Competition is no problem for these twins

Fraternal twins Nicole and Stephanie Nwachukwu used to be much more competitive with each other for grades, but college changed that for them. Now, the Queens, N.Y., natives work together to keep each other moving forward toward their goals.

They both entered the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences as P1 students through the Pharmacy Early Acceptance Program (PEAP) after attending Binghamton University for two years to complete their prerequisites.

But just getting to Binghamton was a challenge, they said. “Our dad thought Binghamton was too far away, so he made us write an essay,” Nicole said. “He wanted us to go to Stony Brook and we wanted to branch out. And we didn’t really know what we wanted then, but expected to pursue something in the medical field.

“Then we got an email from Rachael Perry about the PEAP program and that’s why we’re here,” she added.

“When Rachel reached out, it was the perfect moment,” Stephanie said. “She paved the way for us.”

Of course, the essay had to come first. They worked on it together and won their father over, perhaps also setting an example for their younger siblings, a sister who is in high school and twin brothers who are both in middle school.

With different personalities and strengths, they complement each other well, they say. They’ve only diverged a time or two, like when Stephanie was the team captain for volleyball in high school for two years. “It was the only extracurricular activity I did, but it helped build my ability to take charge,” she said.

Nicole’s volleyball team experience was the opposite of her sister’s. ‘I’m more shy and timid so whenever I saw her taking charge on the team I wanted to be the same way and it didn’t work. It’s just not my personality.” She ended up leaving the team.

The pair also has different academic strengths. “I’m very strong in math,” Stephanie said. “Calculus was my favorite, then trig and algebra. It’s where I built my love for science and math.

“I took a pharmacy class in high school, and at first I didn’t like it, but I gave it a chance, fell in love with it and thought maybe I could try it at college,” she said.

“For me, my strength was English and I also fell in love with environmental science,” Nicole said. “Math wasn’t my strong suit in high school, but became one in college. Chemistry was definitely one of my biggest strengths as well.”

On campus, the twins took every class together and it worked well for them. “In some classes I was stronger and she was weaker; others were the opposite,” Nicole said. “We studied together to make sure we were each on the same page and got better at making our goal to get to pharmacy school. We always pushed each other.

“I’m proud to be able to work together to get to this point, that it didn’t put a dent in our relationship or tear us apart,” Nicole said.

“I’m proud of the support that we’ve gotten to be at this stage,” Stephanie added. “So many family and friends have pushed us to be the best version of ourselves at every stage of our lives. I’m very grateful for that.”

After being together for their entire lives, one wonders what path they will take after earning their PharmD degrees. As of now, their paths will diverge for the first time.

“We have different plans,” Stephanie said. “I’m interested in pediatric pharmacy in a hospital setting ... or maybe psychiatric pharmacy.”

“I’m interested in things that help the environment, like toxicology,” Nicole said. “Or maybe psychiatric pharmacy. I’ve wanted to go down that path.”

As for where they will settle, Nicole, the shy sister, is looking further afield than Stephanie. “I want to explore other places and see what opportunities there are outside of the state,” Nicole said. “I want to branch out.”

“I want to try to stay in the area or an hour or two away from Queens, kind of close to home,” Stephanie said. “Not too far away from home, but so I have my space.”