Jump to content

Menu

Who has experience with their students being an RA?


creekland
 Share

Recommended Posts

Middle son told me yesterday that his RA asked him to apply to be an RA for the next school year. I didn't expect that from freshman year. He'll just be a sophomore next year. In my day (eons ago) all RAs were juniors or seniors.

 

I have no idea if he'll be accepted or not, but if you've had experience (or your student has) with being an RA, can you list pros and cons here? Was your experience mainly positive or negative? Any and all info appreciated.

 

If he's accepted, "Learning to be an RA" classes start next semester.

 

Right off hand, I'm thinking cons would include time involved and having to "solve" all the issues that could come up from drunk or unruly roomies and roommate issues to homesickness of varying degrees. Pros would include cheaper room & board plus it would probably look good on a med or grad school app due to the experience (training and experience).

 

Are there other pros/cons? IYE, did the pros or cons outweigh each other?

 

Ultimately, I'm going to let him decide, of course, but since he asked for thoughts...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats to your son: good for him!

 

My dd started being an RA her sophomore yr. Alhough she had students who were seniors on her floor, I think most were freshmen or sophomores. This year she has more, and they're all freshmen, and she was excited about having all freshies.

 

I'll see if I can get her to post something about her experience, but she has big performances on Thurs, Fri and Sat nights of Homecoming Wknd this weekend, so she may not get to it until after then. : )

 

She has to work a lot of hours, but she has met a lot of really great gals. Her leadership in this role was one of the strong factors in her landing the internship she had this past summer, as the job required organization, leadership, and great ppl skills.

 

I have to say that although it is a lot of hours, the pay is better than normal minimum wage-ish jobs on campus or through work study.

 

She has had a few "situations" to handle: one was serving in an extensive "support" role for a student in ill health, and that was very difficult. Due to the environment, drinking isn't an issue she deals with, not that it doesn't happen at all, but it isn't routine.

 

The thing I dislike the most is that she has to open dorms and close dorms, so that she is home less than normal on short breaks. In the fall she has to be back two weeks before class begins, a work week and then during Freshman Orientation. We only had ten days with her this past summer. :glare: I keep reminding myself that it's a lot compared to what it may be like when she's an adult--sigh.

Edited by Valerie(TX)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was an RA when I was sophomore - 22 years ago... so not too much to tell you. Except it was a wonderful experience and paid really well. I was able to attend a lot of fantastic leadership workshops and work with outstanding student leaders from all different social circles (Greek, band, athletes...) the downside was my roommate was a party girl and loved it when I was gone for the weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all. It sounds like it could be a worthy experience for him should he decide to pursue it. He loves working with people and has always been good at solving personal problems (he's a middle child, after all), so it could fit him nicely. I hope it doesn't take up too much of his time from studying next year (if he chooses to apply and gets it - there's no guarantee).

 

With regards to coming home...he's expecting to be involved with research by then so might not be coming home anyway. I'm expecting our visits after this year to mainly be up there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he's expecting to be involved with research

 

That brings up another quesiton entirely. Will he have time for the job? It's something that almost certainly varies from college to college, but it's most likely not going to be something that is 8-10 hours a week and you walk away.

 

I was a STEM major back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I barely had time to breathe with my 16 hour/wk job. (Then again, I transferred in, so I did the major in three years.) Anyhow, your note about his doing research triggered the thought that he will need to weigh carefully whether he'll have time for an RA job.

 

Dd has mentioned that her home is her workplace, and that is interesting sometimes. In theory, she could study while she is scheduled to man the dorm's entrance desk, but in reality, when she's there, she needs to be available to the girls. (One could hope guys would be different.)

 

ETA: just talked to dd. She says that being a guy RA is very different from being a girl RA, so he really needs to get to know some RAs and pick their brain. (Smart girl.) She repeated some of the same thoughts I've shared above, but the one other thing she mentioned is that he needs to know whether he really likes having the company of a roomate or not, if his campus puts all RAs in single rooms. On her campus, all RAs live in single rooms, and she really misses having a roomate like she had her freshman year. (She and her roomie got along very well, and even though they had different sets of friends, they really enjoyed one another's company.)

