Questions to Ask an RA
An RA is a resident assistant, called a resident advisor or community advisor at some schools: the student staff member who lives on your floor. These questions to ask an RA are for residents in their first weeks and for visitors on a housing tour, in six groups that run from the rules and the building through roommates and getting help to campus life, with a last group for anyone thinking of applying for the job. Policies, fees and reporting duties differ from one school to the next, so treat each answer as how it works in that hall.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Rules
When are quiet hours, and how strictly are they kept here?
Why ask it
The posted times are only half of the answer. The other half is whether the RA knocks at the first minute or waits for a complaint, and whether the hours stretch during exams. If you sleep early or work late shifts, say so now and find out which end of the hall is calmer.
What is the guest policy, and does an overnight visitor have to be signed in?
Why ask it
Guest rules differ widely between schools, from open doors to a sign-in desk and a limit on nights. Get the exact steps before a friend or sibling visits. Then ask who answers for it when a guest breaks a rule, because the answer may be you.
What am I not allowed to keep in my room?
Why ask it
Worth raising before you shop. Banned lists differ by building and often turn on fire safety, so name the things you were planning to bring: a kettle, candles, an extension cord, string lights, anything that hangs on the wall. The RA can also tell you what the hall already provides, which saves buying it twice.
Which rules do people on this floor break most often without meaning to?
Why ask it
The housing handbook is long, and an RA knows which three or four lines in it lead to most of the write-ups in that building. It tends to be something dull, such as a propped door or a guest who was never signed in. Better to hear it in the first week than to read it in an incident report.
What happens if I get written up?
Why ask it
Few students have a picture of the process until they are in it. The parts to pin down are who reads the report, whether there is a meeting, and what a first minor incident usually leads to. The RA may only write down what happened while someone else decides, so find out how you would give your side.
What are the rules on alcohol here, and what happens if I call for help for someone who has been drinking?
Why ask it
The rules depend on the school, the building and the law where it sits, so get this hall's version in plain words. The second half is the part to listen to: some schools do not punish a student who calls for help for a friend and others make no such promise, and the RA will know which this one is. Whatever the policy, a person who cannot be woken is a call to the emergency number, not a question for the morning.
Do you inspect rooms, and how much notice do we get?
Why ask it
Health and safety checks are routine in a lot of residence halls, and they are less alarming once you know the schedule. What staff look at, whether they open drawers or closets, and what follows a banned item are all fair things to raise. If the dates are announced, put them in your calendar.
The building
What is the best way to reach you, and when are you usually around?
Why ask it
Some RAs want a knock, some a text, some a note on the whiteboard. They also have classes and a life, so learn the hours when a visit is welcome. In the same breath, check what to do when the door is shut and the matter cannot wait.
What do I do if I lock myself out?
Why ask it
It will happen, quite possibly on the way back from the shower. You need three facts: who lets you in by day, who does it at night, and whether there is a fee that grows with each lockout. Your phone may be locked in the room too, so learn where the front desk is instead of relying on a saved number.
Who do I tell when something in my room breaks?
Why ask it
The route is usually a maintenance request and not the RA's door, but the RA knows how to word one so it gets picked up and what to do when it sits for a week. Have them tell you which problems count as urgent, such as a leak or a lock that will not close, and who takes those after hours.
How do the shared kitchen, bathrooms and laundry work?
Why ask it
Shared rooms run on unwritten rules: how long laundry can sit in a machine before someone moves it, who wipes down the kitchen, whether food in the fridge is safe with a name on it. The line between what the cleaning staff cover and what is left to residents is worth knowing too. Your RA has seen which habits start arguments and will usually say.
How do mail and packages work here?
Why ask it
Get your address written out exactly, because a missing room or box number can send a parcel back. After that it is the pickup hours, what ID the mailroom wants and how long it will hold a package. Sort this out before anyone sends you something that will spoil.
Does the building close over breaks, and what do I have to do before I leave?
