A resident advisor room sits at the end of a hallway in Park-Stradely. Credit: Carly Damon | Asst. Photo Editor
Being a resident advisor is often associated with hosting hall meetings and busting dorm parties, but the reality of this role is more complex than many students might realize.
Over 1,000 students applied to be an Ohio State RA for 2025-26 academic year, but only a fraction will be selected to take the helm. Alex Smith, assistant director of Housing and Residence Education, said he focuses on finding candidates who can provide both emotional support and practical guidance to residents, especially as they navigate post-pandemic challenges.
“My goal is to have somebody on staff that every single person in the building can connect with,” Smith said. “Even if it’s not their specific RA.”
Smith said there’s a common misconception that any given RA is a “cookie-cutter” type of person. He said RAs are encouraged to be themselves and are not required to have any “specific personality type.” Instead, he looks for two main qualities in applicants.
“What I want is people who care about their students,” Smith said. “That, to me, is the No. 1 qualification. I can teach most of the rest of things, but the students that care about their fellow students and who are willing to have conversations with them, sometimes tough conversations with them, those are the two big qualifications of what makes [an] RA.”
Potential RA candidates must complete an initial form, which contains two essay questions pertaining to their motivations for applying. Following this stage of the process, candidates are initially filtered by grade point average. Notably, Smith said a candidate must maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher throughout the entire process.
The candidates are then individually interviewed by two staff members. Each interviewee answers the same questions for that year’s hiring cycle, and their answers are scored according to a rubric.
Despite the scoring rubric, Smith said the interviews are ultimately an avenue for candidates to show who they really are. Often, he said staff members look for a standout trait that paints a picture of a candidate’s inner character.
When evaluating RA candidates, Smith said it is crucial to identify characteristics that will help them support the unique needs of students — especially in the post-pandemic environment.
“For example, the students that are freshmen coming in, incoming freshmen this year, they were eighth graders when COVID hit,” Smith said. “So, how does that affect them? How does that impact their experience, socially, academically, emotionally?”
Matt Wright, residence hall director at Park-Stradley Hall, said COVID-19’s effects on the student population are still evident in key issues tackled by RAs, citing the lack of face-to-face interaction during the pandemic as a cause.
“I think two years after [the pandemic], students struggle so much to just live with someone and try to talk about those boundaries,” Wright said. “And so, I think I’m still noticing residual effects of that, and I guess I’m hoping for that to go away.”
Smith said though candidates do not all share the same background, the important part is how they handle core issues, namely conflict resolution.
“We get lots of people who can talk, who will come in [and] say, ‘I was captain on my high school, insert athletic team here, and I managed this conflict between people,’” Smith said. “But I’ll also get people who say, you know, ‘I worked at McDonald’s, and I engaged with customers; I had to talk to customers who weren’t happy and wanted their money back, and de-escalate situations,’ both of which are equally valid.”
The success of RA candidates chosen for the position is not only dependent on their interpersonal skills, but also hinges on how well they can integrate into the dorm they’re assigned to.
Wright — who is in his second year working at Park-Stradley, having previously been the residence hall director for the Mendoza, Norton and Scott dorms — said he didn’t initially know what Park-Stradley had to offer.
“I just knew it was a larger building than I had [before],” Wright said. “With larger buildings, you assume there’s more alcohol and cannabis problems, and honestly, I was wrong. There’s a lot more of the conflict mediation with roommates right now [in Park-Stradley].”
As he rifles through this year’s RA applications, Wright said he is keeping conflict resolution skills in mind when reviewing applications.
“Looking at my staff this year, I’m trying to look more to make sure I have those soft voices and making sure that we’re listening and able to support them,” Wright said.
The end result isn’t always an offer or rejection, Smith said. There is also a third option to join the “alternate pool,” which functions as a waitlist.
“If we lose a candidate, then we can say, ‘OK, these people were also great candidates that we still have [a] place for,’” Smith said.
The alternate pool became more critical when Morrill Tower increased its population from 10 students per suite to 16 students per suite prior to the 2024-25 fall semester, per prior Lantern reporting.
Even though the Morrill suites are built to accommodate up to 16 students per suite, Smith said he feels students weren’t necessarily getting the support they needed from the tower’s staff, which led to pulling candidates from the alternate pool, Smith said.
“We like our percentages in terms of staff support to student support to be, ideally, one RA to 35 residents, but [it] usually ends up between 35 and 40,” Smith said. “But that many people on a floor in Morrill, it’s like 80 people, so you need a second RA because one RA to 80 people just doesn’t all work. So, adding that second staff member supported us going back up to larger numbers.”
Ultimately, Smith said the focus for the application process remains on finding individuals who care, communicate effectively and consistently meet the developing needs of the student population.
“I don’t want 20 of the same person on staff,” Smith said. “That would drive me freaking crazy.”
