Before her Georgetown acceptance, Jacqueline Correa (CAS ’29) had committed to Florida State University (FSU). Correa assumed, as a first-generation low-income student, that she would be rejected from Georgetown. And if she was accepted, she worried that she would not receive enough financial aid to justify attendance.
During their senior year of high school, her twin sister Bella had planned on staying in their home state of Florida and attending the University of Central Florida, just five hours away from FSU.
“When I committed to FSU, Bella was so happy because she was like, ‘Then we can see each other on the weekends, and we could take the bus up.’ So she was really excited about it,” Correa said.
However, the sisters’ plans changed dramatically when Correa received her acceptance letter from Georgetown. When her financial aid offer made attendance a real possibility, Correa knew that attending Georgetown was something she needed to do for herself, since the location fueled her interests in law. While Bella had expressed a desire for both sisters to attend college in Florida together, Correa couldn’t miss the opportunity to be a Hoya—but she was upset about leaving her sister.
“Bella tried to make sure that I applied to all the schools she applied to because she wanted to go to college with me,” Correa explained. “I always knew that I would end up out of state and she would end up in-state.”
Jacqueline is not the only Hoya to have experienced the complex reality of the college transition with a sibling that is attached to so many life achievements. The Voice spoke with four twins or triplets attending Georgetown about their experiences navigating college with and without their siblings on campus, finding new communities, and developing their individuality.
Finding their way alone
Though she described them as “best friends,” Correa said that she never felt that she and her twin were tied together as individuals, due to them being fraternal and attending different classes growing up. She explained that they both have their own distinct personalities, with Bella being more introverted.
Though she had prepared for the eventual separation, Correa said that she felt alone after her move-in process.
“In the first week of being alone, we would call for hours a day,” she said.
Now, though the pair does not communicate as much as they did before starting college, Correa said she calls or texts her sister every day.
“I think it’s one of those things that even though you’re not with the person 24/7, when you guys see or talk to each other, it’s like no time has passed,” Correa said.
She acknowledged that while they try to keep regular contact, there are still parts of her sister’s new life that she does not know. She also expressed disappointment in not being able to connect with her extended family as much as her sister, who makes regular weekend visits back to Orlando, their hometown.
As she’s adjusted to college life, Correa said that she particularly misses Bella whenever she is going through a rough time or having a bad day. Back in Florida, the pair would drive around and “rant to each other” about their problems, finding comfort in the familiarity of each other’s presence.
“Now when I’m upset, I can’t be with her in-person. Yes, I could still call her and complain, but it’s different because it’s less intimate,” she said.
However, Correa also said that being away from Bella has pushed her to become more self-sufficient. With her sister no longer there to remind her about deadlines or everyday responsibilities, she’s learned to manage her time and tasks efficiently.
“Bella would help me so much at home with random miscellaneous things,” she said. “So being [at Georgetown] has definitely taught me how to take care of myself better because I always kind of relied on her for that.”
Taking on college together
Though Correa had to learn to be independent, Alyssa and Sophia Koval (MSB ’27) had to relearn how to attend the same institution after spending their freshman year apart. During their senior year of high school, Alyssa had planned to attend Georgetown while Sophia was set to attend Villanova University.
As identical twins, both Alyssa and Sophia said that they had frequently been tied to each other in their youth. For Alyssa, attending Georgetown meant establishing a sense of individuality she had never experienced.
But when Sophia began her freshman year at Villanova, she did not fit into the campus culture as seamlessly as she would have liked. She did not make any immediate plans to transfer, hoping that her feelings would change over time. However, after realizing that Villanova wasn’t the right fit for her, she applied to transfer schools late in the transfer period, leaving her with few options.
Though Alyssa knew Sophia was applying to Georgetown, Sophia did not immediately let her sister know of her acceptance and plans to attend. During Alyssa’s freshman year move-out, Sophia broke the news to her sister, unsure of how she would react.
“I was so nervous,” Sophia said. “I almost started crying because it’s such a big deal for her to have established herself here and all of a sudden, there’s two of us, and we look exactly the same. It just completely warps your experience.”
Alyssa had a complicated reaction.
“I was excited for her, but felt apprehensive about the change. I knew how much she disliked her previous school, so of course I wanted what was best for her, but for the first time in my life I was able to have my own identity,” Alyssa said.
