Same Same but Different

story Nicole Lim, Contributing Reporter

With three classes of students, at least three sibling pairs now live among us in the Yale-NUS College community. We speak to Peter Ooi ’18, Rachel Ooi ’19, Walter Yeo ’17 and Annette Yeo ’19 about their relationship at school. Excerpts from the interviews follow.

Peter and Rachel Ooi

Do you have other siblings?
Peter: We have four other siblings, but [Rachel and I] aren’t the closest amongst them. She doesn’t even know my birthday.
Rachel: November 20th. Do you know my birthday?
P: April 24th.
R: Fail.
P: 25th, 25th.

How often do you see each other on campus?
R: We see each other quite often, just that he always ignores me.
P: She’s just not loud enough, I swear. Also, she insists on coming to hug me in a public manner which is so fake, because at home she doesn’t do anything like that.

Did you choose to apply to Yale-NUS because of your older sibling?
R: I have yet to discover any practical purpose to having a sibling in the upperclassmen. He gave me his books. That’s it. I would have gotten into Yale-NUS without him anyway.
P: Imagine if I tried to promote Yale-NUS to her, and she came and didn’t like it, she would blame me.

What are some downsides about having a sibling in school?
R: He rats on me. Stuff like: “Rachel went to a party. Rachel’s been partying a lot.”
P: I have to be careful now. I cannot date people who are close friends to my sister.
R: Not like my friends would date you anyway.

What is some advice you would give to your younger sibling?
P: Don’t go clubbing too much. Also, go and apply for more overseas trips and stuff, because I didn’t get to go on too many of those.

What is one piece of advice you would give to your sibling’s suitemates?
P: Don’t let her hoard stuff.
R: Too late. I have a disco ball, a sword, a whiskey flask, and a penis-shaped bottle opener.
P: Die already, die already. I’m telling Mom.

Walter and Annette Yeo

How often do you see each other on campus?
Annette: Not a lot, because he’s at law school more often. We’re in the same Yale-NUS and Law extracurriculars—Yale-NUS International Relations and Politics Association and the Military Justice Project.
Walter: She basically joined all the student organizations I’m involved in.

Did you choose to apply to Yale-NUS because of your older sibling?
A: I actually only wanted to go to NUS Law. I applied to Yale-NUS for fun but my brother told me that he thought I wouldn’t get in, especially because the Double Degree Programme is already so small. His batch has eight, mine has 14.
W: [They’re] giving out 7% [of acceptances] to the same family? That’s a huge statistic for Yale-NUS.

What are some downsides about having a sibling in school?
A: People who don’t know me will automatically think we’re the same. One of the comments I got was: “She’s female Walter. She sounds the same.” I always tell people it’s very rude to call me Walter’s sister. I have a name.

What is some advice you would give to your younger sibling?
W: Make use of your first year. The ungraded semester helps. Take that time to explore, both academically and personally. Don’t be too kanchiong (anxious) about everything.

What is one piece of advice you would give to your sibling’s suitemates?
W: Don’t be offended by Annette in the morning. Annette in the morning is incredibly grumpy because she’s not a morning person.
A: Don’t get annoyed when Walter speaks really loudly. When he talks loudly in the library, my friends will come up and tell me.
W: The library wasn’t built for my voice. I’m going to buy it soon. That’s why I’m working so hard. I’ll rename it the Walter Yeo Library. And then I’ll speak as loudly as I want.

Correction: A previous version of the article misquoted Rachel Ooi as saying “bottle of Veneer” instead of “bottle opener”. The article was updated to reflect this change on Sept. 15 at 11.40 pm.