No college dorm description is complete without the harrowing tales of the overly "conscientious" Residential Advisor, or the exuberance accompanied with "Well, thank God my RA was lazy, so I got to do all these crazy things!" But at Williams College, first years are given two wonderful benefits in being in the entry system—firstly, they don't have to deal with RAs, and secondly, they have JAs. Freshman are given one of 28 entries (each of which consists of around 22 frosh and 2 juniors—the JAs), and live completely separately from upperclassmen. Pros and cons of the entry system is widely debated, but one thing that can't be questioned is how much easier JAs make the transition from high school to college.
People outside the college aren't told of how significant the JA's role is, and just how different from an RA the JA is. Also, students here are so comfortable with the presence of JAs that they forget how other schools' dorms are haunted with "dorm police." So here's a list of the differences between the two-
1. JAs are not paid.
This is a very significant difference—to quote an actual JA, "We're your parents, not your nannies." They are juniors who choose to live in freshman housing for a year, forsaking significant parts of their social lives and the opportunities to study abroad. My own JA gave up the chance to study in Brazil for a year and chose instead to spend it with us. And she did it for free.
2. A JA reporting freshmen to authorities is unheard of.
JAs taking the fall for freshmen, on the other hand, is pretty common. More often than not, JAs' names are taken when alcohol is found in freshmen dorms; if I ever got in trouble with Campus Safety, I'd definitely go to one of my JAs.
3. Psych services actually lists JAs as one of the sources of help that one can reach out to in case of mental health problems.
Students go to them for advice on school and academics, social life, and all sorts of problems. These upperclassmen always have the time to listen, despite having full time course loads and social lives of their own (something I'll admit I tend to forget).
4. Entry snacks and birthdays and love.
An entry meets up every Sunday night to share snacks and talk about the week and play games. Most entries share a very strong bond that is tethered by the two JAs. They never miss snacks, keep us up with school traditions, and make a point to celebrate every entry member's birthday. There are entry karaoke nights, entry apple picking, movie nights, and so on.
5. JAs are mentors. They teach us everything.
From time management to adjusting to the new social scene to picking the right dining hall for dinner, there's nothing they hold back. They don't police us around, and we see them more often than one would see an RA. My entry, like many others, calls the entry JAs mom and dad.
Bonus: JAs provide us with school-sponsored supplies of candy.
(What RA has ever done that?) The common room candy-condom bowl is refilled with candy every other day by the awesome JAs, and no one ever leaves the common room hungry. Mom just doesn't approve of that.
