dzk

Adjuncts aren't even real people. Be sure not to make eye contact if passing in the halls.

Adjuncts aren't even real people. Be sure not to make eye contact if passing in the halls.

Your best bet as far as dress goes is to e-mail the program contact to ask. One of my invites specifically says to dress casual, and AFAIK, this is the norm for biology programs. You'd look hilariously out of place in a suit. I'm sure this is different by field, though.

(I'm a fairly fashion conscious individual, but generally speaking, biologists don't care about how you dress. Male biologists often are the type who will wear cheap button-downs with cheap khakis at their most formal. And if they are forced into wearing a suit, it will be a sale from Men's Wearhouse that's too big on the shoulders. If you find yourself worrying about how you look for anyone but yourself, you've gotta relax.)

Who cares? Don't take yourself so seriously... academics dress poorly, and that's just the way things go. Dress the way you want to; the same freedom that allows them to wear boring, tattered, and ill-fitting clothes allows the rest of us to wear what we like as well. It doesn't bother me that nobody in my scientist group of friends understands why I dress like I do, and it doesn't bother any of them either. Sure, I look different, but I see that as a good thing, not a negative. I stayed conservative for my style at my interviews (though I did have to bust out the Tyrian purple shirt) but you can be sure I won't keep that up.

Although it's funny, because I was interviewing for neuro programs, and I never saw anyone show up in jeans besides me (and I was wearing nice ones, so it hardly counts). I thought it was hilarious that other guys kept interviewing in black suits. Ew.

Adjuncts aren't even real people. Be sure not to make eye contact if passing in the halls.

Adjuncts aren't even real people. Be sure not to make eye contact if passing in the halls.

Adjuncts aren't even real people. Be sure not to make eye contact if passing in the halls.

Others have said this is weird, but I'll go one better and say it's astoundingly stupid. First, it's very rare to get a faculty position at the institution of your choice regardless, and it's really left up to fate (~8 years from now, they may not even be posting for new hires in your field). Second, as far as institutional culture is concerned, what is best for a graduate student and a faculty member can be very different things.

Now, rising_star's case makes much more sense, but generally speaking, this is not good advice.