<p>If you even think for a moment that you would not be proud to be identified in what you are wearing, don’t wear it.</p>
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It’s obviously not as formal as a graduation, but I’ve seen people dress like they’re headed to a tractor pull when going to both events because, like you, they view one or both as 1) not a event at which they’ll be judged or evaluated and 2) not a formal event.</p>
<p>What they miss is that both are elements at which an element of respect is required. The person who equated info sessions and college tours to a shopping trip is dead wrong. Unfortunately, too many misinformed parents have this attitude and their lack of respect in both their attire and often in their behavior shows.</p>
<p>Nobody cares.</p>
<p>I want to look nice for <em>me</em>, not because I’m trying to impress the receptionist in the admissions building. Why look like every other dumpy, frumpy middle-aged mother when it’s so easy not to? Don’t you want other people to view you as a reasonably attractive person, and isn’t that a lot easier for a forty-something mother to do when wearing attractive clothing, cute flats, a scarf, etc. versus a pair of dumpy sweats that are better suited to sleep in or paint the garage in?</p>
<p>My son asked me to take notes at the honors college presentation at American. My handwriting is legible. I’m kind of obsessive about it and will write more than he does. And as it turns out he had a secret plan to photocopy my notes and give them to a friend.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should wear gym shorts unless you are out jogging or at the gym, in general I do think Americans have gotten awfully sloppy about what they wear in public. That said, if all you are doing is taking a tour and going to the info session, no one is going to know what you wore. Unless of course it’s incredibly memorably inappropriate.</p>
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<p>Laughing about the Rose-Hulman observation. Engineers and their close cousins the computer scientists have their own “dress code”. (CS is worse than straight-up engineering, I think.)</p>
<p>An earlier post mentioned being glad they were able to find a replacement for the wet hiking boots before a meeting with the head of a particular university’s honors college. Well, I happen to know both the dean and associate dean of that honors college, and believe me, they wouldn’t have cared. Keep in mind that the adults the students are meeting with are academics, and academics do not win fashion awards. </p>
<p>Clean and neat are always good. But all these comments about ironing casual shorts–really??</p>
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In which case, if you are dressed in a T-shirt and shorts or jeans, you will look exactly like every other student that professor has seen that day, and he/she will neither notice your garb nor think the worse of you for it.</p>
<p>I really wonder if some of you folks have spent any time on a college campus lately.</p>
<p>I’ve given seven information sessions that ranged in size from 200-600 people during the last two weeks. I have no memory of what anyone wore. None. </p>
<p>The only time I even notice what a student is wearing is when they are significantly over or under dressed (as in extremely low cut tops or very short bottoms). I usually feel badly for the overdressed kids.</p>
<p>By the way, the schools I know that track interest are pretty honest about it. If you are curious, just ask. :)</p>
<p><a href=“as%20in%20extremely%20low%20cut%20tops%20or%20very%20short%20bottoms”>quote</a>.
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Hmmmmm…Dean J…and the boys? LOL</p>
<p>Dean J, I hope that wasn’t the moms!</p>
<p>If it matters, I’m female. I imagine my male colleagues are even less concerned with what kids are wearing. </p>
<p>I don’t remember what the parents wear, either. :)</p>
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<p>Every day. </p>
<p>Which is why I know that it makes a difference if you show up in neat and clean t-shirts, shorts, and jeans or in clothes that would have to be be blurred out if shown on network television (shorts cut up to the a** crack, t-shirts with four letter words, pants on the ground…)</p>
<p>On the other hand showing up in polished loafers and a tie is ridiculous too.</p>
<p>To those who say, it doesn’t matter, good luck with the rest of your life. Appearances count, whether you realize it or not.</p>
<p>^OK, maybe this is a regional thing or something? I work at a university, so I see students every day too, and I never, ever see the kind of stuff you’re talking about. Just ordinary, nondescript casual clothes.</p>
<p>And yes, appearances will often matter in the rest of your life, which is why students so obviously and rightly enjoy the freedom of spending a few years in an environment where (within certain very broad limits) they don’t.</p>