<p>“the Stanford promo link.”</p>
<p>Its an AD. Are you now going to start believing 100% in what you see in an ad? Especially one designed to attract students, especially those from outside Calif, which is where the head of admissions is trying to get more applications coming from? Come and hang out at Stanford for a week . Try walking up and down University Ave in PA. Santana Row is 25 miles south of campus and is known locally as a “tony”, upscale, faux European tourist trap.</p>
<p>what the OP asked was-
“How formal does he need to be?”<br>
others, including you, are adding your own “its a special day and he should show respect by dressing in such a such” dress code, which is fine if he is visiting Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>But its not necessary at Stanford. </p>
<p>I’ve wasted enough time on this thread.</p>
<p>@ memloparkmom - I probably wasn’t very clear… my statement of SoCo being a different beast wasn’t intended to say from Stanford but from the east coast. Poor writing skills in my part. :o</p>
<p>menloparkmom: it is an ad, but it reflects well what I’ve seen on S campus, unless by coincidence every time I visited the visits fell on the days when the campus was overrun by conformist visiting crowds who were clueless about the true S dress code. The S profs we interacted with were perfectly OK in their Dockers 
And besides, S lawyers would not allow anything that can put the school in a legal trouble over “false advertisement”. ;)</p>
<p>You say that SV is not “traditional” in appearance. I gave you two extreme examples of the spectrum - a posh mall and a University campus My point is that what I’ve seen at the both extremes and in between the two is no different clothes-wise, Seattle (where we live) or SV (where my H works) or Boston (where kiddo goes to school). Why are you so anti-khaki, may I ask?</p>
<p>Thank goodness my son isn’t interested in engineering OR Stanford or UCB. The only polo shirt he owns is a black one he used to wear when waiting tables…and you can guess what THAT looks like without an apron over it.</p>
<p>He is a 20 something who has a wardrobe of collared button down shirts and a number of different levels of slacks from jeans to docker types (he gets his at Express) or dressy. He would wear a nice clean, not ripped pair of jeans or slacks…and a shirt with a collar and that’s what he wore for all of his own college interviews.</p>
<p>Over the past years we’ve looked east and west and in the middle at various colleges and various selectivity and large to small and basically didn’t see that many deviations in what kids were wearing among their kind. The only outlier was some poor kid a few years ago on the Colby tour who had a suit, tie and leather soled shoes and the kid looked miserable. My kids have toured in jeans and polos, khakis and polos, shorts and t-shirts and shorts and polos with a t-shirt peaking through the neck. I’ve seen on their feet flip flops and I’ve seen Topsiders and I’ve seen Vans and I’ve seen Sanuks and Tevas. They never seemed wierded out if the tour guide had face punctures, blue hair and black jeans that looked spray painted on and they’ve never been wierded out if the tour guide had unwrinkled khakis and a Lauren sweater with a popped collar shirt. They’ve never embarrassed me and as long as they are clean and rip free, shake hands, smile and converse I’ve never thought twice about what they were wearing. The only tour that was hilarious was one that S2 was on alone with no other kids and he and the tour guide must have hit if off because they seriously tried to ditch me. I’ve got a picture of their backs as they sped away. If I’m lucky number 3 will give up the athletic shorts, the shiny Jordans and doubled up t-shirt when we start tours this spring, but if he doesn’t he still won’t embarrass me. It’s not about what they are wearing it’s about who they are that matters.</p>
<p>I agree with menloparkmom, but people differ on their comfort level in dress and clearly in their own perceptions of what is “proper.” California is casual, so I will offer the opinion that as long as the clothes are not (unintentionally) ripped or stretched or stained or faded to oblivion or frayed or clearly worn out, nor are they awkwardly formal (no suit, tie, high button buttoned on shirt, or heavens! polished dress shoes), the boy will be fine. If a family is more comfortable dressing up, why not? But the California way tends to be dressing down – the non-conformist (as in anti-prep) credo being we care about brains more than blazers. ymmv</p>
<p>I still have to laugh at the thought that a polo shirt is “dressy.” You can buy polo shirts at Old Navy for $12 or so. They are hardly the clothing of the Elite Eastern Establishment or anything. They’re casual wear just like a t-shirt would be.</p>
