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"Hey guys!   When you start packing for college, one of the biggest questions you&amp;#039;re going to have is which clothes to bring and which to leave behind. While you may know you&amp;#039;re definitely bringing your favorite hoodie, or those jeans that make your butt look HAWT, you also need professional clothing. I know what you&amp;#039;re thinking: I&amp;#039;m a freshman in college! Between parties and studying, when am I ever going to wear professional clothing? Well, shockingly enough, I&amp;#039;ve been thankful for bringing a blazer to school many times now! So before you pass on packing that longer skirt your mom made you buy, here are some reasons why you&amp;#039;ll want professional clothing in college.  When you&amp;#039;re going to a job/internship fair. Even as a freshman, it&amp;#039;s never too early to start thinking about internships and possible job opportunities you&amp;#039;d like to pursue. Schools usually host a job/internship fair each semester to bring potential employers to your school. While most of the employers are looking for advanced undergrads who are close to graduation, it&amp;#039;s a really good idea to check it out now. When you&amp;#039;re older, you&amp;#039;re going to be way more stressed out about making a good impression and actually finding an employer. So get a feel for it when you&amp;#039;re young and stress free. It&amp;#039;ll make it that much easier in the future. Events that are business/cocktail. This past week I went to a dinner held to benefit NARAL and celebrate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The attire was &amp;quot;business/cocktail&amp;quot;, which to me translates as: huh? I may have had a minor freak out when getting ready. I ended up going the more professional route, and I am so glad I did! Not only did I meet the president of NARAL, but I also met one of my Senators! When you go to large events/functions you&amp;#039;re going to get to schmooze with a lot of people and you never know whom you&amp;#039;re going to meet! It&amp;#039;s important to look nice and professional to help make sure you make a great impression!   Speakers. Colleges bring a lot of speakers to their campuses. This past week, President Bill Clinton came to AU. The line was crazy, since as one of the most politically active campuses in the US, the whole school wanted those tickets! They sold out in half an hour!! The dress code for the speech was semi-professional, so most girls opted for dark jeans, boots, and a blazer. It&amp;#039;s casual but shows that you&amp;#039;re taking the event seriously. When the president drove by and totally waved at us, you know he wasn&amp;#039;t thinking we were slobs! For your job. Even though you&amp;#039;re out of high school, you&amp;#039;re still considered young by society, and because of that a lot of employers tend to not take you too seriously. So, to make a better impression and to help show that you are responsible and that age doesn&amp;#039;t matter, put in the effort to look professional, even if you&amp;#039;re just a work-study student. That&amp;#039;s still a job. Show them that you care. To practice for your post college life. After college you are probably going to have to look professional every day. Start collecting clothing now and putting in the effort to show you take yourself seriously. When you have a meeting with the Dean or a presentation in class it&amp;#039;s nice to be able to have something to wear. My roommate&amp;#039;s professor is even grading her students on how professional they look when they come to class!  Hope these reasons convince you to pack that pencil skirt, ladies! Best of luck! Jenna Have you had another occasion where you needed professional attire at school? Leave a comment below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/a17455/professional-attire-in-college/>