When discussing her transition to Georgetown, Sophia said that having her sister with her made the process “seamless.” Sophia arrived on campus before most of her classmates to attend a pre-orientation program, and said that when Alyssa arrived for her peer ambassador training, it felt like “a sigh of relief.”
“If I’m overwhelmed, I can be with her, and I also just felt so much less scared to do everything because she was like, ‘I’ll show you.’ Any question I had could easily be answered without me having to reach out to some outside source,” Sophia said. “It was really nice at the start.”
Although they share mutual interests in business, Alyssa and Sophia made a conscious decision to get involved with different clubs. Alyssa joined Georgetown Ventures, a student-run startup accelerator, and Sophia joined the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, Georgetown’s student-run banking system. They both said that this separation has been a good way to branch out individually and build separate connections.
Even so, they found that Sophia meshed well with Alyssa’s established friend group, introducing their friends and becoming close with the group over time.
When interacting with peers, Sophia said that she appreciates when individuals make a “visible effort” to distinguish the pair. Now both tour guides for Blue and Gray, Sophia explained that a friend within the group would correct anyone who referred to her and her sister as “the twins.”
“She would really make an effort to make sure that everyone in the club knew we were different people which I had never seen before,” she said. “But I also just stopped caring because [being a twin is] such a big part of my identity.”
For Alyssa, having her sister with her at school has strengthened their bond.
“We have always done everything together, had all the same friends, and been interested in the same things, and nothing has changed since we started attending college together,” Alyssa explained. “We are now able to grow with each other in a different environment.”
While being a twin may come with its own set of unique challenges, Sophia said that she is “really proud” to have this shared identity.
“I wish everybody had that same experience, because my life would be so different without her,” Sophia said.
Siblings near and far
While some twins or triplets find separation to be disorienting, that is not always the case. For Madison Fox-Moore (CAS ’26), closeness is less about physical distances, but rather a shared history and understanding. Madison is a triplet with her sister, Connor, and sibling, Mags.
During their senior year of high school, Fox-Moore said that she and her siblings knew that they all wanted to attend college outside of their hometown in Syracuse, New York. They assumed that they would all end up in different places.
That assumption was only partially correct: Mags committed to Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and after a year of studying in Europe and South America, Connor committed to George Washington University (GW), just a few miles from Georgetown.
Fox-Moore recalled that being apart from her siblings for the first time during her freshman year was difficult after spending so much time together, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that spending time away from her siblings “was unimaginable.” They kept in contact by scheduling FaceTimes and texting.
“That first time apart from them was definitely really hard, but I think it made us stronger as siblings. I realized that it’s not just meeting in the same household that makes up for importance,” Fox-Moore said.
Her sophomore year, when Connor started attending GW, Madison said she felt she could rely on her for support.
“It was super fun because I was able to introduce her to my friends at Georgetown and to D.C.,” Fox-Moore said. “It was nice for both of us to have that support.”
During their childhood, Fox-Moore said that she and her siblings were almost always referred to as “the triplets.” Like Correa and Koval, she said that coming to Georgetown and not being known for her identity as one-third of a set was a “jarring, but almost freeing” experience.
“I like that being a triplet is now something that I decide to share with people. It’s a fun fact, but not necessarily who I am,” she said. “It’s been good to reclaim that individuality that I just really never had growing up.”
Last year, Connor graduated one year early from GW and is now living on her own in a new city. Madison said that she now feels a new sense of distance between her siblings.
“I feel for the first time in our lives, we’re not at the same point in life, which is a little bit strange to manage,” she said. “But I can always count on them; they know me better than anyone.”
Beyond the hilltop
Even as their paths begin to diverge, some milestones remain intertwined. In May, Mags and Madison are set to graduate on the same weekend.
Although Fox-Moore and her siblings are planning on following their individual paths—whatever they may be—Correa and the Koval sisters expressed interest in staying with their siblings after their time at Georgetown.
“We have plans to stay together and get an apartment in New York City. If, for some reason, that does not happen, I will still call her every day and see her regularly,” Sophia Koval said.
Correa said that she hopes her sister will be attending medical school close to whichever law school she ultimately chooses, keeping them within reach once again.
“I don’t think either of us expected to be in separate places for the rest of our lives. And honestly, I don’t think that we will,” she said. “I just don’t think that we’ll be able to handle the separation for grad school and throughout our 20s and 30s. I do think we’ll end up in the same place somehow.”
