<p>Definitely agree with rockvillemom.</p>
<p>You want to fill out the registration cards so the school knows you were there and can track your interest.</p>
<p>momtravels–ROTFLMAO! They know how to push our buttons, don’t they?</p>
<p>Our son’s de facto dress code was collared shirt & newish jeans if there was an interview, T-shirt & shorts if there wasn’t, & black lowtop Cons regardless. He definitely blended in with the crowd.</p>
<p>PG–I think the reason why parents show up looking schlebby is that they assume that everybody is there to look at the college and not the other parents. We just wore whatever was comfortable. We probably looked quite schlebby. I can assure you it wasn’t a problem for us, so if it wasn’t a problem for you, it’s all good. :)</p>
<p>And as for writing stuff down, are you saying that admissions staffers are sitting there taking notes on which parents are taking notes, and writing off their kids as helicopter-tainted? That seems a bit farfetched to me. I wish we had written more stuff down, actually.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget S’s first college tour - at Tufts. In our ignorance, we insisted he wear khakis and a buttoned down shirt. How he ever spoke to us again is beyond me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, of course being comfortable is paramount! But one can be comfortable without being schlebby! I like to look a little polished and pulled together even in casual situations. But TJM and of course to each his / her own!</p>
<p>I find it very hard to believe that a school counts the number of contacts the prospectives have made in their admissions decisions. I base this on the “interest” (specific interest - not just junk mail interest) that schools have shown in my kids and other students I have been involved with who had never expressed interest in that particular school. These schools range from community colleges to top tier honors programs. The admissions departments want you to fill out the forms so that they know the general interest in their school, the demographics etc. not for the individual students. As an aside, this would be counterproductive to admissions who want a more diverse student body. Not everyone can make college visits due to financial or geographic constraints.</p>
<p>A. If a school is really tracking interest, they want you more than you want them, so your child’s interest will be demonstrated to them by applying.</p>
<p>B. It’s very easy for prospectives to “demonstrate interest” if they really want to - emails work.</p>
<p>C. The very best way for prospectives to demonstrate interest is for them to make contact with profs in the departments that they might be interested in.</p>
<p>Bottom line - as I’ve said somewhere before, don’t sweat the small stuff. Enjoy the process and don’t think that one visit will answer all of your child’s (notice - your child’s, not your) questions about a school. Most of the time the process works just fine, and for the times that it doesn’t transfers are possible.</p>
<p>To everyone who posted to my question about what to wear at an info session – many thanks! You all were spot on with the advice!</p>
<p>We just got back from James Madison U in Harrisonburg VA. Temps were upper 80’s. S wore shorts and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt that went well with his past-the-shoulder length blonde hair. Yes, he’s a rocker – must have been that Stones concert I went to at 7 months PG with him, LOL…anyway, we were just fine. There were at least 200 people there. </p>
<p>Folks were eyeing our icy bottles of water as we schlepped around the campus. That was a great tip.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for your patience – and the good answers!</p>
<p>Mamabear2</p>
<p>(SP) BTW, what’s the red star for by my original post? Newbie Alert Notification -first-time poster?</p>
<p>mamabear2–I believe the star means that it’s a thread you have posted to.</p>
<p>No, if you post on any thread, a red star magically appears next to it!
PS Glad the tour went well!!</p>
<p>The red star means that you have posted in that thread. (Took me about three months to figure that out!)</p>
<p>And good call on the nice shorts and a t-shirt–although I would have pressed for a polo shirt. Our son forgot his shoes on a visit we made at Mizzou on a day after a Thursday night football game. All he had were the hiking boots he had worn to the game in a torrential down pour. And they were soaked. So we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart to get some cheap (only worn twice since) but nice looking shoes. When we found out that we would be meeting with the dean of the Honors College 1-on-1, we were glad he had on nice jeans and rugby shirt (with the new shoes!)</p>
<p>Headed to Purdue week after next. I wonder what he will forget?</p>
<p>Honestly as long as you aren’t dressing in a way that is blatantly offensive, it doesn’t matter at all…</p>
<p>In our current American society where people go to church wearing gym shorts and tank tops, I can see why there are all the replies of “It doesn’t matter at all.”</p>
<p>Allow me to take the contrary view. If all you care about is fitting in with everyone else or being no sloppier than the sloppiest other person, then, yes, it doesn’t matter. </p>
<p>However, there is something to be said for treating a special occasion as special and not dressing for a college tour as if you’re going out to wash the car. Clean and ironed shorts and polo shirts or plain t-shirts are a lot better idea than dirty gym shorts and t-shirts with distracting slogans on them. This goes for parents as much as for students.</p>
<p>I am quite certain that some colleges do track interest. I think (but will never know for certain)that the fact that my son visited twice, interviewed with admissions and met with the chair of the department where he plans to major factored into his ED1 acceptance at a highly competative LAC. My son also received several “invitations to apply” where the usual fee was waived at a couple of the schools he visited. I don’t think those would have been forthcoming without filling out the registration card. </p>
