What To Wear to a College Interview

Appropriate College Interview Clothing For Boys

If you will be interviewing for admittance to a college, we recommend that you keep in mind a few practical realities.

The more prestigious the college is, the more you may want to dress well.

As an example, if it's a top Ivy League college, you would fare well to wear a suit, preferably navy blue, dark grey or black with a white button-down shirt and a matching necktie.

Remember that you want to show the college a certain amount of respect, and dressing up is a means to exhibit that.

Additionally, apart from the exclusive colleges, you never really want to out-dress your interviewer either.

A great resource is your guidance counselor who will always know what the best dress code for each college is.

What we recommend is more a middle of the road approach to college interviews:

Sport Jackets
In most cases you can consider wearing a sport jacket and slacks instead of a matching suit.  A blue sport jacket, which is nothing more than the jacket from a suit you already own is a great choice.

Slacks
For slacks, a coordinated pair of slacks will work just fine.  If you do wear a navy blue sport coat, match that with a pair of light grey or light tan slacks.  As an alternative, a pair of freshly laundered and pressed khakis would do just fine - but please, wear a nice leather belt in either black or dark brown.

Shirts
Our first preference is always a white button-down shirt.  As an alternative, a light pastel colored shirt in pale blue, pale cream, yellow, or pale pink would match beautifully.

Neckties
A nice choice for neckties would be something from our striped ties collection which are not too expensive, very simple in style, and still add that bit of color to finish the look.  One of our favorite colors for neckties is blue because it's very versatile.  You can find that we carry a huge selection of blue ties simply because most manufacturers agree that it is indeed versatile.

Shoes
We highly recommend wearing a real pair of shoes.  Not sneakers, running shoes, Birks, or whatever you generally wear when dressing casual.  Shoes should be black, well polished and clean.

Socks
Wear a simple pair of clean black socks.

Grooming
Arrive freshly showered.  Grooming is essential.  Your hair should be neat and recently cut.  Ensure that your hands and fingernails are neat as well - you will have to shake hands so you'll want to make sure that your hands and fingers are clean.

In closing, some of the best advice we can offer is wear clothing that is comfortable.  Your clothing should not be too big on you because you don't want to look like you are wearing your parents clothing.

Additionally, you also don't want to wear anything that will be too tight or you'll be pulling, twisting, and squirming during the interview just to adjust it.

In the end, dress in clean, well pressed, and laundered clothing, ensure that you are well groomed, and - Good luck with your college interview!