Visitation days... what to wear?

[BuddingScholar]

What should I wear during visitation days? I have been accepted already and will be visiting the school this week during their prospective students visitation days. There will be a welcome reception in the afternoon of the first day, and I believe that it will be an all-day deal the following day. Any advice?

[peachypie]

Business casual is always the best bet.  nice pants that aren't jeans but don't need to be suiting wear or anything.  

[silver_lining]

I am fairly sure a nice pair of dark jeans (read: one without holes/stains. I also think darker jeans look nicer than the really light colored ones) and a nice dressy top are perfectly acceptable in my opinion. 

[microarray]

Dress comfortably and appropriate for the climate! The more casual side of business casual should suffice.

 

just don't be that guy (or girl) in a suit

[Kamisha]

Dress comfortably and appropriate for the climate! The more casual side of business casual should suffice.

 

just don't be that guy (or girl) in a suit

 

I have no comment on this topic. I just wanted to chime in and pay microarray mad props for his/her Daria avatar.  

[toasterazzi]

I haven't gone to my visit day yet, but they did send us a tentative schedule that includes a time slot for campus tours. So I definitely intend to look nice (business/casual-ish), but with comfortable shoes and clothes I can move/breathe in.

Edited February 24, 2014 by toasterazzi

[TakeruK]

For guys: a button down shirt or a polo with khakis is a safe choice--not too casual, not too formal. Also it's pretty comfortable. 

 

If you are afraid of sticking out, this is a really good choice. At one of my visits, there was another guy wearing exactly the same thing as me, and there were only 3 people on the visit! Last week, I saw a group of visiting grad students touring around (it was clear from what their guides were saying) and 5 or 6 guys (~80% of the males in the group) were wearing exactly the same thing -- a button down with khakis!

[silver_lining]

What have you seen women wear?

[TakeruK]

I did some searching through Google images to find some pictures of graduate student people at conferences or similar gatherings. Here are some group photos that I think accurately portray the range of dress (for men and women) of grad students in my field:

 

http://sirius.chem.vt.edu/~r410/PSSS08.jpg

http://www.phys.utb.edu/images/crest1.jpg

http://biology.missouri.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Graduate-Students-2013.jpg

https://www.aspet.org/uploadedImages/Divisions_and_Chapters/ASPET_Divisions/Molecular_Pharmacology/Content/ASPET2011-Grad%20student%20poster-GROUP.jpg

http://imaginingamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/IMG_1702.jpg

 

I would say that in general, for planned group photos or while at a conference/meeting (i.e. wearing name badges), most students will dress up a bit nicer than their everyday, but this matches the level of dress I notice of visiting/prospective grad students. Of course, not everyone does this so I would guess that in these photos, some of the people are dressed as they would "everyday".

However, in my field at least, if you dress like any of the students you see in the above linked photos, you will probably not look out of place. If you're worried about underdressing, then pick something a bit more "dressed up", but we get visitors dressed in all sorts of different ways. In my opinion, if you aim for the middle ground in the above pictures, you won't have to worry about your clothes making any negative impressions. I wish I could say that no one should ever have to worry about their clothes making an impression, but that might be too idealistic for our world!