smichelle

I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, but I'm curious to know what's been your experience with international students as roommates? I could potentially be sharing a place with a student from China and I've heard mixed messages regarding their...residential upkeep tendencies... Should I be concerned?

Think about all the people (your peers, mentors, the first generations around you, even professors in your new department) that might feel marginalized by your question. You might as well change the topic to "Chinese roommates" instead of being obscure about it. To be honest, regardless of how you phrase that question, it's going to sound somewhat offensive. There are all kinds of people in every culture and there's always some sort of trend to tag people based on their origins, but it doesn't work like that. Even if you don't get along with someone, they probably have a couple of good qualities that you would appreciate. Don't let someone's cultural background or nationality prevent you from seeing those good qualities. 

Your question is, "no offense" but are all students from China dirty/loud/otherwise bad roommates? The answer is no, there is no such generalization. No one can predict how the one Chinese person you will meet will be. However, I think it's a safe bet that if you assume you will not get along and that they are a bad roommate, that won't help. Just go in open minded and see what happens.

I know that the lack of transparency in the admissions process is assumed, but in some interactions with profs, I felt almost lied-to. Currently, I'm a high school English teacher in my second year, and it is the hardest job I have ever had. The stress and the emotional toll of admissions on top of that in my job have been so difficult to juggle. Nonetheless, I started the process last spring, researching and establishing contacts at universities of interest. I took a quant course because I was afraid of appearing so humanities-centric. I also started a research project with my undergrad prof and I am truly enjoying the process as we inch toward publishing our findings. 
 
I applied to both education and sociology doctoral programs. During my conversations with poi's, I had so many tell me that my English background (partially funded BA and fully-funded MA at top-10 private schools) would not hinder my application. Only one had the honesty to say that it would be a "major" impediment. But now, I think that for sociology especially, being from the humanities was hugely detrimental as I have no gotten one out right acceptance from sociology programs. I know that I can't be sure that it was because of my background but I researched fit and my stats align with what they posted. 
 
I am super grateful to have gotten into a few wonderful programs, but still so annoyed at the schools I chose. If I had known all that I know now, I would have completely nixed the sociology apps and just applied to education schools. UGH 

I know that the lack of transparency in the admissions process is assumed, but in some interactions with profs, I felt almost lied-to. Currently, I'm a high school English teacher in my second year, and it is the hardest job I have ever had. The stress and the emotional toll of admissions on top of that in my job have been so difficult to juggle. Nonetheless, I started the process last spring, researching and establishing contacts at universities of interest. I took a quant course because I was afraid of appearing so humanities-centric. I also started a research project with my undergrad prof and I am truly enjoying the process as we inch toward publishing our findings. 
 
I applied to both education and sociology doctoral programs. During my conversations with poi's, I had so many tell me that my English background (partially funded BA and fully-funded MA at top-10 private schools) would not hinder my application. Only one had the honesty to say that it would be a "major" impediment. But now, I think that for sociology especially, being from the humanities was hugely detrimental as I have no gotten one out right acceptance from sociology programs. I know that I can't be sure that it was because of my background but I researched fit and my stats align with what they posted. 
 
I am super grateful to have gotten into a few wonderful programs, but still so annoyed at the schools I chose. If I had known all that I know now, I would have completely nixed the sociology apps and just applied to education schools. UGH 

I know that the lack of transparency in the admissions process is assumed, but in some interactions with profs, I felt almost lied-to. Currently, I'm a high school English teacher in my second year, and it is the hardest job I have ever had. The stress and the emotional toll of admissions on top of that in my job have been so difficult to juggle. Nonetheless, I started the process last spring, researching and establishing contacts at universities of interest. I took a quant course because I was afraid of appearing so humanities-centric. I also started a research project with my undergrad prof and I am truly enjoying the process as we inch toward publishing our findings. 
 
I applied to both education and sociology doctoral programs. During my conversations with poi's, I had so many tell me that my English background (partially funded BA and fully-funded MA at top-10 private schools) would not hinder my application. Only one had the honesty to say that it would be a "major" impediment. But now, I think that for sociology especially, being from the humanities was hugely detrimental as I have no gotten one out right acceptance from sociology programs. I know that I can't be sure that it was because of my background but I researched fit and my stats align with what they posted. 
 
I am super grateful to have gotten into a few wonderful programs, but still so annoyed at the schools I chose. If I had known all that I know now, I would have completely nixed the sociology apps and just applied to education schools. UGH