A coincidence is a surprising concurrence of events, perceived as meaningfully related, but with no apparent causal connection. Should we really be surprised by these coincidences? Remember that when so many "unlikely" events are possible, according to the laws of probability, some of them are bound to happen. Like these...
(C.R.) My coincidence story occured on Sunday, however, it began a little over a year ago... I was a student at James Madison University for fall semster of my freshman year, (I transferred to Pitt after that). Jenny, who had graduated in my high school class, also attended JMU. We became friends while at JMU because we lived in the same dorm, however, we didn't know each other in high school. One weekend, a few of her friends from high school came to visit. One in particular, Jon, I was friends with. Jon and two other people had driven over 300 miles to visit Jenny at JMU. So, until this weekend, I hadn't seen Jon since mid-October, when he came out to JMU to visit Jenny. So, Sunday morning comes around and I was about to go to the Marketplace to eat brunch with a few friends when I see Jon walking up the stairs! I was shocked to see him because I hadn't since more than a year ago. We live about 5 miles from each other at home and we hadn't gotten together, let alone seen each other in passing since last year. Pitt is 300 miles from my house, which is northeast of Philadelphia. JMU is also 300 miles from my house. It seemed to be a huge coincidence that the only times I had seen Jon since we graduated from high school was at the 2 universities I attended - each 300 miles from wheere we graduated! After we talked for a little bit, I realized that it probably wasn't as big of a coincidence as I had thought... For one, Jon's younger sister goes to Pitt, so he has been here a few times this year. Also, Jon worked days in the summer and I worked a lot in the evenings, giving us very little time to run into each other. It turns out that seeing him at JMU and at Pitt wasn't THAT big of a coincidnce, although it definetly felt like it at the time!
(J.P.) It's kind of funny/weird when I think about it, but the only three "official" relationships that I have been in since 7th grade have been with guys named Michael. I've liked people named something else, but have only dated Mike's. I always thought that this was odd, but when you think about it, Michael is a very popular name, so it might not be as strange as I have always thought it to be. Since this name may be more common than other names, it may be more likely that I date someone by the name of Michael than guys with other names.
(L.L.) A coincidence that happened to me took place a few years ago in Colorado. My family went on vacation in Colorado every year for about seven years, and on one year we decided to go to a movie theater. At the movie theater, my parents went to one movie and my sister and I went to another. When we came out of the movie, we ran into a girl who I played soccer with at the theater. Not only did we run into each other in another state, but the kids had gone to the same movie my sister and I saw, and the parents went to the same movie my parents went to. I think it really is unlikely, considering how specific the events were. Running into each other in another state is unlikely, and it's more unlikely to both go to the same movie theater since we had never gone to the movies there before, and even more unlikely that we would split to see the same exact movies.
(A.M.) My personal coincidence story involves my dorm room floor and the places that the people on my floor are from. Out of the 40 people on my floor, 3 people, including myself, are from the same city. None of us knew each other before coming to Pitt. Although this occurrence may seem unlikely, our intuition tends to be misleading in determining the likelihood of coincidence events. Therefore, it is possible that these events are likely.
(C.B.) Every year, my family and I travel to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. The area is ideal for us: It has great beach access, shopping, entertainment, and food. We almost always go in August so that the sun isn't too hot, and because it always seems the perfect end to summer before everybody focuses on school or work. Oftentimes we make the road trip there in two days. Because it's a twelve hour drive, we usually stop for the night somewhere in Washington or Virginia so we aren't overly-tired when we get there to enjoy the actual beach. Last year, we were spending the night at a "halfway point" ~V Crystal City. It's right outside Washington DC and most hotels there have a great view of everything across the Potomac. As my brother was playing in the top floor pool and I was looking at the skyline over the Pentagon, a strangely familiar man sat down next to me. After a few minutes, I realized that he was a member of the same family we had met at a show in Myrtle Beach the year before. Not only had we met again, but we had met nearly 300 miles from our original place of acquaintance. What was more, they were going to Myrtle Beach at the same time as we were, and they were also going to be staying the same length of time in the same hotel! Once we arrived at the beach the next afternoon, the whole family was indeed there ~V 3 door down from our own room. While this series of events may have seemed to be a complete coincidence, it may not have been. It was of course a coincidence that we saw the family in Crystal City, but it may not have been so unusual that we saw them at the beach. Like us (and many other families), they enjoyed going to the same vacation spot every year ~V it was just exotic enough to be a release from life's stresses, but not so exotic that it was unrecognizable every time they wanted to go there. To meet the same people at the beach was much like meeting a friend at the local grocery store ~V it might be uncommon with thousands of people living around here, but it's certainly not an impossibility. Even though we were 600 miles from home, it was not altogether "against the odds" that this unusual occurrence happened.
