How to become an RA 101

What is an RA, you may ask… Ripe Avocado? Radical Asexual? I must inform you that although these are great guesses, the abbreviation ‘RA’ simply stands for Resident Assistant. Now, I don’t imagine that helped you a great deal. Resident Assistants are returning students, who volunteered to take up the position of living in university accommodation and support freshers throughout their first year of university. The majority of an RA’s workload consists of organising diverse events for their residents and creating an inclusive community on their given site as well as being the first point of contact when something happens (be it a lost room key or maybe something more serious).

I decided to apply for the position mostly because I believed it would be a great experience towards my degree (which is Social Work). Part of my second-year studies, I am required to volunteer several hours per week in order to develop my ‘people skills’ and I thought that working with university students would be the perfect opportunity for me as I would like to specialise in young adults later in my career.

If you are reading this and you are thinking about trying out for the position of a Resident Assistant (at the University of Edinburgh as each university differs), let me tell you some of the perks that come with it. If you are successful, you are guaranteed a place in one of the university accommodations that other second and higher year students do not have. You also receive a 75% discount towards your rent, which makes a significant difference for every student.

So, what steps do you have to take to become an RA? It’s really quite simple (but not easy!). The first thing you need to do is get in touch with your existing warden and set up a meeting with them. They will briefly explain the job role and make sure you have no academic or other problems that would prevent you from fulfilling the job. After this meeting, you can proceed to submitting an online application. The application is rather basic and asks about personal information, academic situation and a few longer questions to get an idea what kind of person you are, what interests you and whether you have any concerns about the position. The third and final step is to go to an interview with the ResLife (organisation responsible for UoE accommodations) staff. This is for sure the most nerve-wracking step of the whole process, but be assured that everyone within ResLife is trying to be as supportive as possible.

After you are done with your interview, all you have to do is wait for one of the members of ResLife to get in touch with you via email and tell you whether you have been successful or not. If not, do not be disappointed, I’m sure it will work out next year. If yes, yay – welcome to the team!