Great minds think alike: Heiberger twins prepare to study at Boston's MIT

Harry and Henry Heiberger have established a legacy at Brandon Valley High School through their commitments to excellence in academics, music and service. The twins plan to continue that legacy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this coming fall.

Making plans for the future

With an extensive list of top-tier schools to choose from — including Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Cal Tech — the Heibergers ultimately decided on MIT because of its engineering and science programs.

“The majors are pretty much focused in that engineering mind frame,” Harry said. “They’re very research-based, and they have a lot of the opportunities that we were looking for in a college.”

At the moment, Harry and Henry said they are both planning to major in electrical engineering and computer science, taking advantage of MIT’s 4 + 1 master’s program to graduate in five years with a master’s degree in engineering. They said they are also considering double majoring in business administration if their schedules allow it.

The Heibergers will be busy with a fall class schedule consisting of single variable calculus, physics, chemistry and biology. Although their semesters are packed, the twins said they are excited to get in the lab and take advantage of the opportunities MIT will provide.

“It’ll be a nice experience, getting to work with the world-renowned faculty at the state-of-the-art research labs,” Henry said.

The twins will start their college careers with about $25,000 each in scholarships. MIT’s financial policy works in their favor as well — the school doesn’t charge tuition for families who make under $100,000 a year. The Heibergers fall within that income bracket, so with their scholarships, they’ll “basically break even.” 

At Brandon Valley, the twins were involved in multiple music ensembles, including marching and jazz band, chamber orchestra and the electric strings group. They said they’re going to bring their instruments to college and audition for the MIT symphony orchestra and MIT wind ensemble.

The Heibergers rounded out their high school years by leading the service organizations Tri-M National Music Honor Society and SALSA. If they have time in their collegiate schedules, they hope to get involved in service projects at MIT, possibly continuing their work with Tri-M in Massachusetts.

“It’d be fun to go out and do more work, especially when there’s a lot more things you can do in Boston,” Henry said.

A summer of studying

The brothers originally intended to spend their summer gaining research experience in Lead, S.D., through Sanford’s Davis Bahcall program. When the program was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Heibergers decided to do MIT’s Interface Edge Program instead. MIT doesn’t accept dual credit courses, so for six weeks, Harry and Henry will be taking online introductions to their general classes in hopes of eventually testing out and getting ahead.

So far, the Heibergers said their summer classes have been “a lot of work.” From June till August, the twins will study calculus, physics, chemistry and English, watching three hours of synchronous lectures per day and completing 12 hours of problem sets for each class per week. To help with the workload, MIT connects the Heibergers with other students in the program through learning pods.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Henry said. “We’re learning a lot.”

Harry may be older than Henry by a minute, but the brothers say they are equal in capability. The competitive edge between the two pushes them to keep working. “I think it helps,” Henry said. “We’re both trying to do the best we can.” 

For the summer, the Heibergers are getting up at 6 a.m. to study for at least five hours. They said they help each other with their homework.

“There’s things that are difficult, but the more we practice it, the more we pick it up faster,” Henry said. “If we have questions, we have each other and can work on things together.”

Starting college amid 

a pandemic

For the upcoming semester, the Heibergers won’t be in Boston. MIT recently announced that only undergraduate seniors would be invited on campus this fall. Harry and Henry will instead take all of their courses online. The twins aren’t yet sure what will happen their second semester.

“It would be nice to be on campus,” Henry said. “I guess we’ll just see what happens.”

When the brothers do get to move on campus, the Heibergers and their parents will drive the 26 hours out to Boston. The twins plan to return for breaks a couple times throughout the year.

Harry said that going to the same college wasn’t a requirement for the brothers, but because they were both interested in engineering and both were accepted to MIT, it worked out well for them.

“Since we’re so far from home, it’ll be nice to have someone to relate to and work with on projects,” Henry said. “We’ll have a support network already set up.”

Although the twins are excited for the opportunities that are soon to come their way, they will miss the Brandon community.

“It’s a small town,” Henry said. “We know everyone.”

“I’ll miss my friends here and the small-town community,” Harry added. “It’ll be a big change going to the big city of Boston.”