(J.T.) One personal coincidence that i have had in my life was getting two royal flushes in one night of playing texas hold em poker. A royal flush is the best hand in the game and i have never had a royal flush before in my life and i have played poker for many years. I believe this is a coincidence because i've only seen one other person in my life get one let alone two of them.
(L.H.) My great-grandmother gave birth to her first child, a girl, when she was 25 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, gave birth to her first child, a girl, when she was 25 years old. My grandmother's daughter, my mother, gave birth to me (her first born and a girl) when she was 25 years old. Crazy, but true! (I wonder if the trend will continue...)
(N.D.) My dad was on a business trip from Pittsburgh to Saudi Arabia, and he had to change planes in Heathrow (London). Unbeknownst to my dad, my childhood pastor (who had since moved to Chicago) was flying back to Chicago from a trip to Ghana on the same day. He also had to change planes in Heathrow. Neither of them fly out of the country often, but they ended up seeing each other in the Heathrow airport, 10,000 miles from home, and eating lunch. I don't know the actual probability of this, but for me it's hard enough to find people in the airport when you're both looking for each other.
(C.V.) My story involves two birthdays on the exact same day, coincidentally talked about this week in class. There are six girls in my group of friends, including myself. It just so happens that two of them were born on May 11, 1987. So, 1/3 of us were born on the exact same day of the exact same year. Though that statistic is inaccurate according to overall probability of 2 of us having the same birthdya, this "coincidence" shows that statistics are correct. As discussed in class, it is possible to have 1/3 (2/6) of your friends born on the same day.
(J.K.) The day I ate pizza for breakfast I got the flu.
(P.M.) My coincidence story involves a t-shirt. During a one week period, I had run into people wearing a shirt with the logo of my all time favorite band. This band, Kid Dynamite, had only been together for a few years and was not very popular. The coincidence of this story is that, previously never having known anyone else who had heard of or listened to this band, I ran into 6 different people in a single week. I remember them all very well because this was the first time I had seen anyone else recognizing this band and I am very into music so this was very exciting for me. I ran into one person in the movie theater lobby, one at a mini golf place, one at my work, one was my waiter, one walking to my car in a parking lot ( I don~Rt remember the store we were out front of), and the last was at the mall. They were not in that order, but those are the locations. I feel that it is unlikely that I would run into this many people who had knowledge of a band that was almost nonexistent in the media~E more so because it was so many people in such a short time span. The population in Bucks County is 621, 342, and the population of Yardley, a subdivision of Bucks county, is 2,542. The occurrence seemed unlikely because of how many people lived in the area and how many times I have visited all of these places without ever seeing someone wearing this type of t-shirt before.
(K.T.) After our freshman year of college, my friend and I were eating at a Chinese Buffet in Haymaker Village and the topic of our conversation was revolving around how we felt we hadn't sufficiently "mingled" in our freshman year. We agreed and concluded that neither of us had formed any new, significant friendships at college and that this may or may not become a problem in the future. After we ate our fill of delicious and well-priced Chinese food, the check came and was accompanied by two fortune cookies. The fortune cookie my friend opened said "You must extend your friendships." Neither of us will ever forget this because we were blown away by the coincidence that we had talked about our limited friendships throughout the meal and now a cookie was giving us advice. In hindsight, this occurrence really wasn't so unlikely as we had talked about this subject before and since, and also because there are probably many cookies printed with the exact same message. But even though probability clearly allows for unlikely events such as this, it still feels strange having a cookie contradict you.
(W.R.) I'd have to say the best, and probably the most painful, coincidence story I have deals with a fencing bout I had at practice my senior year of high school. My sparring partner, a good friend of mine, and I were fencing each other and we were really going at it. Now we both had large repertoires of moves at the time so we had a lot of choices that we could make as to what tactic to try next. However at one point in the bout we both drew blanks and froze, by coincidence we both decided to try the same move at the exact same moment. Our coach had told us previously that the likely-hood of two fencers executing the same move at the same time by pure coincidence rarely ever happens. Unfortunately we were in rare form that day, because we had done the same move at the same time we ended up colliding in mid-motion and we cracked our head together. We were both quite dizzy after that.
(M.W.) As a child, I took a class, and in that class was another kid (I forget his name). We went to Disney World one spring, were in the park at night (part of some ride at night thing), and we met the kid and his family, with no knowledge that they had also scheduled the trip. What made it unlikely was that we ended up at the exact spot at the exact time that day, both of which are unlikely since it was that ride at night thing, was during the school year, and its a big park.
