Dana Lepper ‘27
Staff Writer
Now that I am a sophomore here at Holy Cross, I have had plenty of time to navigate what it means to be a college student. One particularly unique thing is that my brother has been at Holy Cross during my first two years. Today, I would like to walk through what going to college with your sibling is like, at least in my experience. The best way to discuss this topic is through a pros and cons list so that you can determine for yourself if it is good to go to college with your sibling or not. I will also preface this by saying that this topic greatly depends on your relationship with your sibling and the size of your school.
First off, the pros. For one, there is something very comforting about knowing someone immediately when you step on campus during Freshman year. My brother was very useful when I began to navigate campus. For example, right after moving in, I could not figure out how to get on the WiFi because nobody told me what the password was or how to find it. He was able to tell me that it was my Star information, which I would not have figured out without him and I am very thankful that he helped me get on the WiFi as this is an academic institution. Another pro of going to college with my brother is that he has introduced me to lots of different people. My brother has a loud voice on campus, and if there is someone I need to talk to, he can likely get me in to meet them. He is a valuable resource for my friends and me because he has knowledge about Holy Cross that we do not have since he has spent more time here.
Moving on to the cons, there are many. For one, my brother and I are very different, and sometimes, people will assume we are similar if they meet us knowing that we are siblings. This is fine, but I like to be my own unique person and do not want people to have preconceived ideas about who I am because we are related. I also find it strange when people I don’t really know talk to me about my brother, as if what they talked to him about today would be important information for me to know. Sometimes, people come up to me and say “Guess who I saw today… your brother!” What am I supposed to say to this? “Cool,” “me too,” “okay,” “that’s awesome?” It is a very weird position for me to be in. I am not sure what the proper response to that — do they expect me to be excited? I often wonder if anyone goes up to him and says “I saw your sister today!” It is always a weird interaction and I would prefer if people stopped mentioning that they saw my brother on campus; I probably saw him too. Another con is that my brother is rather involved on campus, which can lead me to feel like I am not doing enough. We have very different strengths, so we are involved in different activities, but going to the same college is a recipe for comparison. Sometimes we share the same friends, which is interesting to put it lightly. It can be particularly weird if we are hanging out with a shared friend at the same time. Since we are so different from each other, things just get weird for everyone, and usually, he and I will end up in an argument.
My brother runs this paper, which makes this article slightly awkward. I’ll trust his integrity and assume that he did not make any changes without talking to me about it first. (He didn’t.) Based on my pros and cons list, you can decide for yourself if going to school with your sibling is a good or bad choice. This exercise revealed to me that I do appreciate going to the same school as my brother. He provides a sense of home that most other students don’t get to experience when they are at school. He also has proven to be a very valuable resource for me, helping me navigate particularly difficult times like course selection, housing, and when he taught me how to use the printers in the library. There are peaks and valleys of going to school together, but overall, I’m glad we do.
Featured image courtesy of Youtube
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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