They both knew they wanted to go to the same college, "but it was with the understanding that you could choose the school you wanted to," Jocelyn says.

Both say Harvard was their top choice, and their alumni interviewers told them in advance that they would receive the same fate, Jocelyn says.

"During our first interview at Harvard, they said that if you guys both have the same grades, either you'll both get in, you'll both get wait-listed or you'll both get rejected," Jocelyn says.

But Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons says twins are treated no differently from any other two applicants to Harvard.

"We really treat twins or triplets or quadruplets or quintuplets really the way we would treat any individual applicant," Fitzsimmons says. "We literally evaluate our applications one at a time."

The Long and Short of It

However much the twins may be different, however, all four are the same in their love and respect for their sisters.

Each of the sisters says her sister is her best friend. And both pairs say they will remain close emotionally, if not physically.

"If we're not in the same city, we'll just call each other every day," Jocelyn says, and Nyasha agrees.

"I think even if I lived across the country, I'd still talk to her a lot," Nyasha says.

None of them knows why all four ended up in Cabot, but they all say they think it is fun for two sets of twins to be in the same house.

"I thought it was really ironic--and female twins at that," Nyala says.

Maybe it's just chance or a comedy of errors--or maybe the gods of the housing lottery have a peculiarly literary bent. Stranger things have happened.