(B.M.) Once, I was traveling to Brasil by plane. Beside me sat this striking young woman from the United States. We flew into Sao Paulo. I saw her a week later in Santos (at the beach). Then, on the trip home, she had the seat adjacent to mine once again. The occurrences were pretty unlikely...same departures and returns, same beach, same time, adjacent seats, but I guess it could happen. (The fact that there was a conference in Santos probably helped out somewhat.)
(M.E.) In 9th grade, my first year going to school in Kentucky, I became friends with a girl I met in my English class. Late in the year, we found out we had both lived in Germany years before at the same time, in the same neighborhood, going to the same school. We just didn't know each other. In my own lifetime, I don't think this occurance is very likely, but several people world wide may experience this over the course of time.
(K.B.) On a summer community service trip to Arizona / New Mexico in 2003, I met and became very good friends with a girl from a small town outside of Cleveland. We kept in touch after the trip and I visited her the next spring at her house on my way to visit Pitt for the first time. When I came to Pitt in the fall of 2005 I met a girl on the first day of orientation who I also became very quick and good friends with. It turned out that this girl, who has now been my girlfriend for 1.5 years, lives in the same town as the girl I met in New Mexico. It is even stranger that they were friends and biology lab aids together in high school, are both even named Jenn.
(T.R.) So this is a little embarassing, but i dont really care if it gets posted, haha but here goes... So the night before i flew home for Christmas break, i went to a party to celebrate the end of finals. There was a boy in the corner (really cute) so i went over and started chatting. Well one thing lead to another and well we started kissing... imagine the rest. So went home, the next morning put the boy out of my mind and started packing. Now wouldnt you know that boarding the plane, i found my seat and wouldnt you know who was sitting in the window seat next to my center seat, party boy. I was mortified. Out of all of the students at Pitt and all of the people on the airplane, i think this was a coincidence, i would be amazed if a significant number in probability actually played into it. Hope you enjoyed that!
(J.G.) Right after my sophomore year of college, I had the unpleasant task of driving my brother to school for the month he was in session and I was not. On one certain day (5/25), I was dead tired by made my ritual trip to the car. When I got there, not paying attention to a car parked in the middle of the road, my brakes were slammed a bit too late, and I totaled my car. When the mess was cleaned up and I checked my voicemail, there was a message from my mother asking why I had been gone so long and accusing me of having an accident with the car. Whether it was pure probability or a sixth sense as she claims, it remains one of the eerier coincidences of my life.
(B.E.) When I was on winter break, my mom scheduled me for a doctor's appointment. When I arrived, he asked about what college I go to, and I told him. He then told me he only knew one person who went there, M.B. Coincidentally, out of the huge number of students going to this university, I recognized the name. Not only did I know him, I had been in ROTC with him for three semesters. I think thats a pretty big coincidence, because the odds of me knowing one person out of the people at this college are very low, and even lower that the same person is one of the 12 people in my sophomore ROTC class.
(J.R.) My coincidence is that my roommate and I both have the same middle name Lee even spelled the same way.
(E.G.) Two years ago I met a girl on my floor in residence that had the same first and middle name as me, and she lived in the town I was born in. My father died three years ago, her mother died three years ago. Then, I met one of her friends, who happened to be related to me on my father's side. Coincidence?
(A.M.) I took a greyhound bus home a couple weekends ago. On the bus there were two girls I went to highschool with and a boy I went to gradeschool and middle school with.
(C.W.) Here's my coincidence. A few summers ago I applied for a job at Steak n' Shake, and was hired. My trainer's name was Courtney, and my name is Courtney. We both thought it was crazy, and we called ourselves c-squared. I guess it really was not that unlikely that we share the same name.
(C.R.) Last Fall I was driving to Home Depot to buy a replacement door for one i had kicked in over the weekend. On the way there i found myself not paying attention around a sharp bend in the road. A mailbox managed to jump out and grab my side view mirror right off my car. I ordered a new mirror that evening and it came in 7-10 business days. Because of my laziness, I didn't stop at the body shop for at least a month or two to get it repaired. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and i stopped at the body shop on my way home only to find that the owner had a heart attack the night before and would be hospitalized for an indefinite period. That stinks. Yes, I think the occurrence was very unlikely.
(K.Y.) I grew up living at a summer camp, where my parents are the directors. It's not in Pennsylvania, and hardly anyone from my high school goes to Pitt, so I came here not really knowing anyone. At some point last year, some of my friends and I were talking about our hometowns, and one girl, who lives in the Pittsburgh area, said that she used to live in the same county as me. I knew the grade school she had gone to, had friends who had gone there, and so forth. The real kicker was that she not only knew of the camp I lived at, she had actually been there before for family camp. "Small world" occurrences like this aren't very likely, but it's amazing how often they turn up.
