Twin sisters from Southborough were at the top of the class at Hamilton College

SOUTHBOROUGH — Almost immediately after Chloe Chiota was born 22 years ago, one of her toenails was painted. That's because her identical twin sister, Olivia, arrived just three minutes later.

"We painted Chloe's toenail because she was the firstborn and the first tagged, and we wanted to make sure they had the right name," said the twins' mother Jennifer Chiota.

The Chiota sisters would go on to share more than a birthday. They shared clothing, friends, a passion for athletics — even elite college grade point averages. On May 19, they graduated as co-valedictorians — both majoring in biology — at Hamilton College, a private liberal arts college in upstate New York.

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"We spent so long working together in terms of sports and academics, it really is an asset having someone else that thinks the same way as you, making it easier to go through different concepts, or to practice and run together," Olivia Chiote said.

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Going forward, both Olivia and Chloe plan to take a gap year working as dental assistants. They plan to enter dental school for the 2025-26 school year.

"We were both pretty interested in health care after high school — that was what we were really better at and interested in," said Chloe. "The biology major lined up really well with the pre-med requirements, and so we went down that path."

Both Chiotas finished with perfect 4.0 GPAs at Hamilton, straight As all the way through school. Olivia technically finished with an additional A-plus, giving her a slight edge, but that extra "plus" grade was not factored into the calculation of GPAs.

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"They've always supported each other," Jennifer Chiota said. "They've never competed, they've never spoken for the other, they're never envious or jealous of the other. When Olivia got hurt her senior year, she was never envious of Chloe being on the field — she just thought it was good that one of them was on the field."

While they have lived their whole lives together, they did spend some time apart during their junior year at Hamilton — Chloe studied in Dublin while Olivia did a semester at sea, sailing from San Diego to French Polynesia.

"It was a change, but we proved we could be apart, it was an interesting time," Chloe said.

Jennifer Chiota said raising the twins was easy

Jennifer Chiota described raising the girls as being very easy; they were her first children (she would have two more, a girl and a boy) and she didn't know anything different. She dressed them the same until they entered grade school, and said she has almost never gotten them confused.

"There was one time when they were both babies, when I fed one twice, and the other zero times — just one time when they were first born," Jennifer Chiota said.

Other people, however, are not so fortunate.

"Sometimes I can meet a new person, and I'll have a long and good conversation with them, and then they'll call me 'Chloe' on the way out," Olivia said.

Like any set of twins, the Chiotas fielded several stupid questions while growing up. No, they can't communicate telepathically with one another. And when Olivia tore her ACL during her senior year at Hamilton, people asked Chloe if she could "feel" the injury.

A playful prank on a high school Latin teacher

On other occasions, such as when they took Latin at Algonquin Regional High School, the Chiotas had a little fun with their identical status.

"One time in high school, we sat in alphabetical order, and for three weeks we sat in each other's seats and responded to the other's name," Chloe said. "It was so funny and it worked for way longer than we thought it would. Eventually, the teacher asked one of our names, we hesitated to respond and he finally figured it out."

Jennifer Chiota admits the distinction between her daughters is small. Their senses of humor are slightly different, and they've been told they have different running forms, which has aided coaches when trying to identify which Chiota girl is which.

"It's tough to point out their differences, because they are identical and have the same DNA," Jennifer said. "Their humor is a little bit different, they have some different interests and preferences, but they do tend to have the same friend group, they assess problems the same."

The Chiotas are so similar that disagreements between the two are infrequent. And when they do happen, they pose a puzzle to both of them.

"The hardest part is I think when we disagree, because it is literally like talking to a wall," Chloe said. "It's hard to really describe. We will be fighting like we're sisters, but also we're the same.

"It's very funny to watch us argue."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Southborough twin sisters are co-valedicatorians at Hamilton College