<p>My S just moved in yesterday and has a whole freakin’ wardrobe of t-shirts that display his school’s name - both bought by the proud parental units, and then sent to him from various groups on campus. Naturally, he chose to wear the one that had an ink stain at the bottom. My work here is not done!!</p>
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<p>That’s really sad. :(</p>
<p>madbean, I do not recall anyone talking about blazers. Goodness, that would be an overkill! The center of dispute on this thread is whether it is OK for a HS kid to wear a khakis/shirt with collar combo for a face to face meeting with a professor at S, which most posters on this thread agreed with, but menlopakmom found completely unacceptable, and that is puzzling to me, because I’ve seen people in polos and khakis all over Silicon Valley, from S campus to Google to the abovementioned mall to Costco. :)</p>
<p>My 2 cents to the OP: make sure that you all wear comfortable shoes, because you will be doing a lot of walking! Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Having spent significant amounts of time on both campuses, I would say that the engineering profs will have no clothing expectations. They won’t feel insulted by a t-shirt, but they won’t be shocked at business casual. Your son should wear whatever he will feel most comfortable in, as long as it’s clean and reasonably well-fitting. He’s going to be the one in the meetings/tours - he needs to feel comfortable in his skin.</p>
<p>Accuweather is predicting morning fog, so be sure to dress in layers. I second the comment about comfortable walking shoes.</p>
<p>Yes, bunsenb–I read the thread. I was simply pointing out there is a wide range of acceptable wear–and I was jokingly (I thought) pointing to the extremes. Perhaps I needed to add a smilie?</p>
<p>Further, I do not think menloparkmom stated wearing more dressy clothes (and I agree, khakis and a polo shirt are not exactly formal wear) was unacceptable, simply not required nor even common among students on a campus she knows well. Of course, that is her opinion, right? As these are mine.</p>
<p>Polos & khakis would seem, well, weird out here, but a very strong vote for clean body and clean hair! Also, strong scents (Irish Spring soap, after shave, cologne, etc.) are very much looked down upon in consideration of those with sensitivities, so that would outweigh any style considerations.</p>
<p>I think some of you are confusing casual khakis with camel colored dress pants that a guy might wear with a blazer and button-down.</p>
<p>S was comfortable & generally wore what he wore throughout HS when he went to college campuses: cargo shorts and a shirt. If it was cold, he also wore a hoodie. He did NOT dress more than that & received several significant merit awards. Folks at Stanford and Berkley were VERY casual. As long as the student is clothed comfortably in clean clothing, it really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>On another note, I think one of my jobs as a mom is to teach my sons to dress appropriately. That means that the old pair of frayed shorts and faded tee shirt they wear to class is not acceptable for a meeting. And yes, occasionally, a blazer and tie is appropriate. I put this in the category of teaching good table manners, pushing to write thank you notes, teaching politeness, etc. These things will not only make them much nicer to be around, but will also help them feel comfortable in various social settings.</p>
<p>Well, for some people it takes no effort to look better and put on a little polish. For other people, apparently it’s an unbearable effort!</p>
<p>No reason one can’t be both appropriately casual and polished. I just moved my son in to his dorm, so I was obviously doing a lot of lifting, etc. I could have worn a t shirt, sweatpants, and my running shoes. Or, I could have worn a cute top, little jacket over it, a great necklace that picked up the school’s colors (I’m an alum so I get to be dorky like that), tailored capris and a nice pair of flats. Just as comfortable and appropriate, so why not?</p>
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<p>But make sure that the clothes fit. University age men often have difficulty finding properly fitting dress shirts and suits. Some of the interns that I see at work wearing poorly fitting dress shirts would look better wearing typical casual clothes (the workplace is a casual dress kind of place).</p>
<p>My son is quite thin - 6’ and 135. J.Crew makes very nice shirts and blazers for a trimmer build. Perry Ellis also sells great quality, reasonably priced blazers that are cut narrow in the waist.</p>
<p>My son is quite thin - 6’ and 135</p>
<p>That is slender. My H weighs 135 & he is 5’6".
He does like the polos from Jcrew, they are cut on the slim side.</p>