You might have seen Hannah and Kaitlyn Schmidt on TikTok.
If you have, you’re not alone.
The twins have more than 200,000 followers. They gained even more popularity when Ellen DeGeneres’ production team reached out and asked them to be on a game show. The twins won – and while they were filming, a TikTok they posted went viral.
“Joining TikTok was more of a creative outlet,” Hannah says. “It was something we needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We weren’t trying to gain followers or become popular.”
“Everything is creative and fun, but I think it helps us keep on track for what we need to do studying-wise, too. We can have our five minutes of fun, but after that, we have to get back to work.” — Kaitlyn Schmidt
“It has allowed us to combine our love of science and provided a platform to educate the community about what it’s like to be a twin,” Kaitlyn says.
The sisters answer questions about identical twins (they are identical twins), including things like if boy-girl twins can be identical, and fun facts about twins.
“We gained a ton of followers overnight, so we were like ‘Well, people must be really interested in twins’,” Hannah says. “We’ve taken the opportunity to educate where we can and showcase our life and how we share certain experiences, including going to nursing school together.”
Having a Creative Outlet
CU Nursing students and twins Hannah (L) and Kaitlyn (R) |
Hannah and Kaitlyn are earning BS in Nursing degrees through the University of Colorado College of Nursing’s Accelerated (UCAN) program at the Anschutz Medical Campus. They had no intention of going to nursing school together – and knew there was a chance one might be accepted to CU Nursing and the other wouldn’t – but luckily, they both got in. The California natives have always wanted to work in healthcare but didn’t decide to pursue nursing until 2022.
They understand how stressful a nursing program can be, which is why they post videos or answer questions on TikTok during study breaks.
“Our TikTok has been a way for us to showcase our life through nursing school,” Kaitlyn says. “It’s a big part of our lives right now, but it’s also been a big creative outlet for us throughout this whole process of attending nursing school. We come home and we think ‘This would be really funny to film, let’s do it’.”
“We also want to make the internet a positive place, because I know some people who have found so much hate on the internet,” Hannah says. “We’ve received the occasional hate comments, but we want to add some positivity to the internet.”
Preparing to Become Nurses
While the sisters have done nearly everything together – including becoming nurses – they’ve decided to pursue slightly different areas of nursing.
Kaitlyn is interested in pediatrics or labor and delivery. Her current clinical is on the neuroscience floor which has been interesting given her own history of a concussion and meningitis, but she’s not sure if that’s something she will pursue long-term. Hannah is interested in building long-term relationships with patients and wants to tie it with her love for children, so she is considering a career in pediatric oncology.
Hannah and Kaitlyn plan on keeping their TikTok account (and Instagram account) once they graduate and start working as nurses. They say their content will focus on general nursing, day-in-the-life posts, and life outside of work.
“We love making videos, but it’s definitely a hobby. It’s not a career,” the sisters say.