Edited by Valerie(TX)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My brother was an RA his sophomore year. I think that's common these days, as many colleges only have dorms for Freshmen.

 

He liked it, met his future wife (they got involved and she had to switch dorms :p), and eventually graduated. He was not, however, pre-med, and that's so competitive that the potentially tremendous time commitment would concern me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Middle son told me yesterday that his RA asked him to apply to be an RA for the next school year. I didn't expect that from freshman year. He'll just be a sophomore next year. In my day (eons ago) all RAs were juniors or seniors.

 

I have no idea if he'll be accepted or not, but if you've had experience (or your student has) with being an RA, can you list pros and cons here? Was your experience mainly positive or negative? Any and all info appreciated.

 

If he's accepted, "Learning to be an RA" classes start next semester.

 

Right off hand, I'm thinking cons would include time involved and having to "solve" all the issues that could come up from drunk or unruly roomies and roommate issues to homesickness of varying degrees. Pros would include cheaper room & board plus it would probably look good on a med or grad school app due to the experience (training and experience).

 

Are there other pros/cons? IYE, did the pros or cons outweigh each other?

 

Ultimately, I'm going to let him decide, of course, but since he asked for thoughts...

 

 

I was never an R.A. because music majors were prohibited from signing up due to the fact that we spent so many hours in the practice room, traveling on weekends to performances, etc. that were not around the dorms much. But, dh was an R.A. his senior year.

 

He says he enjoyed it. He had a really good group of guys, except ONE, and he planned unusual things for them to do together - "Wreck the Halls" instead of "Deck the Halls" at Christmas in which he lined the halls with white butcher block paper, trimmed it with garland, and let the guys go crazy with "graffiti" (though they did have to keep it clean because it was a SERIOUS honor's dorm with a strict moral code - ie. no alcohol and no partying...it was for people who really wanted to study and had very difficult majors. Stuff like that....freshman welcome dinner, a weekend camping trip, etc.

 

He had monthly meetings with the resident director and dorm housing director and those were generally just informational unless there had been a problem. The "one" was a young man that ended up sneaking alcohol into the dorm on more than one occasion and also was on academic probation. So, unfortunately, he ended up being on disciplinary probation with restrictions, and dh did have to go to extra meetings, meet with that person every single day at dinner time, and make reports on his progress to the dean. That was kind of a pain, but overall, he really says he loved being an R.A.

 

From my perspective, since I knew was friends with several of the girlfriends of the guys on his floor, I can say that they liked Dh and all got along pretty well, so that made for an easy year.

 

On the other hand, there was a co-ed dorm floor that was so riotous and immature, that they went through three R.A.'s in one semester as people just quit and begged to be transferred to other floors. By the middle of the second semester, 3/4ths of those students were expelled...we are taking about getting to the place that they'd party and break bathroom fixtures, ripped a couple phones from the walls, broke some windows, etc. People who wanted to drink and smoke pot, but not go to school. I don't envy the R.A.'s that started out with them!

 

I think it can be a great experience. I also think that there can be extenuating circumstances that make it not worth the generally, low or paltry pay. A lot is going to depend on the guidelines and purpose of the dorm he's in, and the group of people he'll be overseeing. If he's in honors housing with people who are fairly mature, and focused on their major, he will probably like the job.

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again. I sent him an e-mail suggesting he talk with current RAs and really consider the pros/cons they bring up plus giving him some examples folks here have brought up.

 

I think it could be really good IF he got a floor like he lives on now. However, I can also envision some of the floors he might get stuck with and those would be harsh for a pre-med "involved in research" student.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it could be really good IF he got a floor like he lives on now. However, I can also envision some of the floors he might get stuck with and those would be harsh for a pre-med "involved in research" student.

 

This. My dd thought she wanted to apply to be an RA, until she helped her RA clean vomit in the hall bathroom one time too many. :glare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Financially it made a huge difference (I had almost no money from my parents). I was the head RA for two years, and that was even better because I got a small 2-bedroom apartment that I shared with a friend ;).