<p>I was one of those parents taking notes. It was far more important to me that my son spent his time looking around and absorbing the atmosphere. I took down enough info that we could keep the schools straight and I wrote down things I thought would interest or amuse my husband since he couldn’t come with us on the college visits. It was, however, always my son’s job to go up to the big desk and fill out the card.</p>
<p>Been on many tours with 3 kids. I only remember 2 kids as having on strange clothes. #1 - kid who was identified by being with a group as from a Catholic high school, wore huge pentogram ear disks and all black. (theme to parents: you can make me tour this barely-any-more-than -by-name-affiliated Protestant college, but you can’t make me fit in)</p>
<h1>2 - tour guide at CalTech. She showed up in a hurry and a bit late, and then there was a flurry of activity at the desk. She ducked into the powder room and emerged with t-shirt inside out to lead the tour. Wish I had had the nerve to ask her what the other side said.</h1>
<p>If your kid is interviewing, maybe dress up to their nicest school clothes, otherwise go with what’s comfortable unless it could offend.</p>
<p>Did three tours this weekend, so I will join in. My son is NOT shooting for competitive, unlike his sister. Not sure how much that, vs.him being our second makes a one makes a difference,</p>
<p>I would have to agree that this is not the thing to fight with your kid on. If you care more than your child, it’s not a good sign.</p>
<p>I noticed my son wore his favorite soccer jersey to one school, and his favorite “Bboy” t-shirt to another. Both sent a message his peers responded to, before I’d figured it out.</p>
<p>I learned some good stuff about him this weekend.</p>
<p>
There is, but it would never occur to me to think of a college tour as a special occasion. It’s essentially a shopping trip.</p>
<p>One info session we attended turned out to be a one-on-one discussion with an adcom due to the fact it was the last session of the day, and we were the only ones there. So, in fact, it turned out to be like an informational interview. (And yes, I made my son write a thank-you note.) So, don’t assume “it’s only an info session” because you never know…</p>
<p>That said, I think shorts and polo shirt is the way to go if it is warm.</p>
<p>
Around this time, colleges usually hold 2-3 informational session/tours per day with roughly ~200-500 students in attendance per session for some of the top schools. With what can be over 1000 students visiting every day, your son/daughter’s choice of apparel is quite insignificant to the college. </p>
<p>I also disagree with your view of college touring as a “special occasion”. College tours aren’t an admissions/alumnus interview and I don’t think there is a need to dress to impress.</p>
<p>I have been shocked at the inappropriate dress I have seen at info sessions and tours. I have seen “yard work” clothes, athletic wear, short shorts, dirty tennis shoes, ripped flip-flops, etc. YIKES! You are not attending a pick-up game of baseball!</p>
<p>I think a pair of dockers-type pants and a polo shirt are entirely appropriate for guys. Wear tennis shoes for comfort if you want, but I would not go looking like you were going to hang out at the mall. You may want to ask questions after an info session, or you may run into a prof that wants to spend time with you, or you may get a chance to have an admissions or financial aid representative to yourself. These things have all happened to us. If you do not look neat and tidy, you may be embarassed to stand out in the crowd. Better to dress in a moderately formal way. Nobody will ever criticize you for wearing dockers and a polo shirt.</p>
<p>For girls, I think casual skirt, a pair of nice pants or even some dressier jeans are okay. Pair that with a shirt and jacket. And for heavens sake, wash and comb your hair! What possible excuse can people have for dressing like they have just come home from a bar crawl? It is really not that difficult to wear clothes that say you are serious and respect the college you are touring. It is better to be remembered as the kid who looked nice than the kid who wore the questionable T-shirt and the ripped shorts.</p>
<p>
Wearing clean, ironed clothes without silly slogans is not only done to impress others who will be evaluating the applicant. You’re right that evaluation is not necessarily happening in these settings. It’s done because you’re out in public with dozens, maybe hundreds of other students, parents, tour guides, college administrators, professors, etc. That means not dressing like a slob just because 1) it seems like everyone else does it and 2) you can get away with it. As I said before, this seems to be a problem with the parents more than with the kids, for whatever reason. </p>
<p>I understand this is an uphill battle. I watched people go into Easter services last Sunday dressed in jeans, shorts, t-shirts with slogans, flip flops, dirty sneakers, etc. Every year, I see people go as guests to their childrens’ high school and college graduations dressed in similar attire more suitable for an outing to the local convenience store. I’m sure their justification is the same:
- It doesn’t matter
- It’s comfortable
- Lots of other people were dressed this way
- Who cares what I wear
- I’m not being judged</p>
<p>
Exactly. We invited you to come to our campus and take a tour and participate in an information session. We put a lot of effort into making the tours and other aspects of the on-campus info sessions helpful and hope you will show some respect in exchange. This is not the mall and for parents and kids to schlep around on a tour as if they are browsing for bargains at Target in apparel more suited for the gym or a car wash creates a bad impression, whether you think it is does or not. While you’re at it, leave the super-sized drink in the car. Unless it is brutally hot or you have a medical problem, walking around slurping from a gallon-size drink of whatever is both rude and unnecessary. Keep your hydration and nutrition accessories in proportion.</p>
<p>Actually, the justification is that College Tours aren’t a formal event unlike high school/college graduation. To claim the two are similar is quite erroneous, and usually stems from the underlying belief that dressing well will somehow positively impact ones eventual admission chances.</p>