College is often seen as a fresh start – living on your own, being in a new place, and no longer being with the same people you went to school with from the time you were five or six. But, what if you went to college with the one person who has been with you your whole life — your twin? For Clive and Arthur Harvey, seniors at ETHS going to UIUC next year and identical twins, despite going to the same school college might still be a way to leave behind their unity as twins. 

“I think at this point since we’re seniors, a lot of people — even if they don’t know us — recognize that we kind of exist together and that there are two of us.” Clive Harvey says. “But in college, I realized that that’s definitely not going to happen because it’s such a huge school.” 

“It’s kind of up to us at a school like that. It’s so big and we’re choosing not to room together. So, it’s up to us if we want to hang out.” Arthur Harvey says. 

The twins hadn’t originally planned on going to college together, if anything they originally intended to put some distance between themselves. But, as the application process drew to a close it just happened that UIUC was a top choice for both of them. 

“I was narrowing down schools, and for a while I was like ‘Oh, yeah, I’m probably going to go to Illinois.’ And at the same time, Clive was also like ‘Oh, I’m probably gonna go to Illinois.’ But it wasn’t a conversation we had where we [decided] ‘Yep, we’re going to the same school.’” Arthur Harvey explains. 

“I feel like I kind of knew that [Arthur] was going to go [to UIUC]. I was still kind of waiting to hear back from schools. So then when I heard back from the last school and didn’t get in I was like, ‘Alright, I’m just gonna go to U of I.’” Clive Harvey says, “So, I think it was around the same time, but it definitely was independent.” 

Now that they’ve both committed, they’ve had a little time to consider what going to college together will be like. Like anything, they suspect it will come with ups and downs. Being identical twins, a little bit of confusion from classmates is to be expected, and to some extent the same ‘shared identity’ as they experienced in high school may happen again. 

“The only real con that I’m thinking of is that the same thing in high school where if you think of one of us, you think of both of us, which is kind of frustrating in my opinion, because it’s hard to diversify your identity.” Arthur Harvey explains. 

However, they agree that having someone you can rely on in a time full of changes and even some major life decisions will be a huge benefit.

“In the beginning of college I’ve heard that it’s kind of a scramble to like find people to like spend time with. I think a definite pro is having someone that I know will help me if I need something  that’s always five minutes away.” Clive Harvey says.

The Evanstonian reached out to other sets of twins and was either not able to schedule an interview or did not obtain a response.