<p>My closet friends’ daughter is applying to colleges and got an interview with a prestigious college, not quite ivy league but a great school. This was with an alumna. She works at a ladies fitness center, and was supposed to work right after her interview. So…she wore her gym clothes to the interview. We got into a bit of an argument because I thought it was wrong all the way and told her she should have gone through the trouble of changing for work afterwards, out of respect for what it was, an interview. It was at Starbucks, and worst case scenario she could have changed after the interviewer left in the bathroom. I just don’t think it cast her in her best light, she is a very conservative dresser and her ordinary clothes to me would have made her look very much like the schools stereotypical girl, that may be good or bad. As a parent, I think it just looks like she didn’t try too hard or doesn’t take it serious, but maybe I am reading too much into it??
She totally disagrees. The argument is mute at this point but I am a little curious as to how parents/students feel about this. I wouldn’t have let me daughter out the door with gym clothes for an interview that could make or break her acceptance (this school also notoriously places a lot of weight on the interview). So any thoughts?</p>
<p>OOPS^ Did not mean closet friend, meant “closest friend”!!</p>
<p>Totally agree with you. Interviews don’t count for that much, but that’s not the point. I would have my daughter wear her street clothes and then change into her gym clothes at the locker room.</p>
<p>I’m an alum interviewer for Harvard, and actually think that in the situation that is described, wearing the gym clothes would have been an advantage by leading to the student’s talking about their job.</p>
<p>Most students who apply to Ivies don’t work at all. The fact that the student works indicates that she probably is more independent, responsible and even perhaps lower income than are most students who apply. She doesn’t sound like, for instance, a kid trying to get into Ivies via having done expensive travel or summer programs at Daddy’s expense.</p>
<p>If I had been the interviewers, I would have asked about the clothes (I assume the clothes had some kind of logo), and would have been impressed at the reason . Probably would have led to some interesting conversation that would have caused me to give the student a strong recommendation.</p>
<p>Overall, I think that after giving general guidelines about what’s typically advisable, parents should allow students to determine how to dress for their interviews. The clothing should reflect the student. What may seem a mistake to a parent or a bystander may make the student stand out in a positive way.</p>
<p>And if the student does something deliberately to look bad (example – students who literally look like they rolled out of bed, student wears an obscene T-shirt), that’s a big hint that the student isn’t interested in going to that college.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the gym clothes! If its an upscale ladies fitness center, and they have a nice jacket and pants outfit with the club logo on it…she might have looked just fine, especially if she explained she was on her way to work (work is a good thing).</p>
<p>oops, cross posted with northstarmom…she’s right.</p>
<p>I think you could talk about your job without wearing the gym clothes. My kid does not need to wear her ballet outfit to let the interviewer know she is a serious dancer. It also know many students that apply to ivies do work, and many do not need to work.</p>
<p>"She works at a ladies fitness center, and was supposed to work right after her interview. So…she wore her gym clothes to the interview. "</p>
<p>The student would have been wearing gym clothes because immediately after the interview, they had to go work at the gym. I can see why the student made the decision, which increased the student’s chances of getting to work on time and prepared for work, and also gave the student some extra time should the interview have run over.</p>
<p>Wearing the clothes also meant the student wouldn’t have had to watch the clock as much, meaning for a more relaxed interview.</p>
<p>It takes all of 30 seconds to change into gym clothes… it wouldn’t have had a huge effect on whether or not she got to work late. She could have told the interviewer that she had to make sure to leave by a certain time because she had to go to work, and that would have the same effect as wearing gym clothes and would seem more professional. I had work right after my UChicago interview, and when he suggested a time I made it clear that I had to leave by a certain time because I had work, so that was the first question he asked me when I arrived. (Interestingly enough, I work as a Hebrew School teacher, and he went to Chicago to study theology and was a minister and teacher, so we ended up talking about religion and teaching for about 30 minutes.)</p>
<p>I agree about not sending the student in gym clothes. I do think that we have become much too casual and that anything is acceptable. I am of the mindset that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. I totally understand the concept of a kid having to work (mine held an afterschool job all 4 years of high school) but unless the interviewee was interviewing for a job at a gym or with an athletic coach and was asked to wear workout attire, wearing gym clothes could border on inappropriate attire for the occasion.</p>
<p>No matter how "neutral’ people say they are, everyone brings themselves and their frame of reference in to a situation. I think it would have been more appropriate to ‘err’ on the side getting dressed for work at the starbucks or work, even if it meant rescheduling your work commitment by 15 minutes than just assuming that it is ok to show up in your gym clothes.</p>
<p>I imagine that this girl came in, introduced herself, shook hands, and said something like “I’m so sorry, but I’m running to work right after this interview, and I work at a gym!” They might’ve joked about the situation for a moment, they might have talked a little bit about her job. If the rest of the interview went well, and the girl showed herself to be polite, respectful, and capable, then I don’t believe that her clothing choice–which was easily explainable + presumably uncontroversial–will hurt her. If she didn’t show herself to be polite, respectful, and capable, there’s certainly no reason to believe that any other outfit would’ve ‘saved’ her!</p>
