• June 21, 2004
• Vol. 61
• No. 24

Most Likely to Succeed

Almost 18—at Last!— Mini-Moguls Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Say Farewell to High School

Now that they're almost adults, they don't want to be called "the twins" anymore. But Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are fine with the term "graduates." Though they have been impossibly rich and famous almost their entire lives, the Olsen girls—who turn 18 June 13—appeared improbably normal on June 7 as they graduated from Campbell Hall, a private school in North Hollywood. In blue robes and mortarboards, they stood side by side in the crowded gymnasium decorated in the school's blue-and-gold colors. While waiting for their names to be called, they smiled and clapped for classmates. Finally Ashley was called; she was followed immediately by Mary-Kate, who stumbled a bit as she moved the tassel on her mortarboard, signifying that she had graduated. Once offstage, the sisters exchanged single-stem yellow roses and embraced. They received heavy applause compared to the other graduates, especially from their large family. Mary-Kate's boyfriend David Katzenberg, 21, a student at Boston University, added to the noise by blowing an airhorn. Before leaving campus, the sisters hugged friends and congratulated classmates. Next up? The teens, who studied hard for their SATs, are headed for New York University. "They are good students," says an acquaintance. "They're really nice and popular, and except for, like, one huge obvious fact, they're kind of like everyone else."