Quintuplets are already uncommon but the Wade brothers - Aaron, Nick, Nigel and Zachary - are in a league of their own.

That's what the 18-year-olds discovered Thursday when they opened their acceptance letters to discover that they had all been accepted into a succession of Ivy League colleges.

'We're still in shock, honestly,' Aaron told The Washington Post. 'I don't think it has sunk in yet.'

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Yale and hearty: The Wade brothers, (l-r) Zachary, Aaron, Nigel and Nick, have all been accepted into both Yale and Harvard colleges - as well as other top-flight schools

The brothers, who are from Liberty Township, Ohio, have all been accepted into both Harvard and Yale.

Just one of them getting in would be impressive: More than 32,000 people applied for Yale this year, of which 2,272 were accepted, while Harvard had 39,000 applicants this year and admitted just 2,056.

But for all four to get in to the colleges has left the brothers reeling.

'The outcome has shocked us,' Aaron said.

'We didn't go into this thinking, "Oh, we're going to apply to all these schools and get into all of them."

'It wasn't so much about the prestige or so much about the name as it was - it was important that we each find a school where we think that we'll thrive, and where we think that we'll contribute.'

They're not short for options: each of the brothers has been accepted into a slew of other top-flight schools.

Aaron got into Stanford, where he might attend with Nick - unless Nick decides to choose Duke or Georgetown.

Nigel, on the other hand, got into Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt, while Zach has been accepted into Cornell.

Going for gold: The brothers - who are also track and field stars at their high school - say the support of their parents and community was vital to their focused, positive attitude

And while they share a friendly and accepting demeanor - and a gift for track and field - they have distinct interests, they parents say.

Aaron has 'first child syndrome,' their father Darren said, while Nick is more 'socially conscious.' Nigel likes to read up on how to do something before getting started and Zach is a natural engineer.

They are identical, however, in the pride they have inspired in their community.

'I have watched these boys grow up into young men,' Lakota East High School principal Suzanna Davis told the Journal-News.

'And as students they epitomize what we would want from high school students.'

Of course, the happy news for the brothers means financial headaches for their parents, Kim - who is principal at Lakota Plains Junior School - and Darren.

Yale is charging more than $64,000 for the next year's schooling, while Harvard is charging $63,000.

But it's something Darren, 51, an employee of General Electric, has had a long time to consider.

Playing it smart: The brothers have yet to decide where they will go, but say they want to find a place where they will 'thrive' and to which they can 'contribute'

The couple had been told they were to expect twins, but that turned out to be a drastic miscount, as they discovered after a pre-natal examination.

'I remember they were doing an ultrasound and they said, "Mr Wade, you better sit down,"' Darren recalled.

'I said, "What's going on?" They said, "There’s not two. There's four,"

'It was really at that point in time that I tried to figure out how we’re going to pay for school.'

The family have set aside money for college, and both Harvard and Yale say they will meet the full financial need of all the students they accept, provided it is suitably demonstrated.

Whichever school the boys turn to, they know they'll have their parents' full backing - as they always have.

'It's really our parents our friends and our community who have come together and taught us how to be disciplined,' Nigel told the Journal-News. 'We feel like getting into these schools show who the people around us are.'

Zachary agreed: 'They said "I know you guys can do it. You guys are hard workers and the sky's the limit."

'We were never told that we couldn't get somewhere.'