Before choosing a university, identical twins August and Em Bay wanted to flee New Orleans. They presumed they’d choose different universities, but they separately fell in love with Loyola without disclosing it to one another.
August Bay, a religious studies freshman, and Em Bay, a sociology freshman, are mirror twins. They have several mirrored features including opposite dominant hands.
They were hesitant that it would be difficult to find themselves apart from one another.
“A large part about being a twin is you lose a large part of identity,” Em Bay said.
Challenges come with attending college with your twin. August Bay said they can question if they are in an independent stage of life and development into adulthood.
“Sometimes I am scared I am not branching out far enough because I still have a safety net with me,” August Bay said. Though it is a fright night at times, they are thankful for it.
They appreciate the support they receive from each other, like a built-in best friend they can count on.
“When I am getting stressed out they are the first one to call it, before I can,” August Bay said.
It is common for students and faculty to confuse them with one another. Depending on the conversation, they may go along with it, August Bay said. People have assumed they were the same person.
“Ms. Karen, who works in the OR, found out we were twins today [and] she was very shell shocked,” August Bay said. “It is a weekly occurrence.”
Several sets of twins on Loyola’s campus have a shared experience of finding independence apart from one another, despite going to the same college.
Margaret Powell is a sophomore double majoring in mass communication and English, and her fraternal twin, Allison Powell, is a Tulane student double majoring in neuroscience and environmental science.
They decided not to go to the same college for multiple reasons, Margaret Powell said.
“We have been connected to each other for our entire lives and we wanted to see what it was like without each other,” Margaret Powell said.
Margaret Powell loves living close to her twin and they hang out often, she said. People sometimes confuse their names with one another; however, people know them by face.
Now that they don’t go to the same college life is more difficult, Powell said.
“I don’t always have her to fall back on,” she said.
Delaney Mathis, a biology junior, is a triplet and neither her brother nor sister go to Loyola. Emma Mathis, Delaney’s sister, used to go to Loyola until she left to pursue her career.
“Before college, my sister and I had done almost everything together,” Delaney Mathis said.
Her and her sister purposefully chose to go to the same university.
“The transition into college in general can be difficult, so when she left it was very hard for me and very lonely,” she said. “I have less anxiety when I am with her.”
Although they no longer share the same college, her sister’s departure was better for their relationship to grow as individuals, Delaney Mathis said.
Emma Mathis agrees with this sentiment of finding greater individuality with a separation.
“But I think the separation created a greater appreciation for each other in the moments we all got to be together. It also created a bigger sense of independence, like I can go about my day without having someone holding my hand through it,” Emma Mathis said.
While it was an adjustment to separate, Emma was able to see her siblings grow into themselves.
“I’m also so proud of them. I think being away was a nice way to watch them flourish in their own, new ways which is a really cool thing, like seeing the people u grew up with become adults,” Emma Mathis said.
Although the Mathis triplets found solace in going their separate ways, juniors Matthew and Maxwell Mendez applied and chose to attend Loyola together.
“We knew that we wanted to go to school together; we’ve been pretty much inseparable since birth,” Maxwell Mendez said. “And it helped that we got into a lot of schools together. When we both got accepted to Loyola, we knew right away; it was perfect.”
The twins are both psychology majors and often take classes together.
“I definitely like having my twin in my classes,” Matthew Mendez said. Every now and then, professors do get us confused, but I’m used to that, and I don’t really have a problem with that. It’s part of being a twin.”
Beyond being classmates, the pair are also roommates and hold campus jobs at the Monroe Library.
“We have our disagreements every now and then, but we always settle them, and overall, we’re able to live with each other easily,” Matthew Mendez said. “I think when you live together and you’ve known each other for so long, it’s even easier to work together.”
Not pictured: Twins, Pablo and Alejandro Ulloa.
