Daphne Franklin is a fourth-year Pharm.D. and Honors student at the University of South Carolina. The Virginia native has been a resident assistant in the Honors Residence Hall since 2024 while serving as a teaching assistant at the College of Pharmacy and a DJ for WUSC-FM.
Q: Why did you apply to be an RA in the first place?
Franklin: I wanted to be an RA because my sister had done it at a different college and she really liked it, and I also had a really good first-year RA who changed my freshman year. Also, for the RA role, you have to admit the benefits are really nice. It’s fun being on campus and involved with everything. Honestly, the part that has sort of kept me in the role and was part of the allure was leaving my mark on the university — getting involved with a bunch of freshmen and helping guide them through their first year. If I could go back, I would apply again. I would probably apply even earlier, like my sophomore year.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about being an RA?
Franklin: Definitely the residents themselves. I like forming that community and seeing how everybody grows throughout their first year. It’s rewarding to see people on the floor, naturally populating the space, and to see people hanging out in the study room. I’ll walk by a room and know there’s a bunch of people in there having fun. I really like watching people find their people. And past that, I love seeing my former residents on campus, talking to them, sort of fostering that connection even though I’m not in that role anymore.
Q: What’s one thing that surprised you about being an RA?
Franklin: One thing that surprised me about being an RA was how close I got with the other RAs in the building. They’re not just my coworkers, they’re my friends, and I can foresee friendships I’ve made with the other RAs lasting a long time in my future–and I really didn’t expect that at all.
Q: What’s the biggest sacrifice you’ve had to make?
Franklin: I would say the hardest thing is maintaining my friendships outside of the building because so much of my time is dedicated to this job. My friends will ask me to hang out and I’ll be like, “I’m sorry, I have duty,” or, “I have an event that I have planned,” and it’s hard to sort of balance intentionally hanging out with them versus just staying in and hanging out with my friends who are RAs.
Q: How has being an RA shaped your college experience compared to if you hadn’t become one?
Franklin: It’s definitely expanded the number of people I know, tenfold. Any time I go pretty much anywhere on campus, I’ll see someone I know, which I think is really sweet. It’s definitely a large change from freshman year and sophomore year, where I was kind of anonymous within the greater student body. During my freshman year, my best friend used to be the popular one, and any time we would go somewhere together, she would be waving to someone I didn’t know just because of how social she was. Now the script is flipped. There are over 500 students in this building and mostly all of them have seen me at some point. A good portion of the floor knows me by name.
Q: What does the job of being an RA actually look like on a day-to-day basis?
Franklin:There’s your interactions with residents, and sort of your baseline is connecting with them, getting to know them, engaging with them and being a resource for them. And then on top of that, you do have to write some weekly update reports just making sure everything in your hall is going okay, so there is a little bit of an administrative part of the job, and then you do have to host programs twice a month to keep your community engaged and provide good opportunities for people to get to know each other. So you have resident interaction/programs, paperwork and duty. Duty is when you hold an overnight phone and you’re around for after-hours emergencies, and that depends on what building you’re in, but I’m on duty for 14 or 15 nights this entire semester. It’s not as scary as you think it is, it’s just kind of late nights. You don’t have to pull an all-nighter–you do round the building a few times throughout the night–but I’m never up later than, like, 12:30 am. What matters is you just have the phone that people are able to call.
Q: Can you share some information about RA training, the time commitment, early move in, etc.?
Franklin: With RA training, you have to commit to being here two weeks before school starts. This is called IMPACT training: it’s essentially a two-week course where you learn all about the different resources and the different responsibilities you have as an RA. You also get the buildings ready for move-in, you make all the door decorations, you start to learn the names of your residents and you start planning what your first programs are going to be. Those two weeks are crucial for the job. That’s also when we schedule our duty hours for the entire semester, though you can get someone to swap shifts if you end up having a conflict.
Q: How have your residents surprised you or taught you something new?
Franklin:I think every resident in their own way is so surprising, because it’s hard to sort of get gifted approximately 30 residents and then have to learn their name, major and hometown before even meeting them. Then you talk to this person and connect with them and they surprise you in every single way. What I’ve been surprised that my residents have been able to bring out of me is I’m more social than I thought I was. I was never this social before and I really do think that my group last year brought that out of me. I love chitchatting in the halls, I just love it.
Q: What challenges have you faced and how have you grown from them?
Franklin: At first, time management was sort of a slap in the face. You really have to be able to balance so many things, repeating responsibilities and deadlines like your weekly reports, but then also the odd creative deadlines. You have to plan events by this time, and you have to make a bulletin board, and then you have to make thirty door decorations, all in addition to your regular courseload. It can be a lot, just because you’re juggling so many different types of things, but I would say my time management skills have definitely improved. My planner is always full. I don’t have time to procrastinate anymore.
Q: How has this role prepared you for life after college?
Franklin: It’s definitely given me communication skills, time management skills, and truly just put me in a plethora of situations where I’ve had to problem-solve in the moment. It’s a great resume builder. It’s really rewarding, really fulfilling, and I think for any interview I have going forward, this experience is getting referenced. I feel like I’ve lost a lot of social anxiety because you have to be outgoing to be an RA, and that’s really helped me in a lot of other situations that I would have potentially feared before, like meeting new people.
Q: What type of student do you think would thrive as an RA?
Franklin: Students who really want that connection with other people, I think. An important part is being not only willing but enthusiastic to connect with the other people. Drawing from my own experience, people who want to make an impact during their time here at school. In addition to that, people who are willing to learn time management skills and deal with all the stressful things that come along with it. It’s not entirely a fun job, it’s not entirely being the ‘police’, it’s sort of finding a balance. It’s a job you want to have fun at. You know, people remember a good RA but they also remember a bad RA. I think it’s important to remember that you do make an impact here.
Q: What advice would you give to students considering applying?
Franklin: If you live in a residence hall with an RA, I would definitely recommend reaching out to your RA, asking them about their personal experience, and also what their experience was with the application, and even asking them to look over it. I think it’s really helpful to have a second set of eyes. Just be yourself, that’s the point of the application, be yourself, answer truthfully, try hard.