Seniors have already begun sending off their college applications, and handing it over to a multitude of admissions officers. For twins, this is an especially stressful process. I would know.

Many people ask me whether I will attend the same college as my twin. If I say no, they are shocked, but the truth is that sometimes, being a twin can be a burden.

As a twin, you spend your whole life being thought of as a set, and college is the first opportunity to separate from this notion and form your own identity. The ultimate question for a twin is whether or not to attend college with his or her other half.

According to Dr. Bari Norman, co-founder of Expert Admissions and former admissions officer at Columbia and Barnard University, being a twin can sometimes affect college admissions decisions if there are huge gaps between the siblings, but it will never bring the other sibling down.

There are positives and negatives to going to college together and going as separate individuals, which may be why college admissions do not want to make that decision for the pair, as it should be their own.

My twin and I have debated for a long time whether to apply to any of the same schools. Having a built-in friend can really help the feeling of loneliness and discomfort when transitioning from high             school to college.

We talked for a while about this decision and in the end we decided that it would be the best decision to separate because it is the only true way to become independent of each other.

Being at the same school as your twin, however, gives you the chance to have a familiar support system while also meeting other people.

“A really big benefit of going to the same school as my twin would be that I would always have someone to turn to for help or hangout with,” senior Kory Billings said of his twin Kerry.

While being together offers the chance to comfort during such a major transition, sometimes it can be a good decision to split up.

“Being in different colleges has forced me to immediately expand my friend group and actively try to make real and meaningful connections with people at my college,” said  ’13 alumnus Christopher Gauch who attends Notre Dame.

Without a built-in friend, a twin is forced to step outside of his or her comfort zone and to experience things as an individual.

According to Dr. Norman, she has noticed that twins have tended to “go apart” but “not intentionally.”

In the Gauch twins’ case, they decided to attend different schools after each of them were admitted to schools of their choice.

“They don’t always apply to the same places and it is rare for them to have identical lists,”Norman said.

So if you are not sure whether you want to split from your other half, you have quite a while to decide.

“We did want to attend the same colleges for the most part when we made our college lists,” Christopher said.

Now they attend separate schools, which proves that this decision should be up to the twins and the twins alone.

“Once we got all of our decisions back and looked at our options,” said  ’13 alumnus Michael Gauch who attends Boston College. “We decided that we would not be attending the same school.”

Despite all negatives of going to separate colleges, there is still the ability to stay connected.

“I would obviously miss her a ton, but I think we could both handle it,” senior Chrissy Kennedy said of her twin Emmy. “Now that we have things like texting and Skype, we would still be able to talk easily.”