Why ask it
Halls can close or change their rules over breaks, and the dates catch people out when a flight is already booked. Whether you can stay, whether it costs extra and what state the room must be left in all differ by school. For the end of the year, have the RA name the damage charges that come up most, since those are the avoidable ones.
What is this floor like on a weeknight, and what changes on the weekend?
Why ask it
A good one for a tour or the first week, because no brochure answers it. Listen for whether doors stay open, where the noise comes from and how many people go home on Fridays. If the description does not suit how you live, the follow-up is what residents in your position have done about it.
What do residents wish they had known before they moved into this building?
Why ask it
Made for prospective students, and worth putting to two different RAs. The answers are small and practical: which rooms get hot, how far the dining hall feels in winter, what is not worth packing. Follow up with what the RA would look for if they were choosing a hall again.
Roommates
What should my roommate and I settle in the first week?
Why ask it
An RA has watched the same few topics turn into conflict year after year and can name them faster than any list. Take the answer back to your roommate as 'the RA said we should talk about this', which makes an awkward conversation easier to start.
Is there a roommate agreement, and what happens to it after we fill it in?
Why ask it
A written agreement is only as good as the next time somebody looks at it. Does the RA keep a copy, can it be rewritten mid-year, and does it carry any weight when one of you ignores it? If the hall has no form, see whether the RA would sit in while you write your own.
At what point should I bring a roommate problem to you?
Why ask it
Students tend to wait until they are furious, and by then the options have narrowed. Plenty of RAs would sooner hear about it early, even if only to talk through what to say, but let yours tell you. Find out what they would expect you to have tried first, so you arrive having done it.
If I talk to you about my roommate, will they know it came from me?
Why ask it
The fear of being found out keeps a lot of people quiet. An honest RA will say what can stay between the two of you and where a formal complaint or a safety concern changes that. Knowing in advance lets you choose between asking for advice and asking for action.
What does a roommate mediation with you look like?
Why ask it
Knowing the format takes much of the dread out of it: how long it runs, whether each of you gets to speak without interruption, whether it ends in a written plan. The telling detail is what happens when the plan fails, because that is where you learn whether a second meeting or a room change comes next.
How does a room change work, and how long does it take?
Why ask it
The RA is rarely the one who approves a move, so the useful details are who does, the steps and the wait. There may be a freeze at the start of term or a rule that mediation comes first, and you may or may not get a say in where you go. Do not pack on the strength of a hallway conversation.
What can I do if my roommate's guest is in our room all the time?
Why ask it
A hard one to raise, because the guest is often somebody your roommate loves. The RA can tell you what the guest policy gives you to stand on and suggest wording that is about the room and not about the person. Some policies require a roommate's agreement to overnight stays, so check whether this one does.
What do I do if the problem is a neighbor and not my roommate?
Why ask it
Noise through a wall or a group that takes over the lounge is harder, because you have no agreement with those people. Some RAs want you to knock on the door yourself first and some would sooner you came to them. For noise during quiet hours, the person on duty may be the one to call.
What should I do if I do not feel safe around my roommate?
Why ask it
This is a different matter from an annoying roommate, and it should not wait for a mediation slot. You want to leave knowing who to contact right away, whether there is somewhere else you could sleep that night, and what the school does next. If you are in that position now, say so plainly instead of asking it as a what-if.
Getting help
Who do I call at night when you are not on duty?
Why ask it
Duty is commonly shared on a rotation, so the person who answers may be an RA you have never met. Get the duty number, the hours it is answered and where it is posted, then save it before you need it. It also helps to know which professional staff member backs up the student holding the phone.
When should I call the RA on duty, and when should I call campus safety instead?
Why ask it
People lose minutes deciding who to call, so have the RA draw the line: a lockout or a loud room on one side, a fire, an injury or a person in danger on the other. When somebody may be in danger, do not stop to work out the right desk. Call the emergency number and tell the RA afterward.
