“What’d you get on that last test?” one students asks another.
“84,” the other student replies. “You?”
“97,” the first student answers.

This exchange is common throughout the halls of WHS. Competition is a natural part of high school, especially when it comes to getting into college. However, the competition becomes much more intense when it is between siblings. Younger siblings are often influenced by the choices their older siblings make and try to copy their example.

“I do some of the same activities, mainly because I would just follow my sister [senior Jennie Paik] everywhere,” sophomore William Paik said. “She would do violin; I would do violin. She did taekwondo; I did taekwondo.”

Many studies have been done on the short-term and long-term effects of sibling rivalries. These studies have shown that siblings who are close in age or have similar interests are more likely to compete with each other. There is also competition when siblings are applying to colleges, whether they are applying during the same year or at different times.

Senior Maddie Conroy and her two sisters, Cashen and Emma, are triplets.

“I think competition is inevitable, especially with multiples: twins and triplets, just because you’re born at the same time and do so many of the same activities,” Maddie said. “When you spend so much time with someone else, it’s hard to not become competitive.”

However, William disagrees with the need to compete with siblings.

“I never really feel pressure to live up to my sister’s image,” William said.

Next year, Maddie is attending Colgate University, Emma is attending Tufts University and Cashen is attending Colby College.

“In the beginning we knew we weren’t going to the same college. We really wanted to make sure that we had our own places to grow next year, but we did visit a lot of the same schools because our parents didn’t want to drive to see 45 schools,” Maddie said. “We ended up applying to some of the same schools, but the blessing was that my sister Emma applied early decision and got in, and Cashen applied early decision too and got in. They only applied to one school, which left me with more options to apply during the regular decision round.”

Senior Sammy Karle and her twin brother Alex Karle are both attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the fall.

“We applied to several of the same colleges but also had different ones from each other. We had similar tastes in schools and were looking for the same things, so it did overlap,” Sammy said. “If you had asked me at the beginning of the college process if I would be okay with going to the same school as my brother, I would have said no way.”

However, there isn’t much competition between them.

“We aren’t too competitive, more just supportive of each other in what we do,” Alex said.

“The good news about UMass is that it’s huge, and we are taking different majors, which means that we will have plenty of time independent of each other,” Sammy said. “We are living on the same floor in the honors dorms because we are taking a philosophy seminar together, so we will continue to talk often, but I think there will be a good balance between time together and time apart.”

William said that he was influenced by his older sister’s college application process.

“[After seeing my sister apply to colleges] I felt like I should learn stuff and focus on [the college application process] and really pay attention to that,” William said.

“I don’t [think the competition will continue into adulthood] to this extent; I think the college process and high school and grades are the worst it’s going to get,” Maddie said. “As long as we can find our own different schools and our own different niches, and we can find things we’re good at that the others aren’t and do different things, we won’t be compared at the same level. There will definitely be less competition.”

Do you think having a sibling at WHS would be a benefit or a disadvantage?
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