The college process is an alphabet soup of components to think about: SATs, ACTs, GPAs and all of the numbers that come along with each visit. However, there is one number that most Staples students don’t consider: having a double.

Unlike any other twins in their grade, Pamela and Kristin Onorato ’15 are going to University of Miami together next year. They will live with different roommates and have different friends “but will always be there for each other,” Pamela said.

The duo explained that they are excited to go to the same school because Miami fits both of their personalities very well. “We love the outdoors, warm weather, school spirit and diverse community at University of Miami,” Pamela explained.

Several sets of twins have a less positive spin on going to college together, like Kaela Fodor ’16 who quickly responded that going to college together would mean “lots of sisterly fighting.”

There are varying drawbacks that other twins discussed as well, such as losing individuality when going to school together. “It depends on how big the school is, but I want to use college as an experience of making friends without Anna being there and going through a whole new experience without her,” Olivia Daytz ’16 said about her twin Anna Daytz ’16 and what she is looking for in colleges.

While all sets of twins had different ideas about their college futures, all agreed that the logistics of college touring with a twin is complicated, yet productive. Justin and Rachel Seideman ’17 have barely started the process, but in their early planning stages, they’ve decided to “visit some of the same colleges” but not “necessarily end up at the same school,” Justin said. These twins wholeheartedly agreed that they want their “different interests” to guide the process.

Similarly, Anna and Olivia are focusing on pursuing their separate academic interests–Anna with Biology and Olivia with Business–in order to distinguish their college experiences.

Another Staples set of twins, Sam and Jess Chachra ’16, also have very different major ideas, which help them differentiate colleges. Sam is hoping to find a school that allows her to explore “interests in the academic and music and performing arts realm” while “of course,” she said, “being an author on the side.” Meanwhile, Jess is interested in majoring in psychology and business, with possibly a music minor, so she can continue to play viola in an orchestra.

All of these unique interests make it difficult to tour colleges; however, many twins say it has also been efficient. “We go on college visits together, but there are some colleges that are more for Sam or for me,” Jess said. In other words, as Anna describes it, college touring together is “getting two birds with one stone.”

The Daytz twins concluded how most twins feel about their college futures together; twins are a factor in the process but not a determining aspect. “I’m going to go where I want to go myself. I’m not letting Anna influence where I go,” Olivia said. Anna, in wholehearted agreement, said, “We are deciding on schools independently of each other, and that won’t influence our decision.”