If I tell you something personal, what are you required to pass on?
Why ask it
RAs are staff, and they may be obliged to report certain things they hear to their supervisors or to another office. Which things, and to whom, depends on the school and where it is, so ask how it works there. A useful second question is where on campus you could talk to someone in confidence.
Where do I go if I am falling behind in a class?
Why ask it
Campuses tend to have more academic help than new students find on their own: tutoring, a writing center, office hours, advisors. The RA can say which ones people on the floor go back to and which have a waiting list. Bring it up early in the term, while dropping or switching a course may still be possible.
How do I get an appointment at the counseling center, and how long is the wait?
Why ask it
The wait is the part nobody prints. An RA may know whether there are same-day slots, a phone line outside office hours or groups that are quicker to join. If going alone feels like too much, see if they would walk over with you the first time.
What should I do if I am worried about someone on the floor?
Why ask it
You do not need to be certain something is wrong before you mention it. What the RA would do with the information, and whether your name would be attached, are both fair to settle first. If the worry is that a person may hurt themselves tonight, do not hold it for a convenient moment: tell the RA on duty or call the emergency number now.
What happens if I get sick and cannot leave my room?
Why ask it
Start with where the health center is, what a visit costs and what is open on a weekend. Some dining halls will pack a meal for a friend to carry back, and some schools have a way of letting professors know, so check whether either exists there. It is a dull question until the night you have a fever.
Who can help if I am running short of money for food or books?
Why ask it
Hard to ask in the moment, which is why it helps to raise it as a general question in the first weeks. An RA may know of a food pantry, emergency grants, donated meal swipes or a textbook loan shelf, and who runs each. They are not the financial aid office, so take the names and go to the source.
What do we do when the fire alarm goes off?
Why ask it
Learn the exit nearest your room and the spot outside where the floor gathers. Staying inside can bring a fine at some schools, so hear what the rule is and how often drills run. If a disability or an injury makes stairs hard for you, raise it now so a plan exists before the first alarm.
Is there a safe way to get back here late at night?
Why ask it
Shuttles, walking escorts and which entrances stay unlocked after dark are the three things to cover. The RA walks the same paths you do and can tell you which route is lit and which doors need a card. Save any phone numbers on the spot.
What do I do if something of mine goes missing?
Why ask it
Find out who takes the report, the hall staff or campus safety, and whether the school covers anything stolen from a room. If it does not, that is a question for whoever insures your family, not for the RA. An RA can also say how often it happens in the building and whether doors tend to be left open.
Campus life
What is coming up on the floor that is worth showing up to?
Why ask it
RAs plan events and want people at them, so expect an enthusiastic answer. The better questions are which ones drew a crowd last time and which come with food. Going to one in the first month is a cheap way to learn ten names.
What are you studying, and what year are you in?
Why ask it
A plain opener for move-in day or the first floor meeting, and more useful than most small talk. An RA a year or two ahead of you in the same major can say which courses not to stack in one term and where the department's students go to work. If your fields differ, they may know who on the floor shares yours.
How did you meet people in your first year?
Why ask it
Your RA was a new student not long ago, and this is a personal question they tend to enjoy. The answer is usually one club, one class or one open door, which is easier to believe than a list of forty organizations. What they tried that did not work is worth hearing too.
I am having trouble meeting people. What would you do in my place?
Why ask it
Say it straight. It is a common thing for an RA to hear, and a good one will offer something concrete, such as an introduction to a resident in your major or a seat at a dinner table. If the loneliness has started to affect your sleep or classes, tell them that as well.
What mistake do you see first-year students make every fall?
Why ask it
RAs tend to have a short list: going home every weekend, letting a morning class slide until it is too late to catch up, running through the dining money by October. Whichever they name, the follow-up is what the students who avoided it did differently.
Where do I find out what is happening on campus this week?
