Quadruplets Elizabeth, Catherine, Gabrielle and Colin Sethi — born in that order — are often in sync. They are all Dearborn Wolverines. They are all in the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. They are all creative. “If you follow astrology, that’s the Pisces in us,” says Elizabeth, noting that she enjoys fashion design and Catherine likes crafting, while Gabrielle journals and Colin draws.
But there are times where the four fraternal quadruplets may not be aligned — like when they order pizza from the Renick University Center’s cafeteria. “When we’d be on campus together all day, we’d get lunch. Since there are four of us, we’d get a specialty pizza to share. Except we couldn’t always agree on toppings — so we’d put some things on one half and other toppings on the other half. I think the people at the pizza counter hated to see us coming,” says Elizabeth, laughing.
The four siblings gathered for an afternoon Zoom call in their West Bloomfield home right before April 10’s National Siblings Day — Elizabeth, the oldest, coordinated getting four busy people all together in the same place — to discuss campus life and reflect on what next year might look like with two of them graduating this semester.
Elizabeth says it is rare that they are home together from class, internships, work and study groups before 9 p.m. Congregated in the kitchen, Catherine is making chai. Gabrielle is grabbing Oreos. And Colin is working on homework on his laptop.
"Gabrielle is the person that, if you're having a bad day, you want to go to her because she's just super bubbly and makes you happy. Colin's the funniest and has a sarcastic sense of humor. Catherine's the most athletic and independent. She inspires us to be open to new experiences,” Elizabeth says. “I like to express myself through fashion. And I'd definitely say that I'm the most serious and like to keep everything organized. They like to remind me that I’m not mom.”
Elizabeth, a digital marketing major, and Gabrielle, a psychology major, will celebrate their graduation from the College of Business and the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters at the same ceremony on April 26. Both sisters plan to move out of state to continue their education. Elizabeth will attend graduate school at LIM College in Manhattan for fashion merchandising and retail management and Gabrielle was accepted to a master’s program in social work at Columbia University.
“When we were in high school, we toured universities like Duke and the University of North Carolina, but we weren’t quite ready to leave home. UM-Dearborn is a good school that’s close to home — we all decided to go there together,” Elizabeth says. “It’s going to be a little weird not to be the four of us, but I’m ready to make a big move.” Colin, a finance and supply chain double major, expects to graduate in Fall 2025 and Catherine, a premed major, plans to graduate the semester after Colin.
But, before graduation, they have a couple more Alpha Kappa Psi meetings to attend together. Colin and Elizabeth, who are College of Business students, joined first. Then, after hearing how beneficial the fraternity was with networking and job-skill honing, Catherine and Gabrielle joined.
Even though they do a lot together, people often don’t confuse them — anymore. Elizabeth is 5’2” with curly hair and Catherine is 5’7” with straight hair. However, in grade school, they’d often have to remind their teachers who is who. “We didn’t look alike then either, but I think having us in a class together can be confusing at first,” Elizabeth says. “That hasn’t been a problem at UM-Dearborn.”
Each agreed that their time at UM-Dearborn has helped them further develop their own career interests and make new friends separate from one another. But they also continue to find ways to spend time together. For example, they regularly try new restaurants in downtown Dearborn since it is so close to campus. A current favorite is The Great Commoner on Michigan Avenue.
They were raised to be individuals by their parents — fun fact: mom Carol is a UM-Dearborn alum — and they will continue to grow in their own directions while also sharing their successes with each other.
“We have all different mindsets and perspectives on things, but we all agree that we have a special bond and will be there for each other no matter where we end up in the future,” Elizabeth says. “I am so grateful to have three forever built-in best friends.”
Story by Sarah Tuxbury
