@Pizzagirl - I think you’re right on in your descriptions. My HS boy wears 99% khakis/slacks anyway, including to school, to synagogue, etc. The only exceptions are his PE clothes to PE and his dance clothes to dance. Khakis aren’t even that expensive in the scheme of things. Even my MS boy wears at khakis at least 40% of the time.
I have sympathy for girls and girls’ mothers - both because if one lacks the “knack” in putting together outfits, it can be tricky (much simpler for the boy to grab khakis and polo), and also because it’s often hard to find “fancy” clothes that are also professonal-looking for a teenage girl.
You can go to Target and get khakis. This isn’t about money, at all. This is about the transition to a grown-up world. There are perennial threads on here about some college student whose parents completely failed in this and consequently they are going off to a job interview, etc. and don’t have anything beyond sneakers and jeans.
I was not suggesting being some sort of sycophant @Pizzagirl, but I must say, I have sat in a prep school admissions waiting room alongside a young man wearing a tie in the rival school’s color. He could have given a tad more thought to it than that. I would not wear blue & yellow to an Ohio State interview (do they have interviews?).
Overall, I am in the camp with all those who say not to put much emphasis on what you wear on the outside.
“I was not suggesting being some sort of sycophant @Pizzagirl, but I must say, I have sat in a prep school admissions waiting room alongside a young man wearing a tie in the rival school’s color. He could have given a tad more thought to it than that. I would not wear blue & yellow to an Ohio State interview (do they have interviews?).”
Schools don’t have copyrights on colors. I get that you wouldn’t wear a t-shirt or something with a rival school’s logo – that wouldn’t be smart – but simply wearing blue & yellow doesn’t mean “I luv Michigan.” It simply means that you’re wearing blue and yellow. And frankly if an interviewer were going to “object” to simply wearing colors that HAPPEN to be associated with a rival school, they are too stupid for words. Are people who apply to Yale never allowed to wear the color crimson? People who apply to Harvard had better banish all deep azure blue clothing? Silly.
"From reading various dress threads around here (not just the college interview dress ones), it does appear that male and female dress expectations do differ. "
LOL, I’m sorry, this just sounds like something Sheldon Cooper would say. You don’t “know” this from reading various dress threads. You know it from having two eyes and looking around you.
Well, I wouldn’t suggest wearing Harvard logo wear to a Yale interview. Unless the colors are really blatant–like maybe an orange and black ensemble–I don’t think colors themselves will matter.
If you’re meeting at Starbucks, it’s probably fine, although the point about somebody having come from work is definitely valid. No need to wear a suit, but make sure you look presentable, otherwise it can seem disrespectful.
My Penn interviewer told me to dress casual, so I wore black jeans and a nice shirt. No blazer or anything. We met in a coffee place, and she wasn’t dressed formally either, so it was all good.
@ItsJustSchool is right! If there is one takeaway from this whole thread, it’s the wearing of the school colors. They really notice that. I think black or really nice jeans are fine. For a nice casual yet dressy look, consider the jeans with blue shirt and narrow red tie. You could skip the sweater, unless you’re freezing… School colors!
(If you opt for sweater, I would leave tie out and go with your white/blue or blue/blue combo.)
But as most of the people here say, you’re going to starbucks. Just have nice clean clothes. Jeans are fine. Blue should be a definite because of school colors. Red is a nice touch.
For everyone in this thread, I went with black jeans and the cream sweater combo. The interviewer was wearing blue jeans and a plaid collared shirt and he didn’t even seem to look at my jeans at all
Beg to differ. I wore a tie with jeans nearly every day of college. From the comments, many people definitely felt I was “dressed up”. Stood out from the other denizens of Slobovia for sure.
I’m sure you stood out from the crowd, JustOneDad. (Pro tip: I don’t think those were compliments you were receiving.) I still maintain that for a high school student trying to look polished casual for a college interview, a tie with jeans looks just plain stupid.
I think a tie and blazer worn with dark jeans can dress up those jeans. Look at the first picture the above link in the lindyk8 post. I don’t think any interviewer would think " not dressed up enough."
I agree that a certain young man with style can pull that off, but I don’t think the average high school student can. Especially not those who are seeking fashion advice on CC. They’re liable to take dad’s silk tie and put it on with jeans and just look silly.
The kind of person with enough style and panache to pull that off already knows how to do so.
And that zigoti site is hardly any kind of fashion authority. It’s an ad site with barely-literate writing. My guess is you just googled how to wear a tie with jeans and it showed up.
I agree certain guys can pull off a blazer, tie and jeans, but they aren’t the people befuddled by what to wear in this situation in the first place.
:-h