It is obvious that admittance to an Ivy League school is not simple, as hundreds of thousands of outstanding individuals apply to such elite colleges each year. Despite the large number of applications received, only a small percentage of students are admitted.
According to The Morning Call, Harvard University admitted only 3.4% of the 56,937 candidates that applied for the class of 2027. Gianna and Tianna Tout-Puissant, 17-year-old Pennsylvania twins, are among the fortunate kids who reached that list.
“We logged into our application portals at the exact same time, and then we read, ‘Congratulations,’ on each other’s screens, and then we just started all screaming,” Gianna said in reference to the day they got to know they had gained admission. “My mom was crying. It was crazy.”
The identical twins, who are both student-athletes and recently graduated from Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, had to battle health scares during their childhood due to preterm birth and major health conditions.
“To see them and how they’ve blossomed into the young women they are today, it’s like they’re miracle babies,” the girls’ mother, Leah Tout-Puissant, said.
The twins, on the other hand, plan to play Division 1 basketball for the Ivy League school’s women’s team in addition to their studies at Harvard. The academically smart and talented females successfully blended their studies and sports while playing varsity basketball for four years, and they aim to continue playing the sport at Harvard.
“They put the work in, year in and year out,” Moravian Academy’s girls’ basketball coach, Avon Mack, said.
The twins said they plan to major in chemistry for their pre-medicine level and then apply to medical school after completing their undergraduate studies, according to The Morning Call.
Gianna aspires to be a cardiothoracic surgeon or a neurosurgeon, whereas Tianna aspires to be a neurosurgeon. The sisters also stated that their experiences with chemistry at Moravian Academy influenced their decision to major in the subject at Harvard.
“I think a lot of their peers thought it was just natural for them,” their chemistry teacher, Cole Wisdo, said. “But I had the real pleasure of seeing just how crazy hard they were working at it.”
“Hard working is an understatement,” their mother also said. “When you talk about hustle and grind, those are the words that define Gianna and Tianna when it comes to their schoolwork.”
Though the twins have equally made commendable strides in their studies, as well as in sports, their personalities aren’t the same. “I know this sounds cheesy, but we’re very yin and yang,” Tianna said. “She says this crazy idea, and then I’m like, ‘OK, let’s think about the pros and cons of this before we do it.’ And then she gets me to step out of my comfort zone.”
The twins said they’re glad to continue pushing each other to achieve their goals when they further their education at Harvard next year. “We were really set on going to college together,” Gianna told The Morning Call. “And the fact that we were able to both get into such an amazing college was a dream come true.”