Where are your twins going to college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake Forest and Boston College. Same major (Finance).

PP here. I’m a Wake grad and my best friend went to BC and even 30 years ago we used to joke that we went to different campuses of the same school. They are quite similar - particularly the student bodies. WFU used to have a heavier workload but the requirements have relaxed some in recent years. One kid just wanted to go south and one always wanted Boston. The only real plus for one over the other is convenience, I would say. Winston-Salem is a great place now and the campus location is very convenient. BC is a bit more isolated, requiring the T to get to a lot of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

NEU/WashU dad here.

My daughter is the stronger student and ended up at WashU. My son is a good student too, but a notch below and he's at Northeastern. Their ECs are similar, although she did submit an art portfolio for the school of design.

There was some overlap in the schools they applied to but not all. The only one they both got in to was Maryland but didn't go there (obvs). Neither one got into their top choices, but they're doing well where they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

OP here. Mine are quite different. Girl is an incredibly diligent student. Boy is probably "smarter" at baseline but doesn't care to the degree that his sister does (cuts corners a lot of the time and he can generally get away with it).
Some of this is personality, some is just a difference in developmental maturity.
Her GPA and course rigor are higher, his PSAT score was 150 points higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

One of my twins had slightly higher GPA but lower ACT. She did TO at some of the schools on her list. It worked out for both of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

One of my twins had slightly higher GPA but lower ACT. She did TO at some of the schools on her list. It worked out for both of them.

I never get used to the degree of oversight parents exercise over their children. Not a bad thing, just surprising to me. My twin brother and I were raised by a single mother, and she was overwhelmed with all sorts of health issues and sporadic employment. My brother and I were national champions in our sport in high school, which certainly kept us out of trouble. We both went to college on athletic scholarships. I saw what a life of poor choices could lead to, and my brother and I were very good students as well (if not a bit time compromised). Around my second year in college I loved the freedom that came with being solely accountable to myself. And I discovered the limits of my athletic talent - while very good - it is a small population at the very top and there are not too many endeavors where you can discern your outer limit. My brother and I went to different colleges which were rivals (perhaps one of the biggest in college sports) and which sports publications made a big deal about. It was simple to me as I knew I was immature and needed the smaller classes at my school to succeed.

I do credit my mother for letting us figure things out on our own. She was not a student and disliked school, but nevertheless taught us about cause and effect. When I graduated from a top 10 professional schools with more honors than I could have ever expected, I flew my mother in for graduation. I was touched by the fact that she just wanted me and my brother to be happy. She didn’t care or even recognize whether I got C’s or A’s.

I did not hover in any way over my kids - but of course spoiled them. I worked hard to do just that! Their work and choices were their own. They went to best schools in the country and are happy. I never once asked for their grades in college. I knew what they were anyway but wanted them to own their work and not have their parents be the subject of their motivation. A multiple All American in athletics in college and a 4.0 phi beta kappa in math. I had slightly higher test scores, which gives you an idea of their actual worth. I never once felt I had to be competitive with him. We raised ourselves from a early age and our first instinct was to take care of each other. Can’t imagine a life without him.

I ended up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the triplet parent…I need to lay down down on the sofa. Big hand clap for you girlfriend 😀

Yes, agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

OP here. Mine are quite different. Girl is an incredibly diligent student. Boy is probably "smarter" at baseline but doesn't care to the degree that his sister does (cuts corners a lot of the time and he can generally get away with it).
Some of this is personality, some is just a difference in developmental maturity.
Her GPA and course rigor are higher, his PSAT score was 150 points higher.

DP I have the same. Two sophomores. She scores better on GPA, he on standardized tests. She has some stronger ECs as well. They are mostly going to be applying to the same in state colleges as their baseline with a few different but equally far flung locations added in for each of them. They won't be studying the same majors.

[Anonymous]

Duke and Middlebury.

They had different strengths, academic interests, and social interests and did not apply to any of the same schools. One applied to schools that were a slightly higher caliber academically, but we really were focused on the best overall fit given personality and academic interests and ‘ratings’ weren’t such a big deal. I don’t think they ever really considered going to the same school. I know other twins that had a lot more overlap in their lists, both chose where to go independently, and ended up at the same place.

[Anonymous]

Neighbors twin boys across the street went to the same Magnet program, had similar sport EC. While both applied to JMU and got in, one of the decided to attend Virginia Tech, while the other accepted JMUs offer.

They wanted to finally split up for their college experience.

