If my brother and I intend on going to the same school...

[Seenary]

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If my brother and I intend on going to the same school, would it be beneficial for us to make mention of that in our personal statement? How would I go about making the admission committee aware of our intentions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[4thMolar]

Is there a specific school each of you had in mind to go to? If that is the case, I wouldn't put it in my PS otherwise you'll have a pretty tough time getting interviews at other schools if they see you aren't that committed ti them. If you plan on going to a random school that the both of you happened to get accepted to, I still don't see the point of putting it in the PS.

 

[nydds25]

I met these two twins at my Columbia interview this cycle. They were identical, and both matched into orthodontics. Not that this gives you advice, I just thought it was cool.

 

[Sephisabin]

It's best not to put it in your personal statement. With so many schools having limited seats as it is, I feel like them seeing you guys as a package deal occupying 2 seats could work against you. There are actually quite a few cases of siblings attending the same school. There are two ways that I have seen this done before:

1) Just see where you guys get in and hope to get into the same school. The two twins at Columbia that NYDDS was speaking of actually did that. They just applied and saw which schools both got accepted to. One of them turned down Harvard to join his brother at Columbia.

2) Wait for one of you to get accepted to a school and then call and say you want to attend the same school as your brother and ask that they interview you. I have some classmates (they're couples, not siblings, but same idea) who used this method. Once one got accepted, the other called and requested an interview at the school. You could possibly try to request an interview after your brother gets an interview, but the people I know did it after one received an acceptance.

 

[americanpierg]

It's best not to put it in your personal statement. With so many schools having limited seats as it is, I feel like them seeing you guys as a package deal occupying 2 seats could work against you. There are actually quite a few cases of siblings attending the same school. There are two ways that I have seen this done before:

1) Just see where you guys get in and hope to get into the same school. The two twins at Columbia that NYDDS was speaking of actually did that. They just applied and saw which schools both got accepted to. One of them turned down Harvard to join his brother at Columbia.

2) Wait for one of you to get accepted to a school and then call and say you want to attend the same school as your brother and ask that they interview you. I have some classmates (they're couples, not siblings, but same idea) who used this method. Once one got accepted, the other called and requested an interview at the school. You could possibly try to request an interview after your brother gets an interview, but the people I know did it after one received an acceptance.

The 2nd way only works if you are very VERY famous, or very VERY rich. Bascially, they have to want your brother there so bad that they'll let you in too. This 99.9% won't work for you, and if one of you suggest giving the other an interview too during your own interview before getting accepted, that may even be detrimental to your own interview session.

I do see this work many times, although for a different reason. If a highly recruited athelete requires that his brother also gets a scholarship to the team, chances are, his brother will get that scholarship. The reason for this is different, because the athelete will bring the school a LOT of money, and the scholarship was already "spent" money as each school is given a set # of atheletic scholarships which they will use anyways.

Ask yourself this, what do YOU or your brother provide to the school that would make them want to take you both in. Do you have enough leverage to give them an ultimatum? "Take my brother too or I won't come to your school." That's kinda what it would sound like to them.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

The 2nd way only works if you are very VERY famous, or very VERY rich. Bascially, they have to want your brother there so bad that they'll let you in too. This 99.9% won't work for you, and if one of you suggest giving the other an interview too during your own interview before getting accepted, that may even be detrimental to your own interview session.

I know the 0.1% you are saying is an exception - and they aren't rich or famous. Right now, the last of 4 brothers is in the same dental school that his other 3 graduated from already. He didn't have the greatest of stats to get into school, so I am sure having his brothers attending before him and them doing well helped his chances.

 

[armorshell]

I met these two twins at my Columbia interview this cycle. They were identical, and both matched into orthodontics. Not that this gives you advice, I just thought it was cool.

There's a pair of identical ortho twins (and a pair of fraternal ortho twins!) at Pacific as well. Must be some kind of trend there.

 

[needa20]

personally, i would not put it in your app, or make too big of a deal about it to adcoms either. The reason being, (and this is just my opinion) Adcoms might not see you as independent (even though you probably are).

I would just make sure you apply to the same schools and hope and pray you get interviews and even an acceptance to at least one of the same...

just my opinion, good luck and God bless

 

[americanpierg]

I know the 0.1% you are saying is an exception - and they aren't rich or famous. Right now, the last of 4 brothers is in the same dental school that his other 3 graduated from already. He didn't have the greatest of stats to get into school, so I am sure having his brothers attending before him and them doing well helped his chances.

well thats a different situation as well, and can be included in the "famous" category. since his brothers attended the school before him and did well, they may have considered him as a legacy. The OP and his brother are applying at the same time.

 

[Sephisabin]

I have 3 sets of couples in my class who are not rich or famous by any means. After one person got accepted, the other just called in and explained the situation and asked for an interview. I agree with NAVY DDS in that you should wait until one of you is accepted. If one of you got accepted, the fact of the matter is that they want you at their school. They're not in the business of accepting students they are wishy-washy on... if you get accepted, THEY WANT YOU AT THEIR SCHOOL. Lastly, keep in mind that there is no harm in trying... the school is not going to rescind your acceptance because your brother called and said he wants to go there. The school is not going to blacklist your brother because he called and said he wants to go there. There is nothing to lose in trying.

 

[Simiam]

Call Brian Hahn at Temple and let him know early. If your stats are good he will consider you a "package deal" That's how he described it last year with a set of twins that interviewed there.

 

[doc toothache]

Unfortunately, in professional schools what is important is not where you and your brother "intend to go' but rather, whether the ds in question is going to extend an invitation.