We get the "What should I wear to my college interview?" question a lot from our Collegewise students. Here's what we tell them.
Imagine your parents were making you dress up for Thanksgiving dinner at your grandparents' house. What would you wear? A t-shirt and jeans is too casual. A full suit or formal dress is too much. Anything in between those two will probably be fine as long as you use good judgment.
That's a good rule of thumb for your college interview attire.
On the one hand, you need to show the interviewer that you appreciate the importance of this meeting. Making an effort to look nice conveys that. A college interviewer once told us that a student showed up to meet her wearing yoga pants and looking like she'd just come from the gym. No good.
On the other extreme, if you dress up so formally that you feel awkward and uncomfortable, you're going to ooze tension during the interview. It's never going to make you look bad to be the best dressed person in the room. But if it affects your ability to relax and be yourself, it's just not worth it.
And remember, you're not dressing up for a date here. It's fine to be fashionable, but you don't want your outfit (or an overwhelming application of perfume or cologne), to speak for you. Wear something that would make your grandma say, "You look nice, dear."
You can find even more advice in our "College Interviews" video. It’s $12.99 and available as a streaming download.