(T.H.) A personal coincidence story that I had found quite funny was the fact that my best friend and I were born in the same hospital bed exactly one week apart from eachother. As her mom was leaving from her stay in the hospital, mom my was coming in to give birth to me. We have been friends since we were 6, but we found out about the situation many years later. After thinking about it, I guess it isn't that highly unlikely. Being that we are from the same town, we all use the same local hopsital for the most part. Therefore, it is more likely for us to be born in the same hospital bed than if we lived in a big city with multiple hospitals.
(K.M.) One time while at Rehobeth Beach with my family we went to go get Italian ice at a Rita~Rs Italian Ice, which is a pretty well known chain of stores. While I was waiting for the rest of my family to get their Italian ice I was bored so I filled out a paper for a drawing. The one lucky winner was to be drawn from a compilation of people from all across the country who filled out these tiny pieces of paper. The first 1000 whose name was picked won (I think) one free water ice, the next 100 won a t-shirt, but only 1 person won a trip to a beach ( I forget the name) in Florida for a week. About a month after our vacation my father answered the phone and was completely confused when some one said that I had won a trip for my family and myself to Florida. Unfortunately we didn~Rt go because in the end it ended up being some type of time-share arrangement and my parents didn~Rt want to deal with that. I thought it was such a weird coincidence that out of everyone who entered this contest that my name was picked!! Honestly, how often do you ever know some one who actually won one of those random drawings with trips to places at restaurants-not very many.
(D.B.) I came to Pitt from a small town in Illinois, a little more than 500 miles away from Pittsburgh. The coincidence is that I was put in a single accomodation room next door to a boy who is from 20 miles from my hometown. I thought it was a huge coincidence that this far away from home I would be put in the room next to the student at Pitt that lives closest to me at home. Looking back at it, I still think that the probability is not all that great that we would have rooms next to each other and live next to each other at home. Perhaps they just do the housing like that, I do not really know. That could be the reason behind it.
(S.R.) Last school year, I was purchasing textbooks online for my fall courses. I had ordered an organic chemistry book. When I received my book, it was not the book I had bought, but a different edition of the same text. When I inquired as to the where edition I had ordered was, the person I bought it from had asked me what my address was. I told him and he told me what the situation was. Someone with my same name had ordered a newer edition of the same textbook I had ordered, and he had mixed up the shipping addresses...a fair mistake, haha. The fact that someone had the same name as me is not at all surprising, seeing as there are so many people in the country (and worldwide), but the fact that this person was ordering essentially the same textbook as me, from the same vendor, and at relatively the same time was a little shocking to me. Although nothing is impossible after all.
(S.S.) My coincidence story did not directly involve me, but I was there when it happened. A high school friend of a girl on my floor was here visiting Pitt. He came up to my room to say hello to the girl on my floor who I was hanging out with. They were both from York,PA. He was talking about his cousin, who lives in Oley, PA where my roommate just happens to be from. She asked the cousin's name and it just happen to be one of her really good friends. The kid ended up knowing all of my roommates friends even though they have never met before and do not live close to each other. It was quite a coincidence and I do not think that the events were likely to happen given the distance in between them and the amount of students that go to Pitt.
(C.J.) A strange personal coincidence story that happpened to me, occurred when I was in Penn State. I went to Penn State with on of my friends from here (upitt) to visit her friends at Penn State. While walking back to our host' dorm that night, I ran into the only person I know that goes to Penn State. Shes my boyfriend's bestfriend's exgirlfriend. It's a complicated relationship, and I see her rarely at home, but it was funny to run into her in a school of 40,000 kids. We weren't outside either. We had taken a shortcut through a building and she was the only other person in the hallway at the time. Super coincidencial!. I'd say the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
(J.K.) My coincidence happened four summers ago. My family and I were vacationing in Sea Isle City, N.J. This is a small seaside town in South Jersey. One day as I was walking down the beach I looked up and my friend and his family were on the beach, only a few hundred yards from where my family was on the beach. I had no idea that he went to Sea Isle City for vacation, or was going on vacation that week. This occurrence is highly unlikely, but plausible. People go on vacation to the beach all the time, and the Jersey Shore is a popular place for people from my area. Although improbable, in the long run I guess I was bound to see someone I know on the beach.
(A.A.)When I was seven my family flew out to California to visit some family friends. While at the friends house i played with one of their neighbors. The first week at pitt I ran into that neighbor and thought it was very unusual. I believe that this was very unlikely seeing that he was from CA.
