<p>Is it jumping th gun to wear a school sweatshirt before your even accepted. Does it make you look bad. Does it get your hopes up?</p>
<p>I would not do it. For superstitious reason as well as the trouble of having to explain if someone asks you.</p>
<p>The only instance in which I allowed my kid to get gear before being accepted is Thacher. Younger daughter has a t-shirt. Why the exception? Because it’s Thacher.</p>
<p>It all depends - some schools give out T-shirts as part of their promotional materials. My D has several T-shirts in her wardrobe from local schools we visited. I see no harm in wearing them - maybe you have a friend attending, or a relative, maybe you just like one of their sports programs. There are all sorts of reasons to wear apparel from a school, besides being a current student. People don’t need an explanation, and often if they ask they’re just curious.</p>
<p>I wear my NMH sweater all the time c: Haven’t even gotten in yet!</p>
<p>Luv my Stanford t-shirt, and it doesn’t raise my hopes that I’ll ever get in. Probably a different story for others.</p>
<p>Is a t-shirt different from a sweatshirt, which is different from a jacket, which is different from a hat? (in terms of escalating the superstition quotient, investing worth in the hope, etc.)</p>
<p>and btw, on applications, among other things, it is important to proofread for what we call “priority spelling”; the difference between “your” and “before you’re even accepted”</p>
<p>Obvs. personal preference. But I still don’t do wear gear of any school unless I have some personal connection…like my kid goes there, I went there, or my brother went there.</p>
<p>When you wear a Princeton sweatshirt in our neck of the woods, people assume you went there. I did not, so I don’t wear one…</p>
<p>And for my kids, I think it’s a bit of “falling in love with the school before they love you”…so we didn’t buy any SAS gear until she was in. She does wear her SPS Revisit Day shirt from time to time, I think ironically.</p>
<p>At SAS, they don’t let freshman buy certain levels of crew gear…you have to earn that. And that’s the way I feel about wearing schools’ logo gear before you are admitted.</p>
<p>A final thought…would you put a school sticker on your car before you/your child were admitted (like the way some people put sports team decals on)? I doubt it. I view clothing in the same way…</p>
<p>UCLA sells shirts at all the malls and stuff. I don’t think getting a shirt from there will sound like u’ve already gone there. All colleges are branding now, and one of those shirts may just fall into ur hands. Who knows if u’ll ever go to that place?</p>
<p>@seven - amen, brother.</p>
<p>I get the superstitious, don’t buy the t-shirt until you get in thing on one level…but not for college clothing. Maybe the wearer is a fan of the sports team or visited the campus for some reason and just liked the school colors or wanted to remember the visit. I know I’m not alone on this one because our local high school just had “Wear a college t-shirt day”–for the whole school, and not one of those kids has been accepted anywhere yet. My kid has worn sports t-shirts from various colleges since he was in junior high. And in his sport it’s a common practice for kids to trade prep school t-shirts and other stuff with each other. </p>
<p>I guess, don’t wear it unless you’re prepared to answer a friendly question about why you’re wearing it…</p>
<p>@Classicalmama: To me an 8th grader wearing a Harvard t-shirt is a very different thing than my 40-something self wearing one. They get a free pass on college wear, IMO.</p>
<p>Again, it’s totally personal preference. I simply choose not to wear gear of non-affiliated schools and don’t buy stuff like that for my kids. Except for Thacher. Thacher is greater than any personal dress code I might subscribe to. Though I might make a similar exception for Deep Springs College. ;-P</p>
<p>Keep in mind that I also don’t wear any sports team gear at all…despite my love for Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa (at different points in their careers). Because I simply don’t want anyone to think I own a Ferrari. Because, sadly, I don’t.</p>
<p>Funny story: Two summers ago, we were vacationing in New England and on one of the days, my daughter wore a St. Andrew’s shirt (purchased at revisit), where she would be starting in a few weeks. At a famous ice creamery that rhymes with Jen & Harry’s, a woman stopped her and said “Do you go to St. Andrew’s? Because my brother teaches there. We love that school.” She was able to say with pride “Yes. I’ll be an Third Former in Sept. and I love it too.” and smiles were had all around. </p>
<p>Had she been wearing an Exeter shirt and someone asked her the same thing? As the kids say, “Awkward.”</p>
<p>At my D’s high school all the kids wear t-shirts/hoodies from all the colleges they visit. It’s fun to see all the different colleges represented. My D still wears her collection whenever she’s home, but only wears her school’s clothing when she’s there. Although, whenever we go up to visit there are many kids wearing other college’s clothing.</p>
<p>@kvillemom: This thread is in the Prep School sub forum, and I think the original poster was referring to wearing the apparel of Boarding Schools pre-admit, not colleges.</p>
<p>Yeah… there were two of my friends that went to Exeter Summer Session. One friend went all out on the gear-- Shorts, shirt, even BINDERS and PENCILS. Over one month at a school. Another got a sweatshirt, which is acceptable. (I digress.) A ton of people in my grade wear Stanford/MIT/HarvardYalePrincetonBrown etc etc etc sweatshirts in my grade. Heck, I have a Harvard Sweatshirt I wear ALL THE TIME! (Don’t judge. I’ve never been there, but I have been to sales at Urban Outfitters. 
please please don’t lecture me on why urban outfitters tests on animals. Saying this whole thing may be my mistake, but it’s just a disclaimer.)</p>
<p>But boarding schools? Wouldn’t ever do it. Because a) It’s not like you root for their sports, so it’s not showing team spirit or something,
and b) it’s kind of tasteless. Honestly, if I saw someone wearing like a Deerfield T shirt that didn’t go to Deerfield and wasn’t affiliated, I would frankly be annoyed. It’s probably just me. Think of it as someone wearing the shirt from YOUR school. Changes the perspective. </p>
<p>EDIT: Ok, I know that the shirt situation is different. But still. Just a small little thing I added.</p>
<p>I agree with 7dad that wearing the t-shirt will often cause some anonymous person to say, “Oh do you got to ______?” If that’s going to feel awkward, don’t get the t-shirt. </p>
<p>But enough with the judgment and people should nevers already. </p>
<p>It’s not tasteless when a younger brother wears a t-shirt from his big brother’s school (answer: “No, I don’t, but my brother does. Yeah, he loves it there. No, I’m planning to ____ for high school instead.”). </p>
<p>It’s not awkward if a kid goes to one prep school and trades t-shirts with a friend at camp who goes to another competing school. (“No, I go to ___________<strong><em>. I traded with a good friend who goes there at our last competition. Yeah he loves it. What sport? Oh you _</em></strong>too in prep school? Cool!”). </p>
<p>And it’s definitely not tasteless OR awkward to wear a t-shirt from a school where you went to summer school. The one thing kids always come away from any summer experience with is a t-shirt, and it’s possible the binders and pencils were given to the kid as part of the experience. As it happens, my son’s scholarship at school is funded by a donor who never matriculated at the school–but spent one summer session there and loved it enough to want to give someone else the chance to attend. Don’t dis the summer school attendees!!!</p>
<p>On the other hand, if your response is more likely to be, “No, I don’t go there, but I want to really badly” you might feel awkward down the road if you you don’t get in. So OP, do what you want, but think it out a bit.</p>