Eyes forward, back straight, head held up high.

You stroll down the pathway of the campus, fitting in perfectly with the many college students passing by.  As you give a casual nod to the “chill” senior who walks by, you look to your right and see that your dad, standing way too close for comfort, is waving exuberantly at the very same collegian.

This situation is one that is fairly familiar for Shelby Schulman ’12.  Schulman’s dad, an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, looks forward to the UNC college visit just as much as Schulman—maybe even a little bit more.

“My dad went to this school however many years ago, and for some reason he felt the need to say ‘hi’ to every human being that we walked passed,” said Schulman.  “But he felt so cool so I just let him do it.”

This is just one of the many stories that Schulman has to share about her experiences with college visits in tandem with her parents.  Schulman also recounts the time her dad got a moment of fame and stood out among the students on a college tour at Boulder.

“It was actually the most beautiful day in the entire world, so the quad was filled with students doing all sorts of things,” Schulman remembers.

As the tour guide paused next to a few college students playing Frisbee to give the group some information.

“One of the boys missed the Frisbee and it came towards where we were standing. It was literally like my dad saw his moment of glory and ran to grab the Frisbee. The kids were cheering, and my dad was actually so proud of himself for catching that dumb Frisbee,” said Schulman.

Schulman, isn’t the only one with a collection of college visit stories.

Dani Kosinski ’12, has parents who love to ask the “classic questions that practically tell every single person in your tour group that your parents baby you.”  For example, “’is there a curfew?” or “Is there a bus for when it’s cold out?’” said Kosinski.

Kosinski’s mom also has a knack for hanging towards the back of the tour group, while Kosinski herself tries to get up front to hear what the tour guide is saying.

“I constantly have to look back to make sure she’s not causing trouble like going into a building she’s not allowed in and getting me kicked out of the school before I even try to get it,” said Kosinski.

Kosinski knows that many factors are important when deciding on a school—one being that (for girls) the school has an abundance of attractive people.

So in addition to keeping an eye on her mom, Kosiniski said, “The amount of good looking guys is definitely weighed in when decision-making time comes.” However, this is difficult to do when her dad is preoccupied with mentioning how great the engineer building is, Kosinski explained.

While both Schulman and Kosisnki enjoy recounting stories regarding their parents on college visits, Will Horne ’13 has a less event-filled college visiting experience.

“When my parents are on tours, they are just really talkative and try to be super nice,” said Horne.

Horne believes that even though his parents may sometimes “grill” the tour guides with questions, it is ultimately for the better, and helps him out in the long run.

Similar to Horne’s parents who love to question the tour guide, Alexa Casimir ’13, has parents who often ask “a lot of questions, like the ones that are just common sense.”

Casimir believes that “it’s kind of annoying but I guess they’re asking because they are the ones paying.”

Although the stories of students may vary, there is one thing that can be agreed upon: Having parents on a college trip is definitely beneficial and the sometimes-inevitable embarrassment is bearable.

“I did like when my parents came with me on visits because I did want to get their opinions on each place because that does matter when making the college decision,” said Kosinski.

Coming from a parent’s perspective, any embarrassment is not intentional.  Stanley Schulman, father of Shelby, stated, “I never deliberately try to embarrass my daughter.  I am just being myself.”

“I could have continued walking and let it drop,” said Stanley while reminiscing on his frisbee catch.  “Instead I caught the frisbee and turned to the boys and threw it right back.  My daughter looked at me with a newfound respect. “

In addition to living in the moment and going for the catch, college visits allow parents like Stanley to remember their four years at college and to get excited that their kids will get to experience those college years too.

Shelby acknowledges this and understands where her dad is coming from.

“Of course sometimes [my parents] do things on purpose to embarrass me. But these college stories are not times that my dad was trying,” Schulman agreed.  “He greeted every passing person because he was reliving his college life. By grabbing the Frisbee, he must have felt like he was on his own college campus.”