It’s the first day of the spring semester and I’ve got an hour between classes — so I people watch in the quad.
It’s seventy degrees outside, and everyone is wearing sweats, leggings, and oversized t-shirts. The University is a sea of pajama-wearing college kids who could not care less about what they’re wearing.
In a huge lecture hall, no one is going to pay attention to what you’re wearing. But when you move along in your college career and meet the professors that shape your education, the impression you leave matters.
The relationships you develop in college, with other students or professors, can shape where you go after graduation. Your professors can help you to get internships, make contacts, and even find employment opportunities.
According to a survey by Forbes Magazine, 41% of college graduates find employment through networking with former classmates and professors. With post-graduation jobs reportedly harder and harder to find, it is now more important than ever before to make good, lasting impressions on your college classmates and professors.
The clothes you wear leave a lasting impression on those around you, but they also affect the way you feel about yourself.
“The clothing you put on your back is an incredibly accurate indicator of what you think of yourself and your life,” Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner, author of “You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You,” tells Forbes. “People think of it as fluff. But any behavior is rooted in something deeper.”
If you get up in the morning and put on sweats you’re going to feel different than if you get up and put on jeans and nice shirt. Personally, I feel more motivated and confident in my abilities as a student when I feel good about what I am wearing. I’m not saying every day needs to be a fashion show, because it doesn’t. I am a full-time college student, so I don’t have the time or money to make myself look amazing every day just to sit and listen to someone else talk for 50 minutes. I try to make time when it counts, like when I’m meeting with my advisor or going to my professors’ office hours.
“Anything where it looks like you didn’t take the time … comes across badly,” says Dr. Baumgartner. “The worst clothing is the kind that tries to undo, ignore or hide where or who you are.”
I want the people around me to understand who I am and the level of professionalism I hope to bring to my future career.
Abbie Shull is a 23-year-old mass communication junior from St. Louis, Missouri.