Looking into the violin section of Whitman’s orchestra, you might think you’re seeing double: yet the nearly identical pair is just Dawn and Nicole Angus, juniors and twins who happen to share a college as well as a love for music. The sisters have the same double major and live in apartments next door to one another. For the Angus twins, these similar lifestyles aren’t strange; they’re just a result of overlapping interests.

“Sometimes when people ask, ‘Are you in same classes?’ and you say yes, they give you a look that says, ‘That’s not ok, you should you should be more individualistic,'” said Dawn. “We are individuals, but at the same time we’re not going to change what we want to do to fit other people’s perceptions of what we should be.”

At a small college like Whitman, no matter how different their interests, twins often find themselves with lives that intersect at many points. However, the variety of activities and housing options available allow siblings to choose just how close they want their college selves to be.

Room assignments are a big part of this process.   When arriving at Whitman, both twin pairs tried to live together during their first year, with different results. Both the Angus and Gilbert sisters wrote a letter to Residence Life asking to room together, but while Dawn and Nicole’s request was denied three years ago, Katri and Emilie were placed in the same room last August.

For Katri and Emilie, who are busy with music and travel often for sports, this decision was one of convenience more than fear of separation.

“We were really surprised that they let us, actually, because everybody always tries to split twins up, in general,” said Katri. “It’s not like we’re stuck at the hip, because we do different things. Living together, we don’t always have to be together all the time: it’s just way more convenient.”

According to Nancy Tavelli, the Director of Residence Life and Housing, Residence Life has no uniform policy regarding twins’ first-year housing assignments; each situation is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Twins are given the same advice as other students when it comes to roommates.

“We always suggest that people live with someone they don’t know,” said Tavelli. “It’s usually better for students not to choose their own roommate.” However, she continued, the needs and desires of the students are always taken into consideration.

Although Dawn and Nicole were initially apprehensive about Residence Life’s decision: they could share a residence hall, but not a room or section: they have grown to appreciate it.

“Ultimately I think it was a good thing,” Nicole said. “It was healthy because we’re both more introverted and we met people through that avenue of having separate roommates.”

Whether living in the same room or a hall apart, both sets of twins have found that academic life at Whitman hasn’t stirred any sibling rivalries. Katri and Emilie have enrolled in mostly separate classes, yet are able to work off of each other’s strengths.

“Most of the time she just explains what I don’t understand,” said Emilie.

Because of their identical majors, Dawn and Nicole have much more similar class schedules, yet they don’t compete with each other academically, either.

“There’s no one that I’d rather come in second to, let’s put it that way. We’re competitive, but we’re competitive almost as a unit,” said Dawn. “We want each other to do well, we want both of us to succeed.”

Although they have been at Whitman for almost three years, Nicole and Dawn still feel that their similarities make some people uncomfortable.

“I think Whitman craves individuality and we’re kind of a paradox,” Nicole said. “We’re unique in that we’re individuals, but we’re very alike another person, and people find that perplexing.”

When it comes to the future, the two sets of twins have come to distinct conclusions. While Emilie and Katri have enjoyed being roommates, and plan to live together next year, they believe that they will part ways to pursue different interests after college.

“It’s going to happen either way: we’re not going to be together in the same place forever,” said Katri.

Dawn and Nicole haven’t made any definitive plans, either, but they hope to stay together as long as possible.

“I think we definitively want to be close,” said Nicole, before clarifying, “at least, I, speaking for myself, would like to be nearby.”

“No,” said Dawn in agreement, “it’s ‘we.'”

Although college life has marked a new chapter in the lives of these very different sets of Whitman twins, neither has let the pressures change their relationship very much.