I've seen one twin admitted and I've seen both twins admitted. If it's a priority for you to have both at the same school, I'd let the admissions team know.

When my dd was at Holton -- there were some twins in a few years ahead of her who were brilliant. There were also some twins in my dd's class who were more "average". I would check out Holton if I were you and ask them.

The amount of bribe one has to pay is doubled.

Definitely have heard of one getting accepted and the other not.

When we were applying for our twins, each admissions officer asked our preference (consider them together or separately). They were both accepted or WL at the same schools - thankfully.

Our school considers twins individually yet understanding the need to keep families together as much as possible, we always accept both. I can't remember accepting one twin and not accepting the other.

I had one g/b twin get in for 7th and one get waitlisted. The one who was waitlisted was the stronger student but the school needed the gender of the other twin. Go figure. It sucked all around.

A few years ago I had twins applying for 6th to several schools including "a big 3". At the Big-3 school, one was accepted one was WL (different gender). The accepted one received a big welcome packet with confetti. That, frankly, sucked.

All that to say, while it's logistically unpleasant separating my twins was one of the best parenting decisions we have made. Each is in the right place for them and they have a better relationship because they have their own space.

Anonymous wrote:Does your school consider twins as related applicants or does each child go on his/her own? I would have assumed the latter but was having dinner with a friend from another state and she was insistent that private schools will consider twins together. (Granted, she doesn't live in the hyper competitive DC area.)

Was curious if anyone has experience re this. I have fraternal girl twins and we're considering private but one of them is academically not as strong as the other and I am worried about the psychological impacts it may have if one gets in and the other doesn't.

There is no single right answer. Multiples can be an advantage, as most schools want to keep families together for many reasons (transportation, contributions, common decency), and a slightly weaker applicant can benefit from the "coattails" or a stronger one. However, as a later posted noted, the school would have to have space for both kids, whether they're multiples or just siblings of different ages. (To that poster's example, I have seldom heard of a school turning away two because they're going to reject one; "We didn't think you would send Ben because we're not going to admit Becky" is a puzzling statement. Most schools take the kids they want and let the parents make the decision whether to enroll.)

I've had a bunch of twins and even triplets over the years (and, of course, many just-siblings) and seldom find schools that will separate them, unless a school is seriously concerned about the progress of one of the multiples. In that case, most admission offices will call in advance to give the parents a heads-up that there could be a split decision, so to speak. You can also make it clear during the admission process that your family is a two-fer, and that you will not enroll one without the other if that's what you intend to do.

Here are two examples: Many years ago, I had a conversation about triplet applicants with the admission director at a prominent DC school. I said, with respect, "You can certainly turn them all away, or you could take one, or you can take them all, but for Lord's sake please don't take just two." She replied: "Don't be ridiculous. We'd never do that." They took all three, including the one with a 17th-percentile SSAT math score. Not surprisingly, they all did fine.

A few years later, I worked with a family that had three applicants (one lower school, one middle, one upper) to another prominent DC school. The school wait-listed two and rejected the third, a first-grader. I was irritated — why not just wait-list the youngest too, if you're not gonna take them all, instead of a risk of insulting a family? I spoke to the admission director about it, and she told me that since each division's decisions were made independently, they missed it. She apologized and agreed it wasn't a great play on their part.

The process is very human, and different schools may play situations differently. Of course, you could always ask the admission offices straight-up. I don't think there's any harm in that.

Anonymous wrote:Several sets of twins at St. Albans and a couple at Sidwell as well.

But I also know of twins where only one was accepted at these schools.

Several sets of twins at St. Albans and a couple at Sidwell as well.

We applied for my two DCs for 2nd and 4th grades. Both were rejected. I called and asked why. They said there was a spot for the 2nd grader (the weaker student) but, there wasn't a spot for the 4th grader. They said they didn't think we'd take the 2nd grade spot if the 4th grader wasn't admitted so, they rejected both of them.

How old are your twins? In addition to worrying about the impact if one gets in and the other doesn't, I would also think about the impact of attending a school that is a better fit for the other child and consider applying to different sets of schools for each of them. The logistics are challenging (less so as they get older) but each of my very different kids is getting the challenge and support they need, without being compared to each other.

I definitely know twins where one got in to a school and the other didn't.

Does your school consider twins as related applicants or does each child go on his/her own? I would have assumed the latter but was having dinner with a friend from another state and she was insistent that private schools will consider twins together. (Granted, she doesn't live in the hyper competitive DC area.)

Was curious if anyone has experience re this. I have fraternal girl twins and we're considering private but one of them is academically not as strong as the other and I am worried about the psychological impacts it may have if one gets in and the other doesn't.