<p>I'm applying to: Johns Hopkins, GWU, Trinity, Washington and Lee, William and Mary, UPenn and Hamilton. I was thinking of wearing khakis, a polo and boat shoes. does that seem appropriate? I'm doing them during August.</p>
<p>No polo. Button down.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter that much.</p>
<p>Dress shirt, dress pants and a tie. Business casual is fine but you are better off overdressing than going to the interview and finding that you are wearing casual and your interviewer is in a suit and tie.</p>
<p>Rule of thumb is you are better wearing a tux to a kid’s birthday party than wearing a tshirt and jeans to a wedding.</p>
<p>How you dress for an interview makes a big impression and appearance is extremely important. It gives the interviewer an impression of what type of person the candidate is. A lot people have been rejected from jobs and colleges because they dressed poorly or inappropriately to the interview.</p>
<p>A 17-year-old wearing business attire for a college interview is totally overdoing it. Dress shirt, dress pants and a tie – absolutely not! This is not an interview for a law office. Whether you are meeting with admissions officers or alumni, business attire is not appropriate – they know you are a student and expect you to dress like one. Your plan for a polo and khakis is fine – make sure they are clean and ironed. Even a button-down is not necessary.</p>
<p>perhaps it doesn’t matter for a community college, but it certainly matters for other universities, especially the top-tier ones. </p>
<p>an interview is an interview, and you are making an impression. u need to represent what you can bring to the school and how you represent it. if you dress like you don’t care, they will not care about you.</p>
<p>Im not sure what your major is, but if it has anything to do with business, it will be even more reason to dress up</p>
<p>No, seriously, it really does NOT matter that much. As long as you’re not dressed sleazily, there’s no reason to wear officewear. The rule is dress for the situation, not for some white-tie event regardless of situation. IN this case it’s casual on-campus interview. Dress like the kids, perhaps slightly better.</p>
<p>Top-tier universities are incredibly competitive, and everything effort helps. If one doesn’t understand that, they should not be applying to those schools. UPenn’s Wharton is the top business school in the country, yet the applicant should walk in with casual wear? Yes. He/she will stand out…as the person who doesn’t care about getting in.</p>
<p>Dress like the current students? Did you know that students at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration dress in business attire for every class? This is only speaking for the hotel school. I can only imagine what the business students wear.</p>
<p>Ultimately it is your decision. The only question you have to think of is this. Would you rather dress nicely just to be safe and make an impression, or would like rather under dress and risk your chance of admission?</p>
<p>There is not an undergraduate college in the US that would decide to deny admission to a student because they came to an interview wearing something other than a business suit. Torn jeans, stinky T-shirt, underwear showing – that might get you rejected. Nice khakis and a collared shirt is fine. Wear what you feel comfortable wearing. Interviewers don’t care about the clothes, they care about the kid wearing the clothes.</p>
<p>Many high school students don’t own nice business clothes, and can’t afford to buy them. Don’t suggest that a kid who doesn’t want to spend money on these clothes – or doesn’t have the money at all – won’t get accepted. That’s absurd.</p>
<p>At most schools, if you walk in wearing a business suit you would be significantly better dressed than the interviewer.</p>
<p>Unless you are meeting at an alum’s office in a downtown business district, a tie is definitely overkill.</p>
<p>There is also the issue of appearing too wealthy. Ditch the gold watch, expensive suit, and the like. Your khaki/polo idea is a good one.</p>
<p>How would a navy blazer, t-shirt, and jeans go?..</p>
<p>wow i had to make an account just so I can post to this topic. </p>
<p>Too wealthy? Too formal? overkill? YOU SERIOUS. if you do not know ANYTHING about how to properly present yourself, please don’t comment and give false advice.</p>
<p>ANYONEEEEE who has been to a top tier college interview knows you must be business casual. Suits are not mandatory but the whole package is nice.</p>
<p>what do you mean better dressed than the interviewer? YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE BETTER DRESSED. </p>
<p>Someone who will interview will notice EVERYTHING. from the tie, clothing you wear, brand of shoes, hair color, and facial expressions you make when you speak. </p>
<p>The people who said you don’t need to dress up FAIL. You either never been to a Harvard, UPenn, Cornell interview or you just don’t know what you are talking about.</p>
<p>I’ve been to all the mandatory IVY league interview. DRESS SHIRT->DRESS PANTS->TIE… and guess what, the person interviewing me… HE WAS IN A SUIT! and guess what the Dean was wearing… OHHH your so smart… A SUIT/TIE and a NICE WATCH</p>
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<p>[Free</a> Fashion Advice for College Interviews, From a $15,000 Consultant - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/interview/]Free”>Free Fashion Advice for College Interviews, From a $15,000 Consultant - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Personally, I think khaki pants and a collared shirt (polo or button-down) hits just the right note for most schools. The point of an interview is to let your personality shine through, so as long as your clothes are neat, clean, and not showing too much skin, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>This is one of the comments on the above article:</p>
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