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Now I've never started a thread before, but I couldn't find one that addressed this particular issue. I want to talk about how to dress for an UNDERGRAD interview.
For the last few months I have been interviewing prospective students for admission to my own alma mater, Johns Hopkins. Now if you don't want to read the rest of my tirade, I'll go ahead and summarize up what I am going to say right here in five words: WEAR A SUIT AND TIE (men). For the ladies, wear business attire, which can be either a skirt or pants and either heels or flats, but should include some form of suit jacket.
Now most of my applicants do all right, they dress like they're serious students going to an interview, but every now and then I get the guy or girl (actually usually guys, girls seem to have better common sense about this kind of thing) that seems to have not gotten the message that this is not a casual coffee date. I couldn't figure out why for the life of me every third or fourth interviewee would walk in with a flannel shirt and jeans until tonight I did a Google search for "college interview attire" and the very first link was this gem:
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/tp/interview-dress-men.htm
DO NOT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS. Where do I even start? I suppose #1:
Here's what the article says and why it's wrong:
1.) A suit usually isn't necessary. I'm sorry, but what? Yes it is true that you will not be wearing a suit to class in college, but you wouldn't be wearing a suit to a research lab or a suit under your scrubs in a hospital either. You wear suits to interviews, telling students not to is just bad advice.
5.) Shorts? Only in rare circumstances. Never wear shorts. Unless they somehow go with your suit (they don't).
8/9.) Piercings and Tattoos. Yeah, these aren't really such a big deal unless they're really especially over-the-top obnoxious. In which case just remove that particular lip ring for a couple hours, nbd.
10.) Hair You've really gotta be conservative with the hair. Colors aren't as big a deal as the style is. Generally the less product the better, you don't want to appear vain or superficial. Bottom line: if your hair doesn't look like any of the kids sitting on the quad in the pictures on the school's admissions website, you need to tone it down a bit.
This should not be an issue, just wear a suit. Wearing a suit shows respect, both to the institution and to the interviewer. Everybody looks good in one and if you don't have one you're going to need one anyway.
If you want to get accepted, wear a suit to your interview. You're going to lose points if you come in wearing jeans and a t-shirt, or really anything less than a suit, and it's just not worth it. How you dress is one of the very few things that you have absolute control over in an interview, so wear a suit.
Just my $0.02
For the last few months I have been interviewing prospective students for admission to my own alma mater, Johns Hopkins. Now if you don't want to read the rest of my tirade, I'll go ahead and summarize up what I am going to say right here in five words: WEAR A SUIT AND TIE (men). For the ladies, wear business attire, which can be either a skirt or pants and either heels or flats, but should include some form of suit jacket.
Now most of my applicants do all right, they dress like they're serious students going to an interview, but every now and then I get the guy or girl (actually usually guys, girls seem to have better common sense about this kind of thing) that seems to have not gotten the message that this is not a casual coffee date. I couldn't figure out why for the life of me every third or fourth interviewee would walk in with a flannel shirt and jeans until tonight I did a Google search for "college interview attire" and the very first link was this gem:
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/tp/interview-dress-men.htm
DO NOT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS. Where do I even start? I suppose #1:
Here's what the article says and why it's wrong:
1.) A suit usually isn't necessary. I'm sorry, but what? Yes it is true that you will not be wearing a suit to class in college, but you wouldn't be wearing a suit to a research lab or a suit under your scrubs in a hospital either. You wear suits to interviews, telling students not to is just bad advice.
5.) Shorts? Only in rare circumstances. Never wear shorts. Unless they somehow go with your suit (they don't).
8/9.) Piercings and Tattoos. Yeah, these aren't really such a big deal unless they're really especially over-the-top obnoxious. In which case just remove that particular lip ring for a couple hours, nbd.
10.) Hair You've really gotta be conservative with the hair. Colors aren't as big a deal as the style is. Generally the less product the better, you don't want to appear vain or superficial. Bottom line: if your hair doesn't look like any of the kids sitting on the quad in the pictures on the school's admissions website, you need to tone it down a bit.
This should not be an issue, just wear a suit. Wearing a suit shows respect, both to the institution and to the interviewer. Everybody looks good in one and if you don't have one you're going to need one anyway.
If you want to get accepted, wear a suit to your interview. You're going to lose points if you come in wearing jeans and a t-shirt, or really anything less than a suit, and it's just not worth it. How you dress is one of the very few things that you have absolute control over in an interview, so wear a suit.
Just my $0.02