(E.W.) I have a very interesting coincidence story. I am a huge baseball fan, and when I found out that the all-star game was to be held at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, I was really excited! Unfortunately, I didn't really have a way of getting a ticket, because I didn't have the money for that. However, my good friend called me about 5 days before hand, said her dad got free tickets, and that I could go with her to attend the homerun derby. I was so excited, but it only got better! We got there really early, so we went to kill time in the gift shop. While my other friends were looking at clothes, I was just standing around, and I noticed a familiar face. It was my favorite player, Oliver Perez, standing in line to buy clothes! What makes this such an odd coincidence is that, 1. He was currently in the minor leagues, so shouldn't have been in the area, 2. He is a professional athlete doing regular shopping among thousands and thousands of people, and 3. That I was in that shop at that exact time! Needless to say, I was beside myself. I already had his autograph, so I kindly asked for a picture with him. It was a great day for sure.
(M.G.) Last year I deposited 20$ onto an online betting site called bodog.com. I did it just for fun, I figured there was no harm in wasting away 20$ once in a while. I looked at it like an expensive lotto ticket. I kept my account alive for a while, and over Thanksgiving break made an 8 team parlay. That means I bet on 8 different spreads, and if one game I chose lost, I lost the whole bet. The odds were techincally .5^8, which is .004 or .4%. The only thing is, that I did do a little bit of research on it first. I had a good feeling that Texas A@M wouldn't lose to Texax by more than 10, and I had a good feeling about a few other games, meaning the odds were a little more in my favor. They were still, however, very much against me. I got completely lucky, and probably never should have made that bet. A 5$ bet paid out 897$.
(B.F.) When I was 12 years old I was flying out of the Pittsburgh airport. I was with my sister and dad and I saw "the rock"!!! He is/was a celebrity wrestler. At that age I thought it was improbable to see someone famous. Now I realize that Pitt is an international airport and it not unusual to see someone famous!
(A.H.) One of my roommates, who transfered back to Pitt this semester, and I were comparing our spring schedules when we noticed that out of ten total classes, 5 of them were classes that either one of us had taken before with the same professors for the same times each week. The classes we had in common were as follows: Bio 150, Bio 50, Medieval Art and Architecture, Seminar in Composition, Western Civ 2. We felt this was more of a coincidence because neither of us had talked to each other in several months to compare professors and classes. Also, we come from two different majors, mine is communications, and my roommate's is Pre-Dental so it is a little more difficult to have these similarities.
(E.S.) I walked over to my boyfriend's house after class to eat lunch, but he wasn't home so I started walking to work. I met him coming home as we were both crossing Forbes. Both of us were carrying food, and we were able to have lunch with him. Not so improbable, because I knew he was getting off of class at that time and didn't have any obligations until that night, and of the few paths I could have choosen from, I stayed on Oakland Ave - where both the house and my boyfriend's favorite restaurant where he got food are. I chose the route he was most likely to walk down around the time that he was coming home.
(S.H.) I unexpectedly met two friends at Hersheypark one summer day on line for a roller coaster who I didn't know were coming and who didn't know I was going. This really wasn't that unlikely, as it was summer and there were many people in Hersheypark that day, and since I live in the surrounding area where many people make regular trips to Hersheypark, it would be unlikely if I went many times and never saw one of the 300 or so people in my high school class there. Sorry if this isn't too spectacular, but that's about as coincidental as my life gets.
(G.F.) My story is about a vacation I took after my freshman year of college. I went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. I was about 2,000 miles away from home when I bumped into a girl that I graduated high school with. I thought the chances of this happening were very rare because I had no idea she would be there.
(J.M.) I was walking through the amusement park and I ran into an old friend from elementary school. Though this is a coincidence, it is not that unlikely considering the fact that the amusement park is near our hometown. Also, it may be more likely to happen to others than it is to happen to just one person, but this sort of thing happens all the time.
(A.K.) My personal coincidence started out when I was thinking about my old friend one day. It had been about 6 months since we had seen each other so I decided that that night I was going to call her. I was finishing up homework and was going to call this girl in about 5 minutes when the phone rang and it was her! She had the same feeling and wanted to call me. It probably was not that unlikely as Christmas break was coming up and we both wanted to find out what the other was doing so that we could hang out when we got home.
(K.L.) My coincidence story actually has something to do with Stats class. The first day I walked into class, I walked down to the front to take my seat and spotted a guy that looked familiar to me. It turns out that he was the guy I sat next to the entire semester in my public speaking class this past fall; but I hadn't spoken to him more than twice. And now, I sit next to him everyday in Stats. What a coincidence!