Why ask it
Each school has its own place for this: an app, a calendar, a wall of posters, a group chat. What you want is the one students really check, and whether the floor has a chat of its own. A recurring event the RA goes to is the best thing to come away with, since a weekly thing is easier to join than a one-off.
Is there a hall council or floor government, and how do I get on it?
Why ask it
Where one exists, it is a group of residents who plan events with a small budget and speak for the building. It makes an easy first leadership role, and it lets you see how the hall is run before deciding whether to apply for the RA job. Sign-ups or elections can come very early in the year, so get the date.
Can I suggest an event, or help you run one?
Why ask it
Ideas and extra hands are welcome on nearly any floor, so the likely answer is yes. Offer something specific you could bring, such as a game, a recipe or a skill to teach. If you are thinking about the RA job later, this is a low-stakes way to watch a program get planned and paid for.
Where do people on this floor study when their room is not working?
Why ask it
Useful when a roommate keeps different hours from yours. An RA knows the lounge that stays empty, the library floor where talking is allowed and the building that is open late. Exam weeks are the real test, when every good spot fills, so get a second choice as well.
Where do you eat when you are tired of the dining hall?
Why ask it
A light one for a hallway chat or a tour, and the answer tends to be practical: which dining hall is worth the walk, what stays open late, where else the meal plan is accepted. An RA who cooks can also say whether the floor kitchen is worth the trouble.
The RA job
What is being an RA really like from week to week?
Why ask it
Have them describe last week, not the job description. You should hear some mix of staff meetings, duty nights, paperwork, doorway conversations and the odd knock at two in the morning. If the account is all community and no paperwork, press gently on what the paperwork is.
Why did you apply, and has the job turned out the way you pictured?
Why ask it
Reasons run from the housing benefit to wanting to be the RA they once needed, and neither is wrong. The second half of the question is where the information is. Notice what surprised them, since it will probably surprise you.
What is the hardest part of the job?
Why ask it
You may hear about enforcing rules on people they like, never being fully off the clock at home, or carrying something heavy a resident told them. How they cope with it, and who they go to, matters as much as the answer. It is also good material if an interviewer later asks what you expect to find difficult.
What does the school give you for doing this, and does it feel like a fair trade?
Why ask it
Compensation differs a great deal: a room, a meal plan, a stipend, an hourly wage, or some mix of them. Hear what this RA receives, then check the current terms with the housing office, since packages change. If you receive financial aid, the aid office is the place to learn how the benefit would be counted, and before you apply is the time.
How much of your week does it take once duty and meetings are counted?
Why ask it
The official figure and the lived one can sit far apart. Have them count staff meetings, one-on-ones with their supervisor, duty shifts, programs and the conversations that start while they are walking to the bathroom. Set the total against your own course load and any other job you hold.
What is a duty night like?
Why ask it
The practical details first: when it starts, whether they must stay in the building, how many rounds they walk and what the calls are about. One quiet night and one that was not, told without names, will show you the range. Their turn may come around more often than you would guess, weekends and holidays included, so get the number.
How do you handle documenting someone you are friends with?
Why ask it
Candidates tend to underestimate this part. Listen for whether the RA has a settled way of doing it, such as telling friends in advance that they will not look away. If the idea makes you wince, better to learn that now than in a hallway at midnight.
What did training cover, and what did it leave you unprepared for?
Why ask it
Get the dates as well as the topics, because training can fall before the term starts and cut into a summer job or a trip home. The gap they name is worth more than the syllabus. It shows where new RAs lean on their supervisor and on each other.
How has the job changed your grades, your sleep and your friendships?
Why ask it
Take the three one at a time, since a general 'it is fine' hides the detail. Some people find the structure steadies them and others find the interruptions cost them. Something usually goes to make room for the job, and what this RA gave up is the detail to come away with.
What was the application like, and what do you think they were looking for?
Why ask it
Processes vary: an essay, references, a group activity, one interview or several. A current RA can describe the rounds and say which one caught people out. Treat their idea of what got them hired as one person's guess, since they did not sit on the panel.
