Seeing Double: Prince-twins

The twins were taking the same physics course their freshman year, and things were going smoothly until Christine was stuck in lab at the same time she had scheduled a meeting with her physics professor.

Most students would have been out of luck, but Christine made a frantic phone call to Jennifer, who went to see the professor in Christine’s place. “It was the only time at Princeton that I had to call upon the power of being a twin, but he [the professor] had no idea. It never occurred to him that it might be the other one,” Christine said.

Students may have already noticed Princeton’s small but recognizable population of twins. Though there are many sets of siblings on the Princeton campus, several of the twins interviewed said that attending college with a twin is a unique experience.

“I went to school with two of my older brothers and would definitely say there is a difference,” said Pete Callahan ’11, whose brother Matt is also a junior at Princeton. “There is a lot more attention surrounding a pair of twins, rather than a set of siblings.”

Both the Callahans and the Schoppes said they kept open minds when they considered what colleges to apply to and attend. “It was always a possibility to go to different schools, but we’re best friends, and who wouldn’t go to the same school as their best friend?” Jennifer explained.

Pete said he and his brother agreed to choose colleges independently, but came to the same conclusion nonetheless. “Since we have always been best friends, our interests are so similar that Princeton was a no-brainer for both of us.”

Most of the twins interviewed also said having a twin was especially helpful during freshman year. “It’s just nice that the transition is made a little bit easier because you have someone familiar with you already, who already knows everything about you,” Christine said.

Though coming to college with such a close friend could make it more of a challenge to meet people independently, these twins found the opposite to be true.

“It seemed like I was able to make friends twice as fast, as we would immediately introduce each other to our newly made friends,” Pete explained.

For Christine, the fact that she has a twin was an easy conversation starter in her first days on campus. “It gets you noticed around campus,” she said. “We’re in the same major, we take most of the same classes, we do the same extracurriculars, so we’re always together and became pretty recognizable. It actually extends your social network in a way.”

Though the transition to college brings many changes, these twins said their close relationships remained relatively constant.

“We’ve lived together all four years, we’ve cried and celebrated over exams and other situations,” Jennifer said. “Even though we were already very close, it’s definitely brought us closer to go through college together.”

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Having a doppelganger, though, can have its drawbacks for these students. Being mistaken for their sibling was a daily occurrence.

“There have definitely been a few nights out on the Street where, after an encounter with a female, often on the dance floor, one of us will receive an e-mail or Facebook message the next day commenting on the experience. However, more than once, these messages were sent to the wrong twin brother,” Callahan said.

But the mix-ups are a minor price to pay for the chance to experience college together. “Being a twin has made my life completely unique and completely amazing,” Jennifer said. “I think that for everyone a twin should come standard issue when you’re born.”