(J.G.) My coincidence story is that my friend Marie* kissed this boy, Anton, who had a girlfriend, Emily, at the time. Marie ended up getting mono and told Anton about it. Anton said that he gave her mono because he had given it to his ex-girlfriend. So Marie ended up with mono and never spoke to Anton again. This year we live next to a suite full of boys. One of the boys, Augustus, is good friends with Anton's current girlfriend, Cassandra. Although Pitt is such a big school, everyone seems to be connected to everyone else through one or two friends. I would say this occurrence is probably not very unlikely. *names have been changed
(B.K.) One coincidence I experienced is that a girl I knew from elementary school and rode the bus with as a kid now goes to Pitt. I haven't seen her in about ten years and was startled to recognize her among the sea of faces here. So to analyze the level of coincidence...I guess it isn't a huge one. You have to take into account that a certain percentage of most high schools in Pennsylvania go to Pitt. And also there are plenty of people I knew from a long time ago that could've gone here also. So the event is unlikely...but not dumbfounding.
(H.K.) I don't know if there occurrence should be good or bad, but I have really bad luck. For example, in November to December (within a six week period), I had my car broken into three separate occasions and the third time it was stolen. I would not say that was too unlikely too occur the car being stolen. I would say that it would be very unlikely that the three instances were completely unlinked by three completely different people. The good news is the police apprehended the guy a few weeks again.
(J.B.) When I was younger I went to an elementary school approx. an hour South of here from 1st through 5th grade. Then I moved back to the town I was born in, approx. an hour North of here. I made several friends in elementary school that I did not keep in touch with. I then made several friends in High School at my new school. One of them was my best friend of 5 years, who I lived with Freshman year at Pitt. That was the end of a five year friendship. The coincidence comes when I went to eat dinner with my x-best friend on Tuesday and found out that she has a new every night study budy who was a friend of mine in elementary school. I ate with both of them, it was awkward and yes it was quite unlikely that my best friend would replace me with a childhood friend of mine whom she had never met.
(J.M.) My coincidence story happened on my fourth birthday when my family and I were out taking a walk in a nearby park. At some point during the outing, we decided to investigate a pond that we noticed lying somewhat off the trail. As we walked along the shore, something ahead in our path caused us to stop abruptly. There in front of us was the message "Happy Birthday Joel" carved into the sand. We reflexively looked around to see if we were truly alone and quickly confirmed that we were. Stunned, we thought, "Who else could have come to this secluded pond with someone else of the same name and birthday and written it exactly in our path?" At the time we first discovered the message, we could not believe that it was simply a coincidence. However, after having done a little research, I discovered that October 5th is actually the most common birthday in the United States. Furthermore, as I recall, the weather was very pleasant that day, which could mean that the other Joel with the same birthday was out enjoying the afternoon in the same park just as we were. Therefore, the unlikelihood of such an event occuring may not be as unlikely as we had once thought. It still makes for an interesting story though.
(Y.P.) My freshman year I lived in a triple with two girls both named Amanda. It seems very unlikely but since Amanda was one of the most popular girl names 20 years ago the occurrence really was not so unlikely.
(S.K.) The coincidence happened to me in highschool around mid-year. My family and I went on vacation to California, not on a school scheduled vacation day, and we went to disney land. Waiting in line, all the way in California and I live in PA, I came accross someone that was in my math class. It is already odd enough that we took a vacation on the same week out of all the weeks in the school year, but on top of that he went to California to and went to disney land on the same day and ended up at the same roller coaster at the same time on that same day. If thats not a rare find, then i don't know what is!
(J.A.) As odd as it sounds, I had a job interview once at a hospital for a percussion advising job (which I still have at Brenwtood High School). At the time, the band director, S.L., was staying at Jefferson Hospital because his mother was very sick and literally on her death bed. I applied for the job, and we set the interview to meet at Jefferson Hospital. When I mapquested the directions to the hospital, starting from my home town of Altoona, I must have entered the word "Street" rather than "Road" (or whatever the address of the hospital was), and found that when we followed these directions, everything lined up and led to another Jefferson Hospital, albeit a small, private-owned hospital in the area. Apparently there are streets with the same name in different locations around Pittsburgh. And somehow, they will lead to two different Jefferson Hospitals. Go figure.
(A.N.) I come from a small town in Lancaster County, PA. My high school was Coaclico, and our rival high school was from the neighboring town, Ephrata. I studied abroad in Australia for a year. One day I was walking down the street in the town I lived in in Sydney. A lady was sitting on a bench holding a sleeping child. She stopped me and asked me for a favor. Her mother was eating lunch at a cafe a little down the street. The mother had left to walk with the child and he had fallen asleep. She wanted me to just let the grandmother know that she was safe and would meet her back at the cafe in a few minutes. I left to tell the grandmother what was going on. I got into a conversation with her and the mother and her, now awake, son came walking up. After talking for a little while, they asked me where I was from. I said Pennsylvania, and they asked what part. I said Lancaster County and they said what part. I said a little town called Denver, and the mother told me that she knew of Ephrata--in fact she had been there twice. Apparently she had studied abroad in the US and her room mate while at college had been from Ephrata and she had visited her room mate twice over separate holidays. It's a small world...
