I'm a pretty big fan of the J.Crew factory Thompson suits and I'll probably pick one up before next spring. J.Crew factory has 30-40% sales often and you can stack on a 15% student ID discount, so if you wait, you can probably snag one for under $250. Here's a good review on it at Dappered (
http://dappered.com/2011/08/in-person-the-j-crew-factory-suit/), it seems like one of the rare suits that fits pretty slim off-the-rack and would only need minimal tailoring. I'd stay away from Men's Wearhouse or Jos. A. Bank if you're somewhat slim or athletic, because most of their suits fit boxier and looser. Try to get something in a navy or grey as it will be a lot more versatile and you'll find way more uses for it later on.
Yves Saint Laurent's La Nuit de L'Homme is a pretty solid cologne that is fairly affordable for a nice fragrance (~$50) and has almost universally acclaimed reviews (
http://www.amazon.com/Yves-Saint-Laurent-Lhomme-Toilette/dp/B0021MLVA8). If you're looking to drop some serious money on a fragrance, Creed's Aventus is a great choice (
http://www.amazon.com/Creed-Aventus...&qid=1377188524&sr=1-1&keywords=creed+aventus). If you're new to buying fragrances, you should definitely try them on in a store or order sample vials first since a huge part of finding a good cologne is making sure that it meshes well with your natural scent.
Allen Edmonds Strands are almost universally recommended as a first pair of nice dress shoes. They're pricey ($345 list), but you can get them for a little under $200 when the right deal comes along and they'll last a lifetime. If they ever get too beat up, you can just send them in to Allen Edmonds and pay a fraction of the price for a new pair to get them re-crafted and like new again. You can also surf eBay and check out local thrift stores, usually you can find some really high end dress shoes selling for under $50. I really like the walnut color for the Allen Edmonds, but any brown dress shoe should work well.
As far as watches go, you're gonna want a dress watch to wear with a suit. James Bond can get away with wearing a stainless banded dive watch with a tuxedo, but as a rule, you should get a dress style watch with a leather band that somewhat matches your belt and shoe color. If you're going to invest in a watch, I strongly recommend that you get an automatic mechanical watch rather than a quartz. Most quartz movements are largely the same between a $20 Timex and a $1500 Omega (I love automatic Omegas though), what really sets apart higher end watches are the automatic movements that they house. I really like the Orient Bambino as a budget option, it's listed at $260 but you can usually get it under $200 if you wait (
http://orientwatchusa.com/collections/mens-watches/classic/er24005w). Orient usually has some 30-40% coupon floating around, and they have a fantastic in-house Japanese movement for the price. If you want to raise your budget to around $500, you have a couple of nice Swiss choices. I like the Tissot Le-Locle (
http://www.amazon.com/Tissot-T-Clas...id=1377190001&sr=1-1&keywords=tissot+le+locle), Hamilton Jazzmaster (
http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Jazz...377190024&sr=1-1&keywords=hamilton+jazzmaster), and the Tissot Visodate (
http://www.amazon.com/Tissot-Visoda...id=1377189983&sr=1-1&keywords=tissot+visodate) in this price range. All three have rock-solid ETA Swiss movements (ETA also produces the movements used in much higher-end watches made by Omega and IWC).
I travel a fair amount, and having a nice carry-on suitcase that fits in the bins of most planes is a huge convenience. I really like the suitcases that have the spinner wheels since it makes dragging them across the airport a whole lot easier. Two of the ones I would recommend are this Samsonite (my dad actually travels with this, he flies nearly 200,000 miles a year and it's held up quite well) (
http://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Lug...-Suitcase/dp/B006QO3SIU/ref=brand_ltst_clth_i) and the Travelpro Crew, which I see recommended a ton (
http://www.amazon.com/Travelpro-Lug...qid=1377190910&sr=1-3&keywords=travelpro+crew). If you want something a little smaller, I've heard really good things about Everlane's duffel bags (
https://www.everlane.com/collections/weekender-shop-mens), they look pretty sharp and should hold everything that you would need for a short trip. I've read positive reviews on this Samsonite rolling garment bag too (
http://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Lug...sr=1-1&keywords=samsonite+rolling+garment+bag), so that's another option that would probably work well.
Lastly, I try to fly Delta usually since I have their lowest-tier frequent flier elite status, which nets me free checked luggage, priority seating, boarding, and security, and sometimes free upgrades (although not as frequently as I would like). If you haven't started banking frequent flier miles on a particular airline yet, you should definitely sign up for a program since you will be netting a fair amount of miles on your interviews. It only takes around 25,000 for a round-trip ticket in the US on most major airlines, and you'll surpass that before you know it. I have flown Southwest in the past too, and a lot of my friends really seem to prefer it, so if you don't have any reason to fly a larger airline, they're a pretty solid choice. Their frequent flyer rewards program seems fairly easy to earn through too, a few of my friends have already gotten close to free tickets just from flying to and from school.
Wow this ended up being a lot longer than I expected. I ended up getting somewhat carried away since I happen to be fairly into men's fashion and travel. Hopefully this will end up helping some of you, I'll be in the same boat in a few months and I'll probably come back to my post since it actually helped myself quite a bit to go ahead and write down what I would need.
One more thing. These are just my own personal thoughts on what I will be doing to get ready for my interviews, if you're not obsessed with menswear you probably think I'm a little crazy and you'd be right. Make sure that you're comfortable in whatever you're wearing, it'll reflect on how composed you are during your interview. As long as you put in the effort to look nice and professional, you'll be fine. It's an interview, you're being judged based on your resume and composure, not what you're wearing.
