{"id":1209,"date":"2017-07-28T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wordpress\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2017-08-24T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T12:37:15","slug":"college-t-shirt-beach-etiquette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/07\/28\/college-t-shirt-beach-etiquette\/","title":{"rendered":"College T-Shirt Beach Etiquette"},"content":{"rendered":"
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iStock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor’s note: This column was first shared on the <\/em>NACAC Exchange<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like many college counselors, the only T-shirts I own are college T-shirts. Last week, I wore lots of them during a beach vacation. Since the only time I usually wear them is at the gym at 5 a.m., I don\u2019t usually get many reactions. However, at the beach, people would respond to the college on the shirt, and it became challenging to know how to respond:<\/p>\n

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Steve Peifer with his wife, Nancy. (COURTESY PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Person at