business school attire...

Question

I was just flipping through a couple of prospectuses to gather my thoughts before making my final decision. Here's something I noticed about the photos - everybody is walking around in business suits or well-pressed shirts and slacks. I'm not talking about recruitment events, where this should obviously be the norm, but in regular classes. That's what it looks like anyway. Do people really dress up for class?

I was hoping to take two years off from ironing...

:-D

DrSatisfaction · Answer

didn't seem to be that dressy when i sat in classes at INSEAD and oxford.

asimov · Answer

business school attire varies based on location.

west coast schools are much more lax on the dress code - t-shirt, shorts.
east coast schools are a bit dressier, I'd imagine this to be especially true at the NYC and Chicago area schools.

PBateman · Answer

I saw everything from jeans and sweatshirt to slacks and button-down with sweater at Booth during my visit.

The videos I have watched online of HBS classroom stuff - seems everyone is in business casual (ie no jeans). Not sure if this was because of the video or not. I'm sure others will chime in who have seen it firsthand for 2 years.

Jerz · Answer

Can't speak for other schools, but at Kellogg generally people dress casually - jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts, etc. Plenty of people wore shorts and sandals while the weather was warm. People usually only dress in business casual for recruiting or other special events and suits are pretty much worn only for interviews.

My guess is people were asked by the Admissions office to dress nicely for the recruiting photoshoots/videos. As an example, one of my classes was being photographed for a Kellogg brochure. We were all asked to keep our coffee/water/etc. off the desks while the photographer was there. Anyone who saw the picture would assume that students attend class with nothing other than nameplate and notebook in front of them, when the reality is most everyone has a drink with them in class.

Sleepy · Answer

we technically have a business casual dress code, but it's not heavily enforced. It's more kinda a concept: "look like you know how to dress yourself" apparently years back they had issues with people wearing like ripped jeans, flip flops and ratty t-shirts and recruiters who were in the building mentioned something so they made a rule. Basically everyone wears jeans and people often wear polo's or button down shirts.

gregarious · Answer

Great idea for a thread! In the interest of revamping my seriously outdated wardrobe for bschool, I've been reading through a lot of the older threads on this topic. Building off what I've read here and seen on school visits, these seem to be the three main groups of clothing a student needs:

Casual: T-shirts, polos, shorts, khakis, fleeces etc. There was a wide range of clothing on display in the classrooms I saw, and it seemed that as long as it was somewhat presentable anything was fine.

Business casual: long sleeve collared shirt with trousers and decent shoes for some recruiting and social events. Unfortunately, I started reading about smart casual, business infomal, and other various combinations adding and removing ties and jackets, resulting in a lot of confusion.

Business formal: some recruiting events and all interviews- at least just about everyone agrees that this is a suit with tie.

Now that I think about it, I'll probably just hold off on buying more clothes until I get a better idea of what most people are wearing!

refurb · Answer

Anything goes at Tuck. We've got more than 1/2 the first year class living on campus, so it's not unusual for people to be sitting in class in January in flip-flops, t-shirt and shorts. Some people dress pretty nicely each day, but most seem to just dress how they feel, some days fancied up, other days VERY casual.

RF

RF

britguy · Answer

good! my default setting is jeans, t shirt and flip flops. hopefully this will fly at Booth! if any recruiters ask, I'll just say I'm sergey brin's little brother or something.

techandconsulting · Answer

At Wharton you can pretty much dress however you like. There are enough people dressing in jeans and t-shirts so you will not stick out. There are a lot who dress more professionally in dress shirts and khakis, and that's most out of habit because they come from the consulting or wall street world. Plus, you share a building with undergrads who for the most part dress pretty casually.

shadow · Answer

well i'm not a student, but i've had a chance to sit in on 3 different classes at 3 diff schools. in all of them, students were dressed casually (but not sloppily). jeans seemed to be the norm at all 3 (CBS, HBS, YSOM), with very few people wearing anything dressier than that. one girl at SOM actually came to class as a lion (she was promoting a club event i believe).

i didn't see anyone pull any stuff i saw during undergrad, such as pajama pants and flip flops. like i said above, as long as you're neat then casual seemed to be ok.

i didn't see anyone pull any stuff i saw during undergrad, such as pajama pants and flip flops. like i said above, as long as you're neat then casual seemed to be ok.

Sleepy · Answer

the "look like you know how to dress yourself" rule could also be summarized as "don't get confused for an undergrad" since we share a building with them

PBateman · Answer

Here's a quasi-related situation:

I'm still searching for a pre-MBA internship. No luck yet, but the CEO of a solid mid-market bank said he'd be delighted to have me come to his office to discuss what they do.

Once I agree, do I ask what appropriate attire is, or just play it safe and go suit?

nink · Answer

(Just out of curiosity) Let's say that you won't be wearing a suit to this meeting… what exactly are you planning to wear other than a suit?

I think it would be more difficult to figure out what to wear "other than a suit". When I used to go to Yale Club in midtown Manhattan to meet up with Yale alums for VC internship last year, I always wore suit, tie and etc. Just go with the safe option.

PBateman · Answer

Nice slacks, oxford shirt.

nink · Answer

Nay.Go dress like a banker….

Sometimes, it's not just substance that is important. Looks are important as well, even though this isn't an interview

britguy · Answer

suit is a no brainer here. could POSSIBLY lose the tie, if you wanted to be radical...

Jerz · Answer

Fixed.

In all seriousness: CEO + bank = suit. 'Nuff said.

edark · Answer

you can wear whatever you want at booth

. my husband wears jeans, sweaters, and sneakers every day. if there is a "lunch and learn" or a networking event, you have to wear a suit/tie, but they let you know about that well ahead of time!! don't put the iron away permanently

merkin · Answer

JORTS

business school attire...

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