be an RA

Always in the fishbowl.

I’ve been in residence life for 3 years!! It’s been a wonderful experience, but I’m definitely ready for a break. :P It’s true that it’s a lot of rules and meetings, but in the mix of it all I have made wonderful friends and some great memories. :)

The second interview, which was a group interview, was today. I feel better about this interview than my individual one. I’m just anxious to find out if I am going to be an R.A. next year…two weeks!

I had my first interview today. It was terribly nerve wracking, and honestly, I don’t know how it went. I hope it went well.

Well, the application, recommendations, resume, and cover letter are now all turned in. I’ll have my interviews in a week/two weeks. I’m nervous!

Man, it’s like swimming in a sea of red tape. Interactions with my superiors could be straight out of Joseph Heller’s magnum opus.

What happens when you take a full time college senior, taking senior level courses, and make them go through 30+ hours (yeah that’s not an exaggeration) of pointless meetings and duty hours a week? I’ll tell you. Crap tastic grades and virtually nothing to show for it.

Oh, I looked into the requirements before applying. I got the best recommendations, lived in the halls the entire time I was in college, even worked with RHA and hall governments every semester I was enrolled. I’m a seasoned programmer, and damn good at it if I say so myself. But honestly, dealing with drunken idiots and planning 4 to 8 detailed programs a month is only the beginning of this gig.

If the ridiculously pointless meetings don’t kill you, the continuous flow of paperwork you have to deal with will. Amongst our staff, it’s quietly referred to as “confetti”. There was once a time when I looked forward to receiving an email or phone call, now I cringe every time my cell buzzes.

On top of the fact that your social life becomes a very distant memory. But if you are somehow able to have a social life, be prepared to become the ant under the magnifying glass as your superiors will hungrily hunt down gossip, any gossip regarding you and threaten to fire you over it. Regardless of whether it’s true or even actually feasible.

You can drink if you’re 21, but it’s a fireable offense. By the end the time-management strategy I imposed upon myself was this:
“If this is fun, entertaining, or even remotely relaxing . . . get back to f###ing work.“

I know this might seem very apparent, but this isn’t just a job you leave at the office, but let me expand a little here. You don’t just go off the clock you’re done with rounds, done with office hours, and are outside of the meetings. Or even once you leave campus. A “Mandatory Emergency Meeting” can be called (and canceled minutes prior to your arrival) at all hours of the day/night for any arbitrary reason at all deemed fit by the one of your many superiors and to which should you fail to attend, you will be fired. You don’t own any of your own time anymore. It all belongs to the residence life.

I eventually realized the mistake I’d made and that while I like the book Cath-22, I don’t care living in it. I look forward to someday enjoying those magical things called “evenings” or the much more elusive “weekends.”

Believe me when I tell you, this hell isn’t worth the room and board alone. Probably not even if they threw in tuition. At least not at this school.

I’d strongly urge anyone to rethink becoming an RA. The main reason you’re in school is to learn, and if you’re too busy with endless bullshit to do that, there’s just no point even being here.