When do applications open, and who should I talk to next?
Why ask it
Hiring can run months ahead of the year you would work, so a casual interest may already be close to a deadline. Come away with the date, any information session and the name of the professional staff member who supervises the building. Introducing yourself to that person before you apply costs nothing.
Knowing what you know now, would you apply again?
Why ask it
Save it for last. A quick yes with reasons is encouraging, and a long pause followed by 'it depends' is just as informative. Whichever you get, find out who the job suits and who it does not, and place yourself honestly.
How to get useful answers from your RA
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
When and how to catch your RA
Use the first two weeks
RAs expect questions at the start of term. Move-in, the first floor meeting and the early rounds are the easy openings. A question about quiet hours in week one is only a question. In week nine it can sound like a complaint about a particular door.
Match the channel to the size of the question
A lockout fee or a laundry question suits a text or a word in the hall. A roommate problem or anything personal deserves a closed door and ten minutes, so ask when would be a good time instead of starting in the corridor. Anything urgent at night goes to whoever is on duty, not to your own RA's phone.
On a tour, ask what the brochure cannot say
If an RA is on a panel or showing a room, skip the square footage and go to The building: what a weeknight is like and what residents wish they had known. From Rules, how strictly quiet hours are kept says a lot about how the hall is run. Two or three questions is plenty with a group waiting, and check which hall the RA lives in, because another building can be a different place.
Remember they are a student too
Your RA has exams the same week you do. A knock at a reasonable hour and a thank-you go a long way, and so does not treating them as a front desk. Where staff share duty on a rotation, it is there so that no single student has to be available every night.
What an RA can and cannot do
They know who decides
Room changes, charges, conduct outcomes and exceptions to policy are normally settled by professional staff. What the RA offers is the route: which office, which form, which person answers email. End any question about a decision with 'and who makes that call?'
They cannot promise secrecy
Before you share something heavy, ask what they would have to report. Asking is not a sign of distrust. It lets you choose what to say and where to say it, and a good RA will point you to a confidential service if that is what you need.
They are there to refer, not to treat
The job is to listen and to get people to the right help. RAs are not counselors, nurses, lawyers or financial aid officers, and the fair ones will tell you so. Take what they say about health, money or legal matters as a signpost and confirm the details with the office itself.
The rules are not theirs to waive
An RA who likes you still has to document what they see. Asking them to look the other way puts their position at risk and strains the friendship. Ask how the rule works and what the options are inside it.
Bringing a roommate problem
Arrive with specifics
'She is inconsiderate' gives an RA nothing to work with. 'Her alarm goes off five times from six, four days a week' does. Write down what happens, how often, and what you have already said to your roommate about it.
Say which kind of help you want
Advice on how to raise it yourself, a sit-down with both of you, and a formal complaint are three different requests. Tell the RA at the start which one you are making. You can move up a step later, and it is much harder to move back down.
Expect to be asked to talk first
A hall may only consider a move after the two of you have tried a conversation or a mediation. That can feel like a delay, so ask for a date for the next step before you leave the room. A safety concern is the exception and belongs in your first sentence.
If you are thinking about the job
Ask more than one RA
One person's year depends on their building, their supervisor and their floor. Put the questions under The RA job to two or three staff members, including one in a first-year hall and, if you can find one, one who is not coming back. Where their accounts agree, you have something to rely on.
Keep the hard ones for this conversation
A current RA has nothing to sell you. Hours, the strain of documenting friends and what the housing benefit is worth in practice are easier to hear about here than across an interview table. Placement, pay terms and dates are for the housing office, which holds the official answers.
Carry the answers into your application
Note the words RAs use for what the job demands. An application that mentions duty rounds, documentation and referrals shows you know what you would be signing up for. Thank the RA who gave you the time, since staff are sometimes asked what they think of a candidate.