I have to be honest: Duke was the last place I thought I wanted to apply.
Having fallen in love with the school ever since my sister's matriculation at Duke, my parents had images of bonfires, Cameron Crazies and the 20th Century America FOCUS program dancing in their heads. Mom and Dad wanted those visions to be dancing in mine as well. If Jen loved it so much, having been a Dukie for three years, why wouldn't I? This was a familiar refrain that played over and over in my head. It quickly got annoying.
The thought of joining my sister in her Gothic Wonderland simply did not appeal to me.
Having been separated our entire lives merely by a flight of stairs in our cozy little suburban home, we were really worlds apart. I would breathlessly return from tennis practice, bound up the stairs to my room and struggle through pre-calculus and American history homework. An hour later, Jen trudged up to the third floor after four hours of triple loops and double lutzes at figure skating practice.
During high school, we barely noticed we were sisters. My door remained closed. So did hers.
As the early decision deadline approached, and after months of soul-searching, the entire application process became a headache.
I hadn't made my mind up yet, but there was something about the beautiful flowers and the frisbee games I witnessed on the main quad.
Walking up Campus Drive with my mother, I said, out of the blue, "I think I would be really happy here."
So, I asked myself, what would it matter if my sister would be in the same place?
Realizing how distant we were as sisters, I thought that the mile between East and West Campuses would keep us apart and not have any substantial effect on us.
But, college life did something to our relationship that I never could have imagined. It revamped it.
Jen put my clothes away that first day, arranging them neatly in my drawers as she excitedly described the cool campus spots she was going to show me. Later that week, I never expected her to spontaneously run out and buy me a stepstool.
In January, Jen came over to East to help me pick out my sorority rush outfits-black pants at an appropriate level of tightness, an elegant formal dress and a cute Ann Taylor skirt for the more casual rounds.
When two of her friends found me in the library crying because I couldn't figure out how to use the databases, she came running over in the middle of the night to help me find articles on Levittown. And when I couldn't figure out how to register, guess who helped press one to add a course and two to drop one?
As the months passed, I would call Jen just to talk or to even borrow her Vivien Tam tank-top-I knew I had gained her attention and her respect.
We didn't just have clothes in common, either.
Funny how we both ended up dating boys in the same fraternity. That sisterly bond followed us wherever we went.
Taking a religion class together solidified our relationship. When the professor read roll the first day, he chuckled as he got to the last two names.
"Jennifer Young."
"Meredith Young."
"Are you two sisters?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
I was so happy to answer yes.
Experiencing college with a sibling exceeded my expectations-I never thought I could become so close to Jen in only a few months, and based on my experience, it doesn't surprise me that I have so many friends who have their brothers and sisters looking after them.
As my brother delves into the college application process this fall, you can guess where both my sister and I are urging him to apply early.
If his sisters loved it so much, after having been Dukies, why wouldn't he? And I don't think it will take him long to make up his mind.
Meredith Young is a Trinity junior and Medical Center editor of The Chronicle.
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