 

Practically it was tough at times. I was a STEM major who had to spend a lot of time in the labs, and I had to manage my time to fit in the in-room hours. And of course there were times that I had a big exam coming and got a call in the middle of the night. When I was the head RA I didn't have the in-room hours most of the time, but I wore a pager 24/7.

 

No regrets because I never had to take out any loans for school, but I was also pretty burned out when I graduated. It was a tough job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is great he's looking into becoming an RA. One thing to check carefully is the exactly job commitment. In my college days the RA just lived on the hall, dealt with crisis issues (like you said roommate conflict, drunken stuff, locked out of room), and they planned occasional programming.

 

A couple of students I've spoken with recently who are RAs at larger state universities, had additional job requirements. In addition to living on the hall and dealing with student issues, one student also had to work 15 hours a week at the dorm front desk and it was busy enough that he couldn't get a lot of studying done during this time. So, it quickly added up to more hours than he should have been working. My policy is 10 hour a week jobs are great for a lot of students - 20 or 30 hours a week is too much for most to earn top grades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was an RC in my Junior/Senior years. I supervised 2 RAs -- one whom was a (sophomore) pre-med student. It was a great experience. You get free room and a stipend for "shadowing" or being there. A lot of the job is pure socialization -- getting to know the dorm residents and making them feel welcome.

 

I would not worry about dealing with drunken parties or crazy situations. That is always the RC's job. I never made my RAs deal with that -- they would immediately notify me if something was happening. There are weekly staff meetings and one night's commitment (2 hours) for social activities. All in all, an average of 10-15 hours a week in actual paper/grudge work and the pay is far better than work-study. And nowadays they do have the RAs work the Student Union/Residence Life office. Not bad in my opinion. Everything else is you being in the dorm (availability or on-call) if a student needs you, which is rare.

Edited by tex-mex
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again all. I mentioned many of the pros/cons heard here to him and left him checking with RAs at his school to see what their experiences have been like. He is definitely social, so that part wouldn't bug him.

 

I haven't heard any follow up as he's been busy studying for tests and doing labs. The application is due on the 25th (if I remember correctly), so I suppose I'll know by then if he decided to continue with the process.

 

It's a job I think he'd be good at. I just worry about the time commitment (my mama duty I suppose).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My niece began working as an RA her sophmore year. The pros were a salary that allowed her to save enough money to work internships and take other lower income opportunities during the summer that have given her great job experience in her field rather than needing to earn money over the summer. She also has a double room assigned but no roommate and can live on campus as an upper class. She also has a parking space that is convenient to her dorm. The Cons-she does have some long and unusual hours depending on the problem that arises, she spends time attending and planning "spirit" activities, doing inspections, etc. She also only gets two weekends off-campus each semester.

 

She is a good student and doing well academically. She also seems successful as an RA. If I had a student who was not academically grounded I might not recommend the job. The hours you work are unpredictable and not necessarily compatible with students dependent on last minute study habits and all-nighters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just visiting to see how y'all are doing. I was an RA and so was my eldest dd. I was one during sr. year and it was good that they wanted more mature RAs. It helped me handle a lot of issues because I had "been there, done that" myself. I found that my empathy skills and conversational abilities got a good work out. I had freshmen and upperclassmen in my dorm (co-ed). Every 4 weekends I was not "on call". This was in the old days tho' when students basically took care of themselves and each other. General babysitting was not required but an open door, an open heart, and an open mind were.

My eldest dd is very responsible but, not particularly empathetic. She enjoyed the "leadership" aspects of being an RA but, not the touchy, feely, empathy stuff. She did not like being "bothered" by students with problems. She just did it for 1 year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We talked with middle son yesterday and he told us he decided not to pursue this further. It's just too risky with the time commitment and his being pre-med + wanting to do research + have a social life doing other activities. I'll admit to being secretly glad... but I'd have supported either decision he made.

 

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...