Independent HS interview clothes

JHS
Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:00:55 +0000

I agree with most of the advice here, but I think it’s appropriate to add:

You have a 13-year-old boy (8th grader? 7th grader?) applying to schools that presumably are familiar with 13-year-old boys. Of course it’s preferable to follow conventions for interview attire, but if a school can’t see the future man in the cargo pants and tee, it wouldn’t be a school I would want my son attending. It’s far more important that he be comfortable and willing to engage with the interviewer (politely) than that he wear the right clothes.

You, on the other hand, need to make a good impression, too. Most private schools I know pay a fair amount of (surreptitious) attention to parents, because it’s parents who don’t fit in that will cause problems for teachers and administrators far more often than the kids.