<p>It is possible that this girl could have gotten an exceptionally conservative interviewer, in which case erring on the side of caution would have been best. It’s also possible that she could’ve gotten someone totally eccentric, who might have written her off as “just like all the others.” Personally, if I were conducting interviews in today’s application climate, I’d love seeing a kid who was so obviously comfortable in her own shoes. This is provided, of course, that she had a reason and wasn’t just being neglectful, that she hadn’t gone out of her way to look bad or messy, and that she wasn’t wearing anything blatantly offensive. If this girl’s job involved a giant chicken suit, this would be a different story, as it could likely have prevented the interviewer from being able to take her seriously. I see nothing about gym clothes, if they were neat, clean, and easily explained, that’s inherently problematic.</p>
<p>I don’t give admissions interviews, but I’ve given campus job interviews + run many auditions. Not entirely comparable, but there’s some overlap. If we had a kid who was wearing something gimmicky, blatantly messy/disrespectful, or really out of line with the ‘tone’ of our program/group, it was a turn-off. But if someone came in in something unique + explainable (like the kid in dog make-up, en route from a theatre makeup class, or the girl in a swimsuit and warm-ups, on a break from swim practice), and everything else was in line, then appearance was just one more way to remember “that really good kid.”</p>
<p>There are circumstances under which wearing gym clothes would’ve been entirely inappropriate, and there are variations of this situation (like the chicken suit) that would range from risky to downright stupid. I personally can’t imagine that this particular clothing choice in this particular situation, however, will ‘make or break’ anything, and I see it as a “choose your battles” issue. Talk to the kid, make sure she realizes that interviews are important + that she should present herself in a positive light. Remind her that appearances are part of that, and also that she can’t know what ‘type’ of interviewer she’ll get. In the end, let her decide what impression she wants to make.</p>
<p>its super bad! reason for denial! nah, its fine if it is explained. Interviewers are human.</p>
<p>“She could have told the interviewer that she had to make sure to leave by a certain time because she had to go to work, and that would have the same effect as wearing gym clothes and would seem more professional.”</p>
<p>The interview is one’s chance to sell oneself to the college, and if, for instance, an interview is going really well because one just hit on a subject that the interviewer is impressed with, one wouldn’t want to have to say, "
Gotta go" in order to change for a job.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything disrespectful about showing up in one’s work clothes if one has to go to work right after the interview. You’d just politely explain at the interview’s beginning why you’re wearing that attire. That probably would lead to an interesting conversation about one’s job, interests, etc.</p>
<p>The important thing is that the interview goes well, but there are a million ways for that to happen. This girl probably knows how to work a relatively simple situation like this one to her advantage (or at least to avoid letting it be her downfall). All that we know about her is that she’s high-achieving enough to be competitive at a prestigious college, she has a job that implies tact + amicability, and she interviews well enough to have gotten that job in the first place. Obviously, I can’t know what the interviewer thought of her attire, but I don’t see any good reason to doubt that things went just fine. </p>
<p>OP: In any event, this process is stressful enough without adding regret/guilt into the mix. If this issue needs to be addressed, please, for the sake of the student in question, try to keep the conversation as ‘future oriented’ as possible :)</p>
<p>It’s time management. If you are required to wear an uniform for work, then there is also a general acceptable attire for interviews or other social events, therefore figure out how much time you will need to be properly dressed. I am a bit stick in the mud about things like that. I may be in the minority, but what if you got someone like me for an interviewer.</p>
<p>She should be herself. I think the work clothes were fine for a Starbucks alum interview – but obviously people have their own personal biases. There’s no way to know what the interviewer would rather see, anyway. It may be something effected by where in the country you are, too. Here, everyone is casual. In the financial district of a big eastern city, maybe people are dressed more deliberately.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth having an argument over, anyway. It’s her interview.</p>
<p>I was dressed in shorts for my Reed interview, a soiled jacket for my Deep Springs interview, and three-quarter length pants (capri’s) for my Brown interview.</p>
<p>None seemed to be to my detriment.</p>
<p>you need to start creating a proper wardrobe, because you never know when you might actually have to dress for the occassion</p>
<p>my D did a talk in front of some bigwigs for her school, and because we planned for the POTENTIAL of those kinds of events, she had the right pieces, no expensive stuff, but clothes that are adaptable and mix and match pieces that work for a luncheon that has a dress code, or an interview for an internship</p>
<p>so NOW is the time to start thinking about your choices of attire, becuase they can and will matter for certain jobs and interviews…and first impressions often can be the make or break for something you really want</p>
<p>I’m sure first impressions can be significant, but what isn’t so easy to know is the preferences of the person you might seek to impress. Especially for a meeting at Starbucks. ;)</p>
<p>I’d find someone who seemed to be trying to impress far less interesting than one that seemed confident and comfortable with who they are. Now that would be impressive.</p>
<p>very .</p>
<p>One note I have to make is that though I didn’t see Annie the day she went for her interview, she tends to wear very tight somewhat provocative types of gym clothes, contrary to how she normally dressed ironically! I think the gym asks that they dress that way or possibly in those clothes. That was the reason we even started the discussion, my friend asked what I thought about it afterwards and I told her my true feelings that she should have made the effort to dress up a little and then do a quick change. Agreed if it was a nice clean simple adidas suit or something along that line,Ithink that is fine but given the outfits I have seen her go to work in, I felt it was mildly inappropriate particularly since this does not reflect in any way her real style or her more conservative ways. They are like my family in fact she asked me to pose this question on this board because she was curious as to what others would think/say. Without first knowing how I felt, she felt regret about not having dressed up,etc…whatever its over and chances are that she will not be penalized in any way for it. She is a terrific girl with a lot to offer any college. So I am sure despite not being sure about what she wore, she will fare just fine.</p>