Graduation Day a Triple-Header for Sher Family

Range of interests, but one BU for triplets

| From BU Today | Slide show by Edward A. Brown. Photos by Nicolae Ciorogan. Text by Susan Seligson

The Sher family of Baltimore had three reasons to beam with pride at the 2010 Commencement ceremony, when diplomas were handed to triplets Alison, Deborah, and Jocelyn. An appreciative group of relatives and friends and two boyfriends cheered on the young women, born on April Fool’s Day 1988.

Ali (CAS’10), Deb (COM’10), and Jocie (CAS’10) were inseparable through high school, but they didn’t march to BU in lockstep. Ali, the oldest, and Deb, the middle child, came to BU, and their “baby” sister, Jocie, went to South Carolina’s College of Charleston, explains Ali, who like her sisters refers to their birth order as if it were a matter of years, not minutes.

“Freshman year was the hardest we’d ever had,” says Ali. “Deb and I lived on opposite ends of campus, and with Jocie in a different state it was really the first time we had lived and defined ourselves on our own.” But in other ways it brought them closer, and Jocie transferred to BU for sophomore year.

Because they have different interests, between the three of them the sisters feel their BU experience has been especially rich. Deb is in a sorority, Ali performed in some plays through Hillel House, Jocie and Ali mentored young girls. “We all lived in different places on campus,” Ali says, “so we were exposed to so many different activities, events, and people.”

The Sher triplets are used to attracting attention and curiosity. “The first question we get, basically from everyone we meet, is, what is it like being triplets?” says Ali. “For us, it’s just normal to always have each other. We usually respond by asking, what’s it like to be the only one born at once?”

Their friends often suggest they have a reality show, Ali says. “Or people comment about how they can’t believe we’re triplets because we have such different personalities.” They seem to follow the “typical first, middle, and last modes,” she says. “Deb is the middle, the goofy carefree one. I am the first-born and definitely the motherly one — my nickname used to be the boss. Jocie, the baby, is kind of like the glue; she is the mediator between Deb and me.”

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