Nyala says Nyasha's characterization is accurate: "I'm much more reserved. In a group of people I'll be observing, and she'll be doing most of the talking...In certain situations, Nyasha might be quicker to tell people what she thinks."

Nyasha also says that Nyala helps motivate her.

"She's not hard on me, but she motivates me," Nyasha says. "She's the calm one, and I'm the out-there' one. When people meet us, they think she's older."

And Nyala points out that her twin likes sweets more than she does. "She has a sweeter tooth than I do. She likes chocolate a lot," Nyala says.

Although both now concentrate in statistics, they started out at Harvard concentrating in mathematics.

"I didn't like math. It was too the-oretical," Nyala says. "It was starting to get on my nerves."

Because they both started getting tired of math, they decided to change concentrations at the same time.

"She said, 'I don't want to do that,' and I said, 'I didn't want to do that,' so we switched," Nyasha says.

Both say they are interested in business consulting or maybe actuarial work after college.

Ironically, both sisters work in libraries: Nyasha at Lamont and Nyala at the Radcliffe Career Services library.

This summer, they are both working in New York, Nyala at Nynex and Nyasha at Chemical Bank. While working in New York City, the sisters will be just a short trip from home; they have lived in Long Island for 13 years. Prior to that, the Canadian born twins lived in Jamaica.

Nyala recalls a funny story about mistaken identities when they were young:

"I remember when we were little and lived in Jamaica, we had a nanny," Nyala says. "For the longest time, she called us both Nyasha, and I responded to both names."

Finally, she says, her father realized that Nyala was answering to both names and told her that her name was Nyala, not Nyasha. Ever since, she has responded to her own name and not her sister's, she says.

People at Harvard sometimes confuse the two of them, especially those who do not know them that well, they say. Their friends can tell them apart, however.