RLC is currently housed in Payne Hall, which has AC, 3 floors of suites, and 4th floors with traditional rooms. I have experience living in Payne (in 2012, when RLC was in Peddrew Yates) and it was really nice. It’s pretty centrally located to dining halls on the residential side and about the average distance to the academic side of campus. Payne costs more than traditional freshman dorms so that may be something to note if you are concerned about cost, but there are other dorms that cost the same or more.
The suite style part is nice, you’ll only have to share a bathroom with 3-5 people and you get your own common living area. The traditional rooms are also nicer than the typical freshman dorms. The communal bathroom was usually empty or only had one other person when I used it, even for showering before class.
If you are genuinely interested in leadership or being involved on campus, RLC is a great opportunity and exposes you to a lot of stuff on campus very quickly. There are required class components, so that can be a con if you aren’t actually interested (I took one class as an elective and found it very interesting), and the classes require a decent amount of leadership or event related work depending on the teacher. The community is pretty involved, so that can also be seen as a pro or con depending on your personality.
This page is overall helpful: http://www.rlc.alce.vt.edu/FutureStudents/index.html
For application notification: Beginning in February, applications will be read and applicants will be notified of their status by the 5th of the month following their application.