<p>Right. My son and I would be careful about what we wore in a different country and culture. On a US college campus, not so much.</p>
<p>Back in the day, I got through college with nothing but jeans, t- shirts, sweat shirts, and flannel shirts. That’s pretty much the extent of my boys’ wardrobes today. Can’t imagine even attending a college where this would be an issue.</p>
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Wow - I tend to equate sweatpants to jeans in terms of appropriateness; maybe not wearing apparel of an arch-rival univ to a game, but the garment itself - I don’t see any issues…</p>
<p>As sunmachine says, my H, my son and I would not have wanted to attend a college that was so obsessed with clothing. When my son studied abroad, he adjusted to that culture and we did when we visited. In the good old USA, I don’t get how jeans or khakis are more indicative of respect or maturity than sweatpants.</p>
<p>I can usually spot Americans by the way they dress when I am overseas.</p>
<p>My older daughter does wear sweats on occasion, but prefers yoga pants. She says they make her feel more “dressed”. Typical clothing choices for class are yoga pants or jeans and a decent shirt.
Younger daughter is in jeans all the time. </p>
<p>While dressing appropriately for the occasion is important, I think worrying about whether sweats should be worn on campus isnt worth the time. Send a variety of clothes and then trust the kid to know when slacks are best.</p>
<p>Both my boys like nice clothes but I guaranty both showed up at a number of classes in pj bottoms, slippers and a sweatshirt.</p>
<p>Yes, oldfort (love you dear!) I can tell Americans by the way they dress overseas too, but isn’t that sort of nice? Aren’t we individuals in a good way?</p>
<p>No, Americans generally are not individuals when it comes to dressing, that’s why they are so easy to spot.</p>
<p>Last year at our company’s year end outing, few analysts showed up in their pj bottoms for breakfast. They thought they were on vacation with friends.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the entire thread, but it would seem to me that on a college campus, students can wear whatever they please–including sweats. Whether a student will fit in on campus wearing sweats to class depends on the culture of any individual campus. That is something the student should check out in determining the “fit” of a particular campus.</p>
<p>That being said…things can change. In high school, my youngest son wore either pjs or his soccer warm ups every day. He is now a college senior–and now tends toward dress pants, button downs, during the week (even on days when he is not working at his internships) and jeans and dressy jeans on weekends.</p>
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<p>Isn’t it a common stereotype that women are much more likely than men to care about what people wear (both themselves and others)?</p>
<p>Athletic clothing usually looks fine on actual athletes, or those who can pass for such (which describes a decent percentage of college students), but not so much on typical middle age or older Americans. Dressier clothing may be more “needed” to look good on the latter.</p>
<p>This is a funny thread. IMO, kids should wear whatever they are comfortable in. That article about sweats being not okay was probably written by young ladies (unsuccessfully) trying to raise the standards of dress. Sweats are fine unless the college is some highly preppy “finishing school” if those even exist these days.</p>
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<p>On average, that stereotype is accurate. However, there are exceptions such as a post-college roommate and a few other male friends who are snazzy dressers. </p>
<p>I’ve also known many women…especially some at my undergrad who care about as much about what they wear as a stereotypical boy/man for convenience and/or a way to “rebel against patriarchal norms”.</p>
<p>In the case of the “rebels”, isn’t it that they do care about how they dress, in order to express their viewpoint in that respect?</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>With the ones I knew who did feel that way…it was still more as a “bonus” to the more important convenience factor. Especially considering how cold my LAC tended to get by early October and the fact the cold tended to last well into April.</p>
<p>Sigh. Most college or post-college people aren’t rebelling against anything. They’re a VERY small minority that, quite frankly, hasn’t grown up yet. When you mature, you start doing things for internal reasons rather than external reasons. </p>
<p>The “rebel” stage for most people, in the sense of just going against the grain to go against the grain, ends in high school. Then again, some people never quite grow out of it, but they’re a very small minority.</p>
<p>I don’t see many people on campus in sweatpants and sweatshirts unless it’s below 50 degrees. Considering that it is normally 75+ degrees year round, that doesn’t happen too much.</p>
<p>I will preface my experience by saying that I go to school in the South, which is often more traditional in dress.</p>
<p>For girls, Nike tempo shorts, leggings, uggs, and t-shirts two sizes too large are the norm for class time. Some girls dress more Northern with capris/khaki shots/jeans and blouses or funny t-shirts. For non class time however, girls dress up more. Sundresses are very popular.</p>
<p>For the guys, there is even more of a divide between Southerners, particularly those in fraternities, and others. In the summer, the fraternity dress code is sunglasses, a Ralph Lauren polo, fraternity t-shirt or some kind of fishing shirt, fishing or pleated khaki shorts with an 8.5" inseam (bonus points if ones underwear has a longer inseam than the shorts), and Sperry’s or gray New Balance tennis shoes. Others wear t-shirts or button down shirts, semi-designer jeans (Levi’s and no name polos are usually worn by fraternity pledges) or longer length khaki or red khaki shorts (cargo shorts are not popular). There is a wide variety of other styles, but that is what is most common for everyday wear. A lot of freshmen and some upperclassmen will wear basketball shorts. The only time I see sweatpants is usually on athletes and they are the polyester wind/track pants. </p>
<p>As for going commando in shorts and sweatpants, it doesn’t seem to be popular here, likely because there still is a “what would your Momma think about that” mentality. Granted, some of the more popular underwear types and many of the thinner shorts will leave little to the imagination about some people.</p>
<p>My advice for students is to wear whatever they feel comfortable in. For example, I wear comfortable flip flops, shorts, and a t-shirt, casual polo, or golf shirt almost daily. To quote another poster, I dress slightly less Oregon-y than those in the PNW, but that’s what I feel comfortable and confident wearing.</p>
<p>I knew a guy that who liked to wear a top hat. No special occasion, just walking around with it on.</p>
<p>Er…maybe my alma mater is not representative of the vast majority of colleges.</p>
<p>^^^^^Did you attend college with Barry Hansen? He stayed in Ds dorm during Paideia one year.</p>