The College Uniform

For a student, the college uniform consists of pants and your college's tee shirt or sweatshirt, depending on the season. Nine years out of college and I laugh about the uniform. Mainly because I was a victim. Secondly because it's funny.

When I look in my Alumnus magazine or see any pictures of students attending classes at Purdue, nine times out of ten, you will see a student or three wearing a 'Purdue' shirt. You walk around campus on a nice day and you have people wearing Purdue tee shirts, shorts, sweatpants, etc. Maybe it's a rite of passage - when you first get to college, you need to load up on your college's gear. But during your four, sometimes five year stints at any college, you seem to accumulate a wealth of college apparel. Possibly even enough to open your own flea market stand.

But what I find so humorous about the college uniform, all in hindsight of course, is that I already know where you go to college. If I'm on Purdue's campus and someone is walking around with a backpack, chances are pretty good that you attend school...at Purdue. If I'm sitting in class with my fellow peers, I am 99.9% certain that we're all enrolled...at Purdue. In a picture, it's not enough that they tell me that, 'Students and professors at X University studied blah blah blah...' in the caption. No - the people in the photo wearing 'X University' tee shirts is what really brings it home.

I'm only picking on Purdue because that's my Alma mater - but I guarantee that the same thing is happening across college campuses across the US. I could have sworn that we were all clothed during our high school years and some of those clothes made the trek to college. So why all the college gear? Our last years to actually go around looking like a semi-slob? In case we ever find ourselves wandering off campus and lost so we can be safely returned to college home base? It's not as if college gear is cheaper than regular clothing - so I don't quite understand.

Fast forward to present day adult-hood and college gear is still really popular. But now you're with a whole smorgasbord of people that attended other colleges/universities so it's important to represent your school - whether it's in recreational sports, game viewings, at the gym or grocery shopping. I'm still a victim. Although you won't find me wearing Purdue gear every day (perhaps at the gym) or every weekend, I know when I need to rip out a shirt and represent and I now have a whole pile from which to choose!

I guess being a victim of the college uniform was one of those 'What was I thinking' moments!