Written by Hayley Krolik

For the Tan triplets, juniors Sarah, Grace and Lauren Tan, a best friend is not hard to find—they only have to look to their sisters. “I think we’re really close,” Sarah said. “We tend to stick together.”

Lauren and Grace share a room in the house while Sarah has her own room, but they know that they can always call across the hall if they need anything from each other. “At home, I’m never bored if they’re around,” Lauren said. “Some of my friends don’t have any siblings and their parents are never home and they’re always lonely.”

However, their relationship at home naturally causes some fear about what having a college roommate would be like. “I feel like having a roommate would be really awkward and it wouldn’t work out very well,” Sarah said. “We’re used to being able to yell at each other if we don’t like something.”

There are some drawbacks to being triplets, although the Tans say they aren’t that drastic. They usually will not go to an event unless another sister is going. “We’re not as independent as we could be,” Sarah said. “When we’re together, we don’t talk to other people as much as if we’re alone.”

Additionally, their parents and friends tend to compare them. “Our parents use [another sister] as an example if she’s doing better,” Lauren said. “They said, ‘Go look and see how she studies,’ to the others.” When Lauren performed better on her piano theory test than Sarah, their parents told Sarah that she could do it if Lauren could. “They expected me to perform better or at the same level,” Sarah said.

Friends or acquaintances typically assume that they have the same personality or at- tributes. “If you have different strengths, like different subjects in school, they’ll generalize it to the other two,” Sarah said.

Being a triplet is a huge part of their identities, and the Tans think that it is different than just having a sibling. “I think being a triplet does affect how close we are,” Lauren said. “Since we’re the same age, I feel like we’re closer than siblings who are different ages.”

They mean the world to each other. “You can’t have a best friend because no one can compare to sisters,” Grace said. “That’s where our definition of a best friend comes from.”