeks and five programs over the month of January. Attendance varies, but it's putting on the program that's important, not how many people show up.
Other than programming, RAs are just there for their residents. But we are not their parents. We do not clean their rooms, nor do we inspect their rooms to make sure they are clean. The only time we inspect their rooms is during check outs (when they go home for break) to be sure all appliances are unplugged, the door is locked, etc. We do not make them food (unless it's for a program) and we do not make sure they do their homework.
One of the things we do accomplish, however, is duty and rounds. At my school, duty consists of one of two jobs. Two RAs are assigned duty each night, and you typically get two or three nights of duty every month. One of the positions is office duty, in which you sit in the office for two hours and then stay in your room the rest of the night. The other RA is the floater RA, who can float around campus (hence the name) but has a cell phone on them (from Housing and Residence Life) all night. At ten o'clock (and also at midnight if it's a Friday or Saturday), you go on campus rounds with each other and basically check out the residential buildings to make sure there are no major damages or issues. Usually there's nothing to report, save for a fire hazard or two (like shoes outside doors).
There are a lot of great things about being an RA: the online community, the in-person community, your bosses are usually pretty awesome, and you can have really rewarding moments and relationships with your residents. But it's a hard job.
In most places, the RA position is a paid one. Some colleges also offer free room and board to RAs (I do not attend such an institution, though I am paid -- granted it goes straight back to the school to pay tuition, but only a small percentage of the tuition). If you're not dedicated to the job for the sake of the job and yourself, then the money probably won't be worth it. At my school, you also get a double room as a single (or, if you're an HRA, you get an apartment -- one gets a kitchen and a bathroom, the other two get a bathroom and no kitchen). But again, it's not worth the effort you put into the job -- what makes the job worth it is the rewarding experiences and the skills you earn throughout your time as an RA.
Just remember -- you will always be working for the weekend.
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