<p>Hi guys,
I keep hearing from my friends that I won't fit into UVA because so many kids dress in very preppy clothes. I mean I dress up when I need to but I'm really a Tshirt and Shorts guy. Is the stereotype that all guys dress in pastel polos and kaiki shorts true? If I'm walking around in a Tshirt and athletic shorts all the time will I look out of place? I mean I'm really one to care less about whether or not I look good to others but is it necessary to dress up?</p>
<p>You will be fine! You will see the gamut of dress but for regular hanging out, heading to classes, most are going for comfort and ease and not decked out. There is a definite preppy vibe but not to the degree that anyone else would not fit in or be happy there. My daughter is a t-shirts and shorts/jeans type and has been just fine.</p>
<p>Haha you’ll be perfectly fine for classes, hell I walked around all weekend wearing a tshirt and shorts. However, when and if you plan to go out to like a frat, you will want to wear some nice clothes. You also need some nice clothes for the random events that require you to dress well, convocation for example.</p>
<p>Remember that there are 14,000 undergrads here. Any attempt to label the appearance of a group that large isn’t going to be successful.</p>
<p>This question comes up every year. I went to high school in Philly where hoodies and pajamas were decent school attire, lol. UVA is not really like that, but I made a point of wearing my pajamas around to see if I could get more students to do it… Lol… Hoodies in the winter are still common though. You’ll see that once the weather gets cool, everyone comes to their senses. In the meantime consider UVA’s huge athletic population. They all wear athletic type stuff. Many people wear jeans. Tshirts are HUGE on grounds because every organization you belong to will make you one, so you’ll have 30 navy shirts by the time you graduate. But in the spring a lot of girls do sport dresses (me included! Though since I teach most days that is understandable…).</p>
<p>Hmm, hazelorb, how’d that trend setting work out :). Alright, I guess that is true Dean J. People are always going to make stereotypes about the whole campus even though it only applys to a few kids. I’ve already got a couple of UVA tshirts and my favorite hoodie :0. In fact I’m wearing one right now (my favorite tshirt)
[Amazon.com:</a> Nike Virginia Cavaliers Orange Our House Local T-shirt: Clothing](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Nike-Virginia-Cavaliers-Orange-T-shirt/dp/B003UO31F4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1283787969&sr=8-4]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Nike-Virginia-Cavaliers-Orange-T-shirt/dp/B003UO31F4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1283787969&sr=8-4)</p>
<p>you can’t beat repping bright orange, and UVA’s logo looks amazing…
Well about 1 more year and I can rep that shirt with pride :)</p>
<p>Also gl to all taking the ACT on Saturday. If I get a 33 you’ll be sure to hear.</p>
<p>Concerning clothing…we’re trying to think ahead for a winter wardrobe for D who is a first year. We’re from the south where the schools and whole town shuts down the one day a year where we might get a dusting of snow. LOL! I’ve been to CVille in early November and found layering worked well as the daytime temps were comfortable and a long sleeve tee and jeans were great, but in the evening I needed a lightweight jacket. I’ve never been to VA, though, in the winter. How cold does it really get (or perhaps feel might be a better term)? Is it a damp cold that might necessitate a down ski jacket or is it a dry cold that would warrant a Denali North Face? She hates jeans; will track suits be warm enough? What about skirts and leggings (more her style)? Would she be warm enough if she had say a pea coat over them? If I’m not mistaken, VA isn’t brutally cold (at least I hope not – one of the big things that led her to pick UVA over another school was the milder climate); however, like I said, it’s hot here pretty much ALL THE TIME!!! Any suggestions would appreciated.</p>
<p>In most years, something like a heavy fleece would be sufficient, as it hardly snows near UVA. You may get 5-10" for the year if you are lucky. However, this past winter was the obvious exception, when C’Ville got slammed by several big storms.</p>
<p>It can definitely get “cold” and <em>feel</em> cold as well. It can easily get into the 20’s or 30’s, but the winter is shorter compared to more northern states. I remember a couple of years where it stayed into the 50s/60s into December and got back into the 50’s by mid-Feb.</p>
