My Resident Assistant experience at Southern Miss has been a complicated mixture of excitement, confusion, friendship, and various other emotions. To start from the beginning, I was selected as an RA three days before training began. It was one of the biggest decisions I have made as an adult. I was already legally locked into an apartment lease and did not even have an application for housing. I am a very detailed and organized person so the stress of such a big change in such a short amount of time was very stressful. I had to call the establishments I had been hired and break the bad news and decline several other job offers. I had to return all of the apartment items I bought and buy whatever items I needed to live in the residence hall.
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I originally took the RA position based on the scholarship. I did not want student loans and living off campus would mean that I would be working ridiculous hours at some job to pay rent I cannot afford. The job has not been that bad now that I reflect but it still was not great. The residents are not the hard part it was the work required by the Reslife department. There are several requirements, programs, papers, and etc. required from the resident assistants, but I do not thing that it is necessary. It just adds more work and makes everything more complicated. On Tuesday I went to Starkville, MS to speak with someone about becoming a Resident Adviser at Mississippi State in the fall. The area coordinator I met with almost had a heart attack I explained to him my job and program requirements here at Southern Miss. It is just too much work for the “benefit” we claim to receive. I have had a lot of fun here at Southern Miss and I have met some wonderful people, but I have never been more stressed in my college career. If I have a job or hold a position title I want to be able to say that I love it and tell people why they should join the Reslife staff. My time spent as a Resident Assistant was not hated. I just did not fully enjoy it. I also would not recommend it to anyone with a heavy class load or anyone involved in several college organizations or clubs. The Reslife program is going through several changes and maybe I just came in during a transitional period, but I do think they program needs to be updated, changed, or revised from what it currently
I originally took the RA position based on the scholarship. I did not want student loans and living off campus would mean that I would be working ridiculous hours at some job to pay rent I cannot afford. The job has not been that bad now that I reflect but it still was not great. The residents are not the hard part it was the work required by the Reslife department. There are several requirements, programs, papers, and etc. required from the resident assistants, but I do not thing that it is necessary. It just adds more work and makes everything more complicated. On Tuesday I went to Starkville, MS to speak with someone about becoming a Resident Adviser at Mississippi State in the fall. The area coordinator I met with almost had a heart attack I explained to him my job and program requirements here at Southern Miss. It is just too much work for the “benefit” we claim to receive. I have had a lot of fun here at Southern Miss and I have met some wonderful people, but I have never been more stressed in my college career. If I have a job or hold a position title I want to be able to say that I love it and tell people why they should join the Reslife staff. My time spent as a Resident Assistant was not hated. I just did not fully enjoy it. I also would not recommend it to anyone with a heavy class load or anyone involved in several college organizations or clubs. The Reslife program is going through several changes and maybe I just came in during a transitional period, but I do think they program needs to be updated, changed, or revised from what it currently