"I think probably Trang was a little moreoutgoing that Sinedu but they were both nice, calmwomen, gentle in nature," the student said.

But although Ho and Tadesse were roommates fortwo years, few house residents interviewed wereable to recall seeing the pair together often,whether in the house library--where they bothworked as checkers--or in the dining hall.

"I got to know that this morning, that theywere roommates," said the friend. "I never heardabout relations between them, whether they weregood or not."

Ho "had mentioned off-hand they weren'trespectful of her privacy, and they hadn't beenconsiderate," said the sophomore who knew Ho. "Shesaid her roommates played music too loud and wereinconsiderate." The sophomore added that Horeferred to her roommates in the plural form,although Ho's suite was only a double.

In addition, several friends said Ho hadattempted for over a month to find anotherroommates, and had finally agreed to live withJennifer A. Tracy '97 and Malikah J. Sherman '96.Neither Tracy nor Sherman would comment.

Ho's sister, Thao, told The Boston Globe Sundaythat her sister feared returning to her room andher querulous roommate. Thao Ho is a student atTufts University in Medford.

"She just stopped being in her room," Thao Hosaid. "My sister isn't the type to fight; she[Tadesse] would say things but my sister wouldignore her."

For others, the tragedy transcended a troubledrelationship between two young women.

"I think it's just college life," said thestudent who lived close to Tadesse in theirfirst-year entryway. "It's the age at which we allhave family pressure, personal pressure, desire toexcel. Harvard just exacerbates the pressure."

"Everyone is so good and you need to be notbetter but equally as good," the student said."It's kind of hard."

'Always Cheerful'

Ho's friends say the killing is particularlytragic because it ended the hopes of a young womanwho rose from being a refugee from Vietnam to awell-liked student at Harvard. They painted animage of a young woman determined to succeed inthe face of daunting odds, a perfectionist drivenby awareness of a tough past.

Ho was a boat refugee from Vietnam 10 years agowith her father and older sister, settling inDorchester, The Boston Globe reported today. Shewas reunited with her mother and younger sisteronly two years ago.

Ho attended the Boston Technical High School,where she became the valedictorian of her seniorclass and was voted most likely to succeed. Shewas the only graduate in her public high schoolclass to attend Harvard, according to friends.

The 20-year-old junior, now a resident ofMedford, Mass., served as vice president of theHarvard Vietnamese Association (HVA) in 1994,during the second semester of her sophomore yearand the first semester of her junior year.