School Event Attire

Question

I'm attending a Stanford event tonight and was curious what the attire would be? Coat and tie? Or, just business casual?

mba2010 · Answer

Business casual. You're overdoing it with a coat & tie.

JamieK · Answer

Good to know... Cause I have about 2 ties and they're both crumpled in the back corner of my closet.

kryzak · Answer

which stanford event?

adcxaway · Answer

I've always wondered about this as well, shouldn't you dress to impress and stand out from the crowd? After all, you would like to be memorable, and when you're another guy dressed in business casual, it's going to be hard for the ad coms to remember you _even_ if you ask all the smart questions.

Call me shallow, but if I had the looks and ability to pull it off, I'll probably go in a something different just to catch the eye of the ad coms. If anything, it will be a conversational opener....

mba2010 · Answer

Personally, I don't feel that your suit is going to set you apart from the crowd. You'll still be just another guy in a suit. In fact, there isn't much you can do to stand out from the crowd except be a jerk (if anyone was at the Columbia presentation in SF a few weeks ago, you'll know what I mean). Sure, you can make impressions in individual conversations, but it will take a super stretch to make an impression on the admissions director.

My opinion is to save it for the application. That's where it really counts.

dabots · Answer

i agree. 99% of the chance your "look at me!" posturing will backfire

adcxaway · Answer

Hmm. Well, I could be wrong...

How bad was the Columbia presentation at SF?

mba2010 · Answer

I remember the Columbia reception particularly well because there was this guy a few roads ahead of me who was obviously trying to make an impression.

The first time he raised his hand, he gave advice to other applicants rather than asking a question. Who is he to provide advice? He's in the same pool as the rest of us applicants.

The second time he raised his hand, he talked about himself for a few minutes before talking about how Columbia was his backup school. Again, this was Q&A time, not tell everyone about yourself time. The backup school bit made the alumni bristle and they gave him the smackdown. It was pretty funny.

kryzak · Answer

wow, the audacity... he's either clueless or fearless...

mNeo · Answer

Yeah .. I also remember that freak !

kidderek · Answer

I'd say he's more of a jerk than clueless or fearless.

zakk · Answer

I had to come from a County board meeting for my UCLA info session, I had dropped the coat and was justin a shirt and tie.

I was so overdressed it was painful. Evidently, Apple t-shirts and flip-flops are acceptable work attire for engineers. One person thought I was an AdCom

riverripper · Answer

I usually wear dress pants and a nice button up shirt. I wear jeans to work everyday but I don't really want to stand out for being underdressed. There are always people in suits whether by choice or because they are coming straight from the office. 

As for that story about the big mouth. I think they have those at every event, its always funny to watch current students and alums reactions to those people. Its like they can't see they are turning everyone against them by being so obnoxious.

mediamindy · Answer

At the Tuck reception only one guy was in jeans. Suits, dresses ect ect. Thank god I dressed up a bit.

aviroop · Answer

NYU event today - I was in jeans and a buttoned up shirt(Actually I was out motorcycle riding in the canyons - wanted to see what would happen if I walked in wearing my full race gear, but didnt want to pull something that stupid)

Maybe for Wharton, I will do that.. I am not applying to that school, so I will let you curious folks know whether its good to be different.

On a serious note, I have attended student sessions in

1. A t-shirt, jeans.
2. Business suit
3. Business casual
4. Shirt and jeans

In my honest opinion. no one cares until you do something incredibly stupid or be a jerk.

kryzak · Answer

was at Kellogg infosession today... wow... there were SO many t-shirts and jeans there... the rest were business casual with shirt sleeve rolled up. Everyone was very nice and well behaved.

mNeo · Answer

How was the session, kryzak? Anything interesting to report?

kryzak · Answer

it was very very good... will report int he Kellogg thread

toDoorNot · Answer

So Tuck had an infosession in Boston, in a hotel which called for dresscode and closed toed shooes and i was there in a nice formal dress and .. flipflops..

I was astonished that i was even allowed in.. will never make tht mistake again..
Moral of the story..
it better to err on the side of formal than on the side of informal

School Event Attire

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