<p>I have no cold tolerance (waiting for the bus until I got old enough to drive myself was torture in Philly winters) so I like to have one of those big puffy jackets. I only use it around January/February because by March it is too warm typically and in December it is also usually warm. I like the sweatshirts that zip up the front so that they are an easy on/off without making my hair look like a disaster or dying from the heated classrooms by being too lazy to take it off (one of those always happens…). You will find at night it is usually colder (ie. I just had office hours this past weekend and I was freezing walking back to my car! so I tote around a light sweatshirt at nights typically), and sometimes early in the morning (8am classes every day this past year led me to get to know the weather better, but I would usually go back to my room and change by the afternoon!!). The year I bought my puffy jacket I had left my other one at home (tried to do the leave-winter-stuff-at-home thing but the weather did not cooperate because it was cold before Thanksgiving, which is atypical) and tried to rough it by just doubling hoodies but that was not enough at night. So I would say for those kinds of nights I would NOT go out in just leggings, she would want to wear jeans or sweatpants. For instance, I absolutely LIVE in flipflops, and you can tell when it gets cold because I switch into flat no-tie sneakers with socks. Definitely by Halloween, and I switch back in March typically. I love being able to wear flip flops in March. :)</p>
<p>But here is my note to you: considering her style is warm-weather oriented, you really should try to hold off on the winter gear until Thanksgiving. It sounds like you are lucky enough that if it did get cold early, she, like I did, could go buy herself a coat to make do. So let her use up all of the space in her first year wardrobe with stuff she will actually wear, do some swap outs at Thanksgiving, and make a plan to get rid of 95% of the winter stuff at spring break as well.</p>
<p>PS Cville also shuts down for a dusting of snow. But UVA doesn’t!!! There was only 1 snow day my whole 4 years there to date…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you could wear whatever you wanted here and nobody would care. I certainly don’t look at what anyone else is wearing.</p>
<p>My classic for the New York winter is a hoodie. Whether I’m going sking or just playing basketball outside a hoodie is all I wear. And no, I’m not one of those hoodlums, wait, maybe I am. But atleast the hoodie looks nice :0</p>
<p>jc40, the Northface fleece jackets are very popular among the high school kids in Charlottesville. They wear them all winter long though they don’t really look warm enough to me. A lightweight down jacket, the “Squall” jacket from LandsEnd or its LL Bean equivalent, or a wool pea jacket loose enough to layer a sweater underneath would be fine alternatives. I haven’t bothered with winter boots for years though last year, when it snowed a ton, I wished I had some!</p>
<p>Jingle, I have a northface denali (from back in the day when I used to care what I looked like, boy an all boys school can do work on a guy) but they are warm, trust me. I used to wear a tshirt and northface denali.
JC40 a very popular coat type thing around here in new york is this northface that isn’t extremly puffy but is somewhat. However, the usual is definitly a northface denali.</p>
<p>Today, I wore bright purple baggy linen trousers and a black cami. Seriously, nobody cares.</p>
<p>Lol, I don’t know if that was girl talk but the only words I understood in that whole sentence was purple baggy. What is a cami? Also I don’t really care what people think anyway. I got over that whole "I want to fit in and be popular stage back in 8th grade.</p>
<p>While this thread is still alive I have another question
How prevalent is facebook on campus?</p>
<p>I’m definite I’m not getting a facebook because I’m completely against it. In college does everyone have one? Is it basically the main source of communication, as in, if I don’t have one I will never do anything with anyone?</p>
<p>There are always people without them. But most people have one.</p>
<p>re: clothing</p>
<p>then why make this thread?</p>
<p>Well why would you pay to go somewhere you won’t fit in? There’s a difference between not letting it bother you in a forced situation, and purposely putting yourself in a bad situation. I think he just wanted to make sure it wasn’t the latter…</p>
<p>Exactly, thanks for the response hazel. I really don’t care what people think I just don’t want the clothes to be forced on me if you know what I mean.</p>