What policies do top universities such as Cornell have toward admissions of twins?

Hi @Carina_

I think it's super cool if you are a twin to be applying to the same college. I've heard of twins at all kinds of schools including Harvard.

I think the most important overall factor is that whichever twin is deemed slightly less compelling in the eyes of the admissions reader has the onus on them to meet the minimum threshold requirements of that school in whatever holistic criteria the school uses.

So if you got to section C7 of the Cornell Common Data Set "relative importance of each of the following academic and non-academic factors in your first-time.", you will see a matrix of criteria and their relative importance (VERY Important, Important, Considered, and Not Considered).

Under Very important are RIGOR, GPA, ESSAYS, RECOMMENDATIONS, ECS, TALENT/ABILITY, CHARACTER/PERSONAL QUALITIES

Under important are CLASS RANK

Considered are STAND. TEST SCORES, INTERVIEW, FIRST GEN, LEGACY, GEOG. LOCATION, STATE RESIDENCY, RACE/ETHNICITY, VOLUNTEERING, WORK EXPERIENCE

Not considered are RELIGION and DEMONSTRATED INTEREST.

So as long as whichever twin meets the typical stats for Cornell in terms of GPA, test scores, course rigor, ECS, and rank you both are in good shape. The Interview, recommendations, and optional information (videos) will cover the rest.

This is the most diplomatic way of saying that neither of you will get a boost from applying as twins and if one twin is noticeably strong across the board and the other twin would not on their own be a compelling prospect for Cornell, the AOs at Cornell are not going to reserve a spot for them by virtue of being related as a twin to the other.

Hopefully, this will not be an issue and hopefully, if there are differences in the 2 applications, the net holistic effect of strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out and both twins are deemed solid compelling prospective cohorts.

In this answer, I am assuming you or a friend is having this experience. For Cornell, since they value academics so highly, I think that having your twin apply as well wouldn't hurt your chances of NOT getting in. If your twin doesn't have the best grades, or if you don't, then, yes, there's a slight chance of it affecting the other's application. However, Cornell really focuses on aspects like extracurriculars and essays, meaning that having low grades won't destroy you or your twins' chances. I know pair of twins who both applied to Dartmouth and Caltech. Dartmouth accepted both, but Caltech accepted only one of the twins. Based on what I've read about this, yes colleges, look at it, but it'll most likely help you more than hurt you. Plus, it depends on your chances of getting accepted in the first place. I would advise both twins to check the chancing simulator on collegevine to see if Cornell is a good shot for either of you. If you both have similar, reasonable chances, go for it! I'm sure Cornell (or any university) would be lucky to have both of you.

If you're still mulling it over, these sites might be helpful;

https://ingeniusprep.com/blog/twins-applying-to-the-same-college/

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/twins-applying-to-cornell/788107

https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/college-admissions/twins-and-college-admissions/

Here's the chancing simulator for Cornell;

https://www.collegevine.com/schools/hub/all/d/cornell-university/chancing