Here at Merrimack College, a resident advisor (RA) is an upper class student that works for the resident life department. Their main responsibilities are to make every effort to work with their community to establish guidelines and living agreements that are comfortable for everyone. The following pros and cons list talks about some of the good and bad things about being an RA at Merrimack College.
Pros:
- Free room and board
- It looks great on a resume
- Endless amount of references
- You get your own room or get to choose your roommates
- You learn great leadership and people skills
- You get to meet a lot of new people
- It puts you at a higher standard among your fellow classmates
- Other students look up to you
Cons:
- Nobody likes the RA
- Very very very very time consuming
- Not being able to go out on some weekends because of RA duty
- Residents bothering you for small things
- Having to attend a ton of RA meetings and trainings
- You can’t work at the bookstore, Sak info desk, MAC info desk, or be an OL because it interferes with RA trainings
- Not getting weekly pay
- Having to do room checks
- Can’t leave school until everyone is gone
- Having to write people up and get them in trouble
