We had fun shopping for clothes for these type of events for both my daughters. I wanted them to feel good/confident in their outfits. My thoughts especially for scholarship interviews is as soon as you step foot on campus you are being interviewed and should dress appropriately. Both wore dress pants with blazers (like the link above) for the actual interviews. They changed into heels just before. For the dinners they wore a dress with a blazer or cardigan. ( they both like dresses - not every teen girl does) Something like this https://www.loft.com/shimmer-boucle-flare-dress/525311?skuId=28752585&defaultColor=9451&catid=catl000013&selectedColor=9451
Both of them re wore the items through college at various events and internships.
I would definitely say that whatever you wear, don’t wear anything that someone would remember. Leggings, low cut shirts, garish colors etc will not help you. Plain clothing is what is required. They are interviewing you. Dress comfortably but not like you rolled out of bed.
JCrew Factory stores (and on-line) are having a big clearance sale this weekend. Lots of options for guys and gals: khakis, skirts, ankle pants, dress shirts, flats, blazers and cardigans that would work and your kid may still find stylish.
Thanks for the JCrew tip. Dd wore a dress from the Loft (Navy) with a cardigan. She also has dress slacks, skirt and a few nice blouses for these events. I found a really nice blazer at Marshall’s and added it to her closet. We are almost the same size so she can also borrow from my closet.
@holychild I agree that Loft is another great source— especially for smaller sizes and petites. They have an excellent sale right now as well. Our goal was to buy good basics that would fit this need throughout college and these two stores filled that well. Our DS16 still wears the suit we purchased when he was a freshman.
My very tall (5’11") and skinny daughter has a scholarship luncheon later this month at a LAC. Size 0-2 and for her height is not an easy task with shopping which is why she typically lives in leggings and tunics but obviously couldn’t wear that to an event with professional dress needed. My friend took her shopping for 4 hours tried on over 50 outfits from many different stores and finally found a sweater dress at NY and Co that she will wear with black tights and black boots. She also found dress pants and a blouse from Express that she got for future interviews, but could also wear to this event if it’s just too cold for the sweater dress. For any of you with tall girls, can highly recommend Express for pants, they are definitely long enough.
@voyagermom - My D is also 5’11. Banana Republic has tall sizes. They may not be in the stores but they’ll order them for you. In some of the cuts, the pants were actually too long - a first for her! My H is nearly 6’5 and he shops there too.
D is a 0 or 00 size and has a tough time finding fitted separates that fit well. She was able to find one black blazer that fit well at Macy’s. She’s had it for about a decade or more now.
OP here. Just got an mail from the college for the Scholarship Day and it explicitly states to dress “casual and comfortable” and to “dress
for the weather” since we will be moving around campus. Thinking that non-ripped dark or black jeans with a nicer sweater would now be okay, probably with her Bean boots. Opinions?
What does she think she should wear? As a senior maybe you should ask her to weigh what is appropriate for meeting and interviewing even in a “casual” situation.
That said, I wouldn’t dress to the nines and I would wear appropriate footwear - because in weather that’s a disaster if you don’t! - but I would still want to see a put together outfit that says she didn’t just throw on the outfit at the end of her bed.
“Slacks” were a problem for my high schooler and still are as a freshman. I think she thinks they are too old for her. She had a pair of nicer black pants - I wouldn’t call them slacks really, more like black chinos. But they look nicer than jeans they were her go to for interviews and such in high school. She would never choose to wear them anywhere else. She is more of a jean or leggings girl for casual or dresses for not casual. I was shopping with her over break because I wanted to get her something to have for job fairs and stuff and it was a struggle. She wants to feel confident but I think she needs to go more conservative than she would in her day to day life. We settled for a cute blouse (that she doesn’t really like) and her old standby black pants. Next break we will look for a dress or maybe I can convince her to get some “slacks” if I call them something different!
Pants is a “genus” of which slacks are a “species.” Slacks usually mean dress pants that are semi-formal (not formal enough to be a part of a suit but not casual either).
Just thought I would report back if anyone was following this thread or looked at it in the future. We have attended both events and here’s what we found:
For the scholarship competition day which stated to dress “comfortable and for the weather”, people did just that. There were maybe 2 girls in dresses, everyone else was in jeans (many ripped), leggings, sweatshirts, and sweaters. A couple girls (mine included) had on nicer dark jeans and a blouse. Couple kids were even wearing sweatpants.
For the honors dinner, which stated “business casual attire”, it also ran the gamut. Daughter and I wore casual dresses, tights and boots. We were definitely on the dresser side. Some people had dress pants and blouses but there were also lots of people in jeans, sneakers, and even a few sweatshirts. Not sure if they didn’t get the message or if “business casual” has really become that casual.
I know lots of people mentioned blazers for their teen but I think I saw maybe 3 blazers in total at both events.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I think we’ve learned to just relax a bit about these “dress codes”.
Thanks for checking back in! I don’t think we are doing a great job as parents when we aren’t encouraging kids to see these interviews as adult and not “child” interviews. What your D wore sounds very appropriate. You don’t have to be formal to look nice! But ripped jeans and sweatshirts have a time and place but not at somewhere where you ARE making an impression in more than one way.
I appreciate that things these days aren’t too formal - but also I think it’s good to have some standard!
Slacks usually mean dress pants that are semi-formal (not formal enough to be a part of a suit but not casual either).