What to wear during a campus visit

[dannerz]

Hi,

So I got invited to visit the campus of one of the schools I applied for for Earth Sciences and I'm not sure what would be appropriate to wear. Like do I wear full business casual or more like jeans and a nice shirt? 

[TakeruK]

Most earth science departments I visited are definitely not business casual.

Wear what you are most comfortable in. Clean, untorn, unwrinkled clothes with no offensive messages is a good choice. 

Also, I realise from talking to various people that we might have different ideas on what "casual" and "business casual" etc. means. I'm more familiar with male clothing so to clarify, "business casual" to me meant things like dress pants, dress shoes, dress shirt (maybe tie, maybe not) etc. This is likely over-dressed, but it's not a huge problem if you are overdressed. 

Instead, during my own visits to earth science departments, it's very typical for men to wear "casual" clothes such as slacks/khakis, polo shirt, etc. There was another guy at one of my visits that wore exactly the same thing as me and we were the only two guys. There's a reason that people joke it's the "male academic uniform". But I also see many people with other shirts and pants that fit the description above (clean, not torn, not wrinkled etc.) Being comfortable will help you show your best self.

Finally, my school's visit date includes an optional field trip/hike so check your itinerary for things like that and pack accordingly!