Since I was 9 years old, the word college circulated in my household. I grew up understanding the college process at a young age having three older brothers who went through it before me. However, what I did not know was what the college process was like with a twin sister going through the same thing. 

As twins, our college application process has been almost entirely independent. We shared very few essays not because we were competitive with one another but rather because we had no strong desire or need to. 

What some people find most interesting is that we also chose not to share our SAT scores or GPAs to not directly compare ourselves to the other. Unlike subjective supplemental essays, test scores and GPA are numerical values that directly place one twin above the other. To be honest, I had no desire to know my sister’s SAT score or GPA probably because I was only focused on mine. Our college lists were the same way because we made them separate from one another and, unsurprisingly, they ended up very similar. 

One challenge that presented itself was how to distinguish ourselves differently. While we did not limit each other from writing about certain extracurricular activities or communities of which we are a part, we realized we were writing almost identical essays for some schools. However, we never changed our essays due to similarity. 

Oftentimes, people assume we are extremely competitive with each other when in reality, it is the opposite. We continuously supported each other and when one of us needed help with an essay, the other would be more than happy to help. 

The most interesting part of this entire process was when college decisions began to come out. 

In my case, I got into my school of choice while my sister has to wait for the spring for her top choice. While both of us had a unique experience on decision day, my sister had the heftier challenge because she had to witness me complete the college process while she had to fill out more applications. Since we received our decisions back to back, I found it difficult to feel happy for myself and to celebrate, knowing that my sister did not get the same result. 

For any twins out there, I wish you the best of luck and I advise you to go through the process in whatever way works for you.