Are the co-ops worth it?

novafan1225
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 18:52:49 +0000

@LkL5789 it depends, honestly. It’s often estimated as 10-15 hours per week of work, but it’s totally variable. For example, we work more during move-in and move-out manning the giant moving bins and checking people in/out. You proctor once a week (4 hours, but you can do homework, watch Netflix, whatever); you’ll have on average one duty shift a week, which is sitting in the RA office all evening, doing rounds of the building, and being on call overnight in case of an incident; preparing a bulletin board once a month; staff meeting once weekly, which is 1-2 hours; a meeting with your supervisor every other week for an hour; and the rest of the time is usually devoted to planning and doing programs, which is hugely variable- you may spend 10 hours on programming alone one week, and not at all the next. You can plan when you want your own programs to be (so long as you have at least one a month), so it can work with your schedule.

I was one of the kids working crazy hours, so it was definitely harder to make it work, but I think I did alright. I frequently e-mailed my residents to keep them in the loop of what I was up to and included relevant info for them (i.e, reminding them their options for going to the health center during flu season, good study spots for midterms, etc.) I had a few residents e-mail me when they wanted to talk and I was able to make time for them, it just couldn’t be as spur-of-the-moment. That being said, there are other RA’s around constantly doing programming and also available to talk so I don’t feel guilty for not being there every second- it’s not like I could even if I wasn’t working a crazy job.

All that being said… agree with kiddie that you shouldn’t apply if you really don’t want to do it. It will be miserable for both you and your residents. I happen to really enjoy it, so even when I’m busy I’m still making an effort and it doesn’t feel like work.