RAs, GAs reflect on job perks

On-campus housing isn’t complete without a resident or graduate adviser living down the hall. As sophomores and juniors, many students begin thinking about becoming RAs and GAs themselves.

Chia Wu — a Medical and Wharton MBA student who is also a first-year Harrison College House GA — compared the RA/GA application process to college applications.

“One common application works for most houses, but not all; others have supplements,” he said. All applications require two letters of recommendation and involve a series of interviews. Most details, Wu added, can be found on the Penn housing website.

A College sophomore — who wished to remain anonymous because she has not yet secured the position — is applying to become an RA in Rodin College House for the 2012-13 school year. She said while the housing website has been helpful, she has gotten most of her tips from friends who are currently RAs.

As an international student, the sophomore sees the RA job as a form of financial aid.

“Our tuition increases [every year] and it is very difficult for international students to find [a] way to receive some form of financial assistance,” she said, since international students do not receive need-blind financial aid from Penn. “RAs get free housing [and a] meal plan.”

For Wu, one of the greatest benefits of becoming a GA is having the opportunity to form relationships with hall members.

“Occasionally I’ll have one or two students who [have] a really tough time and they’ll share their story with me,” he said. “[It’s] really empowering [when] you make people feel better.”

That’s not to say, however, that being an RA or GA doesn’t come with challenges.

GA William McGill, an Engineering master’s degree student who has been living in Kings Court English College House for five years, said the greatest challenge for him has been “riding the thin line between being friends with all your residents … and being the cop enforcing all the rules of the University and the house.”

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