There is another twin boy set a street over. They however decided to attend different HS already. One is in a Magnet program, the other not (decided not to join the IB program of his zoned HS). Will be interesting to see what they decide to do.

[Anonymous]

They're both at JMU - and love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

OP here. Mine are quite different. Girl is an incredibly diligent student. Boy is probably "smarter" at baseline but doesn't care to the degree that his sister does (cuts corners a lot of the time and he can generally get away with it).
Some of this is personality, some is just a difference in developmental maturity.
Her GPA and course rigor are higher, his PSAT score was 150 points higher.

DP I have the same. Two sophomores. She scores better on GPA, he on standardized tests. She has some stronger ECs as well. They are mostly going to be applying to the same in state colleges as their baseline with a few different but equally far flung locations added in for each of them. They won't be studying the same majors.

OP here. This is exactly mine. Girl also has better extracurriculars (also a function of maturity--she dove right in during 9th grade, he is dragging his feet in some things at the end of 10th).
She has a solid idea of what she wants to study in college, he really has no idea at all.
They would probably be happy at the same universities but I doubt they'll apply to the same ones. I think in our case we want to avoid the direct comparison.
Also she is turning out to be a heavy STEM kid; he started out on this path but it turns out he's actually far better at English. The issue being that excelling in English is harder to quantify than being a star in STEM (fewer AP classes, etc) and he's
not particularly motivated to write, etc outside of class (for publications, contests, etc).

[Anonymous]

Both at Emory - b/g, different majors and friends but like to see each other for a meal once a week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

OP here. Mine are quite different. Girl is an incredibly diligent student. Boy is probably "smarter" at baseline but doesn't care to the degree that his sister does (cuts corners a lot of the time and he can generally get away with it).
Some of this is personality, some is just a difference in developmental maturity.
Her GPA and course rigor are higher, his PSAT score was 150 points higher.

DP I have the same. Two sophomores. She scores better on GPA, he on standardized tests. She has some stronger ECs as well. They are mostly going to be applying to the same in state colleges as their baseline with a few different but equally far flung locations added in for each of them. They won't be studying the same majors.

OP here. This is exactly mine. Girl also has better extracurriculars (also a function of maturity--she dove right in during 9th grade, he is dragging his feet in some things at the end of 10th).
She has a solid idea of what she wants to study in college, he really has no idea at all.
They would probably be happy at the same universities but I doubt they'll apply to the same ones. I think in our case we want to avoid the direct comparison.
Also she is turning out to be a heavy STEM kid; he started out on this path but it turns out he's actually far better at English. The issue being that excelling in English is harder to quantify than being a star in STEM (fewer AP classes, etc) and he's
not particularly motivated to write, etc outside of class (for publications, contests, etc).

This sounds perfect to me - overlap the instate choice, and then she can apply to some other stem focused unis and he can apply to some small LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

How were your twins' strength of applications? Did you have one who was a slightly stronger student, better extracurriculars, etc?

I'm wondering how this works out. (I should have asked this from the beginning!) Thx!!

'


This is my fear as the parent of twin Juniors. Their GPAs are close (4.1 and 4.0) with many of the same ECs. But one kid's SAT was 100 pts higher than the other.

OP here. Mine are quite different. Girl is an incredibly diligent student. Boy is probably "smarter" at baseline but doesn't care to the degree that his sister does (cuts corners a lot of the time and he can generally get away with it).
Some of this is personality, some is just a difference in developmental maturity.
Her GPA and course rigor are higher, his PSAT score was 150 points higher.

DP I have the same. Two sophomores. She scores better on GPA, he on standardized tests. She has some stronger ECs as well. They are mostly going to be applying to the same in state colleges as their baseline with a few different but equally far flung locations added in for each of them. They won't be studying the same majors.

OP here. This is exactly mine. Girl also has better extracurriculars (also a function of maturity--she dove right in during 9th grade, he is dragging his feet in some things at the end of 10th).
She has a solid idea of what she wants to study in college, he really has no idea at all.
They would probably be happy at the same universities but I doubt they'll apply to the same ones. I think in our case we want to avoid the direct comparison.
Also she is turning out to be a heavy STEM kid; he started out on this path but it turns out he's actually far better at English. The issue being that excelling in English is harder to quantify than being a star in STEM (fewer AP classes, etc) and he's
not particularly motivated to write, etc outside of class (for publications, contests, etc).

PP you're responding to. The thing with us is I don't think it will matter if they do go to the same college for undergrad. They both have grad school aspirations (one in psychiatry the other in law) so if we can save some $$ for their undergrad years, given they are going at exactly the same time, that would benefit everyone.