(C.L.) I went to Europe over break with two of my roommates and everywhere we went we would try to make small talk with some locals to try to get to know the area and culture better. While in Berlin, Germany we got to talking with this nice older man on the S Bahn. We ended up finding out he was an American, who was from Pittsburgh, and who taught at the University of Pittsburgh in the 60s or 70s. After that coincidence, we realized how small of a world it really is.
(J.C.) I was at Starbucks one night. My friend Lionel was also there, and introduced me to his sister. The next day, I went to meet a prospective Pitt student about to be interviewed for the Chancellor's Scholarship. (I am a UHC Student Ambassador; we volunteer to meet with interviewees to answer any questions they may have, as well as talk to their parents during the interview). The girl being interviewed for the scholarship was Lionel's sister, whom I had met the previous evening. This coincidence is not so coincidental. The probability of my presence at Starbucks on any given week night is close to 1, and the same goes for Lionel. His sister and he live in Squirrell Hill, so it would be easy for her to venture out to Oakland for some elderly brother counseling before a big interview. Also, the family has 2 students already enrolled in Pitt undergrad and grad programs, and her older siblings are intelligent and driven students, so it makes sense that Lionel's sister would consider Pitt and be invited for such a prestigious scholarship.
(K.D.) Last summer my father and I vacationed in New York City for a weekend. On the street I ran into my babysitter from elementary school, who I had not seen for 5-6 years. I had no idea he was living in New York and was surprised to see him. I believe that this occurrence was very unlikely.
(S.S.) I ran into my ex boyfriend and his girlfriend at a bar on New Years Eve. Maybe it was less of a coincidence than I thought. There are a lot of bars in Pittsburgh, but for a New Year's Eve event, Station Square is a likely choice. There are about 6 bars in Station Square that had New Year's Eve parties, so if someone were to go to Pittsburgh, the probability that I would run into them might be pretty high.
(E.B.) I went to the Frick to view the Haitian art exhibit. I saw a painting i knew there. I had no idea before hand that the painting i liked so much was Haitian.. I couldn't have even told you that it was by a Haitian artist or depicting Haitian culture. Also, i dont even remember where i first saw the painting. But I have a photographic memory and i never forget things of that nature, especially when i like a painting, picture, face, etc. What a coincidence. I would say the occurences were unlikely.
(K.G.) When I was younger, my brother and I used to listen to the same type of music. Often times I would have a particular song pop into my head. When I would start humming the song, my brother would get surprised look on his face. Apparently that same song had also popped into his head. This occured at least a dozen times over a period of about 3 years. I've always wondered if there was some particular reason this happened, or if it was just a coincidence. Although it seems unlikely that my brother and I would have the exact same song in our head considering the number of artists and songs we listened to, it is definitely possible. Perhaps certain songs reminded both of us certain situations, and in those situations, that particular song popped into our heads. Or maybe that song was brand new and was constantly being played on the radio. Therefore, we were constantly thinking of that song. These possibilities, along with many other, could have caused these seemingly unrelated occurences to be not coincidental at all.
(M.W.) One time a raffle was being held at our school, and included 10 baskets, with raffles going on for each of them. I put one ticket in each basket, along with hundreds of other students, and I ended up winning 2 of the baskets!! I thought that this was very uncoincidental, because if one-hundred tickets were in each basket, then to win one, would be 1 out of a 100, but to win two, would be 1/100 x 1/100, which equals 1/10000! So, yes, this occurence was very unlikely, but it still happened to me, which I was very excited about!
(L.H.) I still can't explain this one. I was walking down the street in Oakland when I was about 15 years old with a group of about 5 friends. As we were passing the Subway, the payphone that is there (I dont know if it still is) rang. I, of all my friends, picked it up and said hello. The person asked for some woman and I told her that she had called a payphone and we hung up. It was weird to me because it sounded strangely like my mother. When I got home that night, I asked my mother if she had made a call earlier that day in which they told her she had called a payphone. She said yes. We figured out that she had pressed *69 about two weeks earlier when a woman had left a message on her machine. The number she got had really been my sister calling home from that payphone, but she hadnt left a message so my mom thought that the last person to call was the woman who did leave the message. She decided to call that number the exact moment, two weeks later, that I was walking past that payphone, and the I of all my friends and the other people walking down that road picked up the phone. I found it pretty damn weird, and still do. This is extremely extremely coincidental, and I truly feel that the circumstance were extremly unlikely to have occured exactly the way they did. But they did and I have a good story now. Hope you enjoyed it!
