Grad School Outfit Ideas: What to Wear for Your First Day of School!

YOU MADE IT! It’s the first day of school!!! If you’re anything like me, you’re stressing out a little bit about what exactly you should wear on your first day of grad school. Much like college, you can literally be whoever you want to be in grad school. You can completely change your style between college and grad school (I did, thanks to writing this blog!). You can play around with color and new silhouettes. You can decide you’ll carry a tote instead of a backpack so you “don’t look like an undergrad” and then quickly realize that your textbooks are still too heavy to carry in one arm (🫠).

To help you out, here are three different outfit ideas to inspire your first day of grad school outfit! Even though I’m a few years out from grad school, I sat in my closet and really thought about what I’d wear if I wgas starting grad school right now. My outfits might not be the most “current” as far as trends go (#millennialproblems), but I know you can easily recreate at least one of them with items you probably already have in your closet!

Need more style inspiration for grad school? Check out the posts linked at the end! (And don’t forget to grab the FREE grad school wardrobe guide!)

What to Wear for Your First Day of Grad School

3 Grad School Outfit Ideas!

What to wear to first day of grad school: Monochrome black + a twirly skirt | Cotton Cashmere Cat Hair

Keep it simple with monochrome (+ a twirly skirt)

When in doubt, wear an outfit comprised of only one color! Black is obviously the easy choice (I’ve worn black monochrome to grad school before with this faux jumpsuit look), but I would recommend any color you’re comfortable with! Think of the color/outfit combination that makes you feel MOST confident and wear that.

For this outfit, I picked out a twirly skirt instead of going for black pants or denim. I definitely tended to “dress up” more for the first day of school, and for me that meant a skirt or dress. (I wore a floral dress to my very last first day of school!) I don’t own much in the way of mini skirts anymore, but in grad school that was really all I wore. We didn’t really have a dress code at my school (that I was aware of), and I also didn’t teach or TA as a grad student, so I felt fine wearing all of my shorter skirts and dresses. Wear them while you can!!!

Instead of wearing black shoes, I stuck with a neutral pair of sandals to keep the outfit light and look more summery (or as summery as an all-black outfit can get!). These have a slight heel yet are SUPER comfortable because they have extra footbed padding. I finished the look with my initial circle pendant necklace, coordinating circle earrings, and one of my go-to work bags: my Longchamp Le Pliage Neo (I recently learned this bag is now uncool but I still love mine, lol).

OUTFIT DETAILS

Madewell bodysuit / exact (also available from Nordstrom)
Amour Vert skirt / old; similar or similar by LOFT or French Connection (via Amazon)
Madewell sandals / exact via Nordstrom or Shopbop
Kate Spade necklace / exact (also available from Zappos and Nordstrom)
ABLE earrings / exact or similar from Wolf & Badger
Longchamp tote / similar from Nordstrom, Farfetch, Saks Fifth Avenue, or Neiman Marcus
Dior Lip Glow in rosewood / exact

What to wear to first day of grad school: An oversized blazer with shorts | Cotton Cashmere Cat Hair

Dress up shorts with a blazer

Like I said above, embrace the fact that you can still wear your shorter skirts and dresses—and shorts—in grad school! Trust me when I say wear them while you can, haha! If you’re not really sure what to expect as far as what other grad students in your program wear, select a pair of dressier and/or longer shorts for your first day. For what it’s worth, the shorts I’m wearing here are longer than the ones I wore in grad school, and I also wore denim shorts the most.

For this outfit, I started with the striped shorts, added the simple white tee, and then dressed it up by throwing on an oversized linen blazer. Almost every classroom throughout my college and grad school careers had overly aggressive A/C, so I kept some sort of extra layer on me at all times just in case. (I get chilly really easily!) Lightweight linen blazers are an excellent third piece option when it’s hot out, and they also dress up the shorts!

Similar to the first outfit, I selected neutral sandals that are super comfy and easy to wear walking around campus, and I’m carrying my other go-to work bag, the Madewell medium Transport tote! If you want to carry a tote in grad school, I highly recommend this one, which also comes in a zip-top version if you’re commuting by public transit.

OUTFIT DETAILS

Madewell blazer / similar from Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom
Everlane tee / exact or similar from Amazon or Nordstrom
Everlane shorts / exact style or similar by Gap (last seen here)
Everlane sandals / exact style or similar from Nordstrom
Madewell bag / exact (also available at Zappos and Shopbop) (zip-top version)
Dior Lip Glow in rosewood / exact

What to wear to first day of grad school: Dressy sweatpants with a linen top | Cotton Cashmere Cat Hair

Teaching? Wear sweatpants disguised as work pants!

If it’s still the heat of summer where you are, you’re probably looking at this outfit with pants and thinking NOPE! And I totally I get it! If I’m going to be walking between different buildings for classes, seminars, etc. and it’s still hot AF out, I’m not going to be wearing pants, haha. But, I know many of y’all teach or TA in grad school, and this outfit is perfect for you!

Let me introduce you to the Everlane Dream Pant. If you want to feel like you’re wearing comfy sweatpants but look like you’re wearing work pants, these are the pants for you. I cannot say enough good things about these pants! (If you’re looking for a less expensive lookalike, check out these pants by J.Crew Factory.) I don’t think these existed when I was a grad student but I know I would have worn them constantly if they had been!

If you’re teaching, you might opt to wear long pants to feel more professional/so you don’t blend in with the students, and these are the pants I’d recommend. I styled mine with a linen top since it’s summer here, though I’d keep a cardigan in my backpack for the classrooms that have aggressive A/C. And of course, I can’t gloss over the backpack. So fashionable, right? You very well may find that carrying a backpack is still the most comfortable option even if it’s not the cutest! I did, and I have no regrets about it haha. You can stuff it with a TON of snacks!