Whether it is free room and board, involvement on campus, or getting new job skills, becoming an RA has its perks. However, it has it's fair share of struggles as well...

1. Training is like summer camp. Except for sad adult summer camp where you sit through lectures about regulations and conduct policy.

You spend weeks getting to know all of the other RAs on campus, preparing for the halls to open, and enjoying peace and quiet before the madness of school begins.

2. All those crafting skills your grandma taught you will come in handy.

Door decs, bulletin boards, program planners, the list goes on! You are like the next Martha Stewart of Residence Life.

3. What don’t you understand about the word mandatory?

Yes, we are having another floor meeting. Yes, you have to come. Yes, it is important. No, watching Netflix is not an excuse for you to be “busy.”

4. Programming has become your #1 skill.

Trying to get residents to hang out at your program is like trying to convince a penguin that it can fly. Honestly, just tell them there is free food and they will flock to your event in masses.

5. Quiet hours is not a suggestion.

I am trying to sleep. Your neighbors are trying to sleep. Your roommate is trying to sleep. Running around at 3 a.m. and having a guitar jam sesh with your buddies pisses everybody off. Please stop.

6. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...

Weekly report? Pfft, more like a 3-page essay of me ranting about how stressed my fellow RAs and I are. Not to mention incident reports, inventories, logbooks, and all of the other miscellaneous papers you need to keep track of.

7. Did someone say community?

Here in Residence Life, we are ALL about creating a community. Safe community. Welcoming community. Fun community. Involved community. Want a community? You name it, we got it.

8. It is NOT a dorm.

Residence hall. RESIDENCE HALL.

9. If you thought you left the drama in high school, you’re wrong.

As an RA, you will be constantly surrounded by college students, many of them freshman. A lot of the time, they can still be stuck in the high school dramatic mindset. And baby, I will tell you what, there is an abundance of drama.

10. When residents come back hammered and puke EVERYWHERE after asking you to buy them pizza.

Why are you like this? This is why we can't have nice things. Thanks for coming home safe, but next time don't party as hard.

11. Any and all default iPhone ringtone scares the crap out of you.

Even when you're out with your friends at a coffee shop and you hear the familiar melody of the on-call phone, you get SHOOK.

12. When snapping becomes your preferred method of communication.

Someone wins an award? Snap. You agree with your friends? Snap. A resident skips their class to take a nap? Snap. It works for literally anything.

13. Asking for nights away SUCKS.

If you thought you would have plenty of time to get off campus and go adventure this school year, you're wrong. You only get a small number of days (not to mention restricted weekends) to spend away from your hall and you have to ask your boss weeks in advance.

14. Just because we are friends doesn’t mean you can vape in the hallway.

Several things. A) vaping isn’t cool and never has been. B) Illegal substances have never been allowed on campus. C) I can see your juel, don’t lie to me. D) I am going to have to document you.

15. Finding out your resident has been illegally harboring pets in their room

Where the HELL did that mouse come from? It's your emotional support animal? What???

16. Having to file reports and still be friends with people you document.

Please don't hate me forever. I am just doing my job.

17. When someone across campus knows about your life before you do.

Residence Life gossip is real and it can be malicious. There will be so many crazy rumors, so be careful about believing things you hear about someone else.

18. You never really leave your job.

When you have a paper to write, tests to study for, and 99 other problems to deal with, but your residents also need you. They text and call you and sometimes just sit in your room for hours.

19. End of the semester burnout is real.

Working beyond your limits and pushing yourself constantly for yourself, your boss, and your residents really takes its toll. There just comes a point where you don't have the energy to try anymore.

20. Sobbing your eyes out when all of your residents go home for the summer.

Sure they may have annoyed you and provided endless headaches, but they also became some of your closest friends. You can only hope that some of them come back in the fall.

21. You'll never be the same after this job.

Being an RA could be one of the hardest things you have ever done. However, you make some good memories, lifelong friends, and learn how to be a better, kinder person.