A Day in the Life of an RA

By Breanna Palzer | Published by April 25, 2019

One of the most valued positions to have on Kean University’s campus is as a Residential Assistant. An RA job comes with free room and board and a lot of responsibility.

The Residential Assistant is the student who looks over one of the many floors in a dormitory and makes sure everything runs smoothly.  Every month they are responsible for making a creative bulletin board as well as doing monthly room inspections and meetings with residents on their floor.

RAs are also responsible for holding a floor event once a month.  For example, an RA did an event where they served hot chocolate to help students warm up from the cold weather outside.

“Since this is a dry campus, we also have to make sure no one is drinking or smoking in their rooms. It’s a pretty hard job,” said Residential Assistant, Ashley Winrow.

Ashley has been an RA for two semesters and says it has been a very positive experience.

“It’s given me a sense of responsibility and taught me how to be more mature,” Winrow said.

Even though there are many responsibilities an RA must assume, the perks are nice. An RA can look forward to their own room; no roommates!

“It’s so nice,” said Winrow. “I have a double bed in my room and I get to have my own space. That’s one of the things I really like about being an RA is having my own space.”

Students who have this position also often work somewhere else on campus to get cash flow.
“Yeah, I don’t get paid to be a RA. I get the free room and board but in order to get money I had to pick up a job as the mailroom manager,” said Winrow.

This may seem like a lot to have on one’s plate but often RAs have time to do homework and such during their shifts along with a flexible schedule that works around their work schedule.

To become an RA, there are easy steps to follow to get the position. Grades are first priority; you need a 3.0 GPA in order to even be considered.

Once you accomplish that, you then must attend three seminars about what an RA does and what is needed from you to become an RA.  The candidate must then attend a group interviewing process where Resident Hall Directors decide whether or not you get to move onto the next stage of the process.

If you are chosen, you are then asked to come up with your own floor event and make a flyer for it.

There is one more round of interviews for the RA position and then about three months later, you will be notified on whether or not you received the position.

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