Dress in Academia

[Academic2]

Quote:
I think the point here is a familiar one: departures from a norm attract attention. It doesn't matter if the norm is personal or institutional.

It works both ways. Whenever I see an undergraduate wearing a tie I assume that he either has an important meeting or a presentation. Or he has a court date ...

Cheers,

Ac

 

[emptym]

One of the reasons I like being a prof is the ability to wear just about whatever I want. Fwiw, I wear a coat and tie to teach, mainly because most of my profs did, and so I just feel like it's appropriate. On other days, just a shirt and pants (sometimes jeans), often w/ a sweater. I don't think I gave much thought to whether it would affect my chance of tenure or teaching evals. I'd guess that about half of male profs wear shirt and chinos or jeans to teach. Maybe 1/4 wear coat or tie and 1/4 coat and tie, a few of those being suits. As philosophe touched on, women profs tend to dress better than the men.

The only thing that bugs me about dress on campus is the fact that the business school teaches its students to wear black suits to interviews. A couple times a semester our building is full of seniors wearing them to mock interviews.

 

[venividivicibj]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_(colleges)

A little bit of snobbery, really, to dismiss Penn, Brown, et al.

Interesting, thanks

 

[Claghorn]



The only thing that bugs me about dress on campus is the fact that the business school teaches its students to wear black suits to interviews.  A couple times a semester our building is full of seniors wearing them to mock interviews.

Mine used to. Then I had a talk with the student development office. Srs.

 

[emptym]

I don't think I have that kind of pull. But it might be worth a shot, for great justice.

 

[WhereNext]

One of my MBA students forwarded me the e-mail they are sent about "proper dress" for interviews. It was.....not great. I have already mentioned, in a "joking" way, that I would be happy to revise the e-mail for the Careers Division in future years.

 

[CBrown85]



I mentioned this earlier, but I started "over dressing" when I was a primary/elementary school teacher to show respect to the profession, the students, and the power of education (yes, I think things like that).
Have you noticed, anecdotally, any changes in behavior from students or peers when you are more formally dressed? Or perhaps that you feel and/or act differently?

I probably feel and act as differently as anyone else on this forum who wears MC.

Observance in behaviour in students: Some students have gone so far as to emulate my dress. I dress up for sure every Friday (and at random intervals if I'm in the mood during the week) and for a while a dozen or so students will also wear nice clothes. Dresses or golf shirts and khakis (they're between 13-18, so that's dressing up). Parents of some students have mentioned that they appreciate the positive role modelling. I've been doing this since I was a beginning teacher at 24.

Some students are unsure of what to make of it. More often than not, the students who react negatively are the ones who are generally disrespectful to everyone, regardless of how they dress, so I've made sure not to take it personally. Although, they're the students who actually need reaching the most, not the ones who are going to learn well regardless who's teaching them. Dress how I feel comfortable in a tie and odd jacket, or dress in SW&D and have those few students (who probably wouldn't like me anyway) feel a bit better... it's honestly a tough call. Also, 90% of the kids don't notice. Anything.

In academia, most of the students have made a conscious decision to actually be there. They're paying for it. A lot. But the students I get on a daily basis, for the most part, really don't want to be there, so it's a balancing act between being 'comfortable' and serving them the best I can. The best I've been able to do is to just model what "being yourself" looks like and hoping it sticks.

Observance in behaviour of staff: I've had a few "why are you so dressed up" comments but those usually dissipate by the end of September. I'm not the only one at our school who wears MC on a semi-daily basis so I sort-of slip below the radar.

TBH I'm glad I have a job where I get to wear what I want.

 

[CBrown85]



One of my MBA students forwarded me the e-mail they are sent about "proper dress" for interviews. It was.....not great. I have already mentioned, in a "joking" way, that I would be happy to revise the e-mail for the Careers Division in future years.

I'm dying to give a "careers" talk about proper dress. Grad is painful. So many black suits with black shirts and like...bright baby blue ties...

 

[heldentenor]

I got one of my students (an accounting major, but he took three classes with me) into some good menswear basics (SuSu, AE) and he took interest. Soon he'll make more than me and will perhaps find his way here. Is that a win or some kind of world-destroying paradox?

 

[Academic2]

One of the reasons I like being a prof is the ability to wear just about whatever I want. [...]

Absolutely. And we’re in a profession where we can get away with it. We’re allowed to make all sorts of choices which aren’t really available to people in other professions, which is one reason why I find the subject interesting.

Cheers,

Ac

 

[Academic2]

[...]

The only thing that bugs me about dress on campus is the fact that the business school teaches its students to wear black suits to interviews. A couple times a semester our building is full of seniors wearing them to mock interviews.

Very interesting. I wouldn't have guessed this in a million years. Do you think this is specific to your particular school, or is this something that's done elsewhere?

What's particularly surprising to me, as someone with no business school experience, is that I always assumed that the term "business dress" is pretty standard, and in the usage with which I am familiar it doesn't include black (as opposed to charcoal) suits.

Cheers,

Ac

 

[orfane]

Absolutely. And we’re in a profession where we can get away with it. We’re allowed to make all sorts of choices which aren’t really available to people in other professions, which is one reason why I find the subject interesting.

Cheers,

Ac

This is nice, but a bit overwhelming sometimes if I'm honest. Currently I'm in a clinical research lab in a hospital, so my attire changes pretty dramatically day to day.

The next challenge is that I'll be finishing grad school in a year or two and need to start looking for Post-docs. The problem is every school is different in terms of culture, and deciding what to wear for an interview is difficult. Luckily I have some time to decide.

 

[Academic2]

I got one of my students (an accounting major, but he took three classes with me) into some good menswear basics (SuSu, AE) and he took interest. Soon he'll make more than me [...]

Kill him now.

Cheers,

Ac

 

[venividivicibj]

Your job as academics is not to teach about your respective subjectives, but rather to spread The Word of StyleForum.

 

[Claghorn]

I don't think I have that kind of pull. But it might be worth a shot, for great justice.

Hah. The only pull I had was being recognized as the best dressed person in the college (which has a separate student professional development center from the rest of the school). Being the best dressed doesn't amount to much.

I basically just sat down with the guy in charge (with whom I'd worked on a couple other things) and chatted about it. When he actually looked at some examples, he agreed that navy is really the way to go. Now the mannequin just inside the glass doors of that office has a navy suit instead of a black one.

Very interesting. I wouldn't have guessed this in a million years. Do you think this is specific to your particular school, or is this something that's done elsewhere?

What's particularly surprising to me, as someone with no business school experience, is that I always assumed that the term "business dress" is pretty standard, and in the usage with which I am familiar it doesn't include black (as opposed to charcoal) suits.

Cheers,

Ac

I know that at least 3 b-schools advocate black suits for interviews. I don't know if it's just because they're assuming that if their undergraduates do own a suit, that it's likely to be black or because they just aren't putting much thought into it.

----

One professor I know requires a suit for a presentation. He makes it clear in the syllabus that a suit is a required material. His logic is that any kid halfway through college needs to own a suit.