(J.B.) One thing that seems pretty coincidental to me has been occuring since I started attending Pitt. It began one day by running into a guy who I thought had some potential to seem like a cool person, good looks and all. I soon had no interest in the kid anymore and hardly thought about him. On average I must see this kid at least twice a day, no matter where I am. I have never talked to him, and he hasn't been in any of my classes. He doesn't live anywhere near me yet we always seem to be in the same place at the same time. Even my friends agree that the only time they ever see this kid is when they are with me. call it a coincidence or not, it creeps me out. I feel that the occurances are pretty unlikely given how many students attend the university of pittsburgh. not a great story but its WEIRD!
(A.P.) I've flown twice, once to Switzerland on Swiss Air and once to France on Air France. Less than six months after each of these trips, there was a major accident on the respective airline. I suppose it was a pretty decent coincidence, because airline crashes themselves aren't very common to begin with.
(M.L.) When I was 15 I went to a water polo camp in the summer. While I was there I heard a story about this guy from Wilson High School who scored an improbable goal in overtime with a kick shot in a state playoff game (something along those lines). When I came home and resumed working at my summer job I told one of my co-workers who happened to be much older and a student at pitt. Turns out that the guy who made this ridiculous shot was not only in my co-workers fraternity, but was also his little. A little sidenote, five years later I am a brother in the same fraternity. I think this occurence is pretty unlikely.
(M.D.) Well I had a day on Wednesday that was very similar to Alicia's. I found out that I had to have a minor surgical procedure done on my back. 17 stitches later the procedure was over and went as well as it could have. So next, I went up to chevron and to gather my things and finish my work. However, I had to leave early because the anesthetic they had given me was tearing up my stomach. So before i left i went to the vending machine to get some chocolate, however I had no quaters. So i put a dollar into the soda machine to get change and it wouldn't give me the change that I wanted or my dollar. So I put in another dollar and then selected a drink so I could get the change from that and the wrong type of soda came out! Next, with my 75 cents (and wrong drink) in hand I walked over the candy machine, place my change into the machine, and low and behold it had taken my quarters. In hindsight the fact that these coincidence felt like they were happening to me and only me but the anesthetic probably makes other people sick and the stupid candy machine probably took everyones quarters!
(D.M.) One thing that was a coincidence for me is the fact that theres a girl that happens to be in 3 of my 5 classes this semester that I just recently noticed. The occurances probably were not so unlikely because perhaps we have the same major and therefor are required to take the same classes. Probably not the most exciting of stories, but its true none-the-less.
(S.M.) I needed a place to study the other night and went up to the honors college. I usually don't go there, but for some reason I decided to try it out for once. Shortly after I got there, several Honors College ambassadors arrived to greet and mingle with an applicant for the chancellors scholarship that would be arriving momentarily. When the candidate arrived the ambassadors opened up a dialogue. I chimed in a few minutes into the conversation when I overheard that the applicant intended on majoring in Bioengineering, my major. It turns out she also wanted to go into the concentration I am pursuing, one of three concentrations in the Bioengineering major. Being a pathfinder over the summer and meeting many prospective and incoming students, I can say with authority that the percentage of prospective bioengineers is relatively small. I thought this was quite a coincidence. Yet, as we talked more, it turned out that the applicant was also heavily interested in playing tennis in college, as she had played a significant amount in high school. I am the president of the Tennis Club and the Club Tennis Team here at Pitt. Naturally, it struck me as quite a coincidence that the one day I happen to go up to the honors college to study, I meet a prospective student with my same major, concentration, and interest in tennis.
(M.M.) My coincidence story is that my dad and boyfriend both got me the same 2 presents for my birthday, and I never mentioned that I even wanted them! Weird
(C.M.)Ok this didn't exactly happen to me, but Anna Nicole Smith's death seems much more than a coincidence. First, she marries a very old, very rich man. He dies. Her son (and only heir) then mystriously falls dead without explaination. Then, less than a year later, Anna dies- leaving all of her wealth to her new husband. This surely seems more than a coincidence...
(B.P.) i went home for summer break in Coral Springs,FL , and went to the local mall which i dont do that often and ran into my college classmate who lived in new jersey while she was on vacation. That same summer i went up to visit my cousins in Atlanta, and a simlar scenario occured but with an old high school classmate.
(J.C.) I am from Omaha NE, so when I came all the way to Pittsburgh for school I figured that I wouldn't likely meet another person from Nebraska, let along Omaha. However, last semester a girl joined the honors fraternity that I am a member of and she ended up living less than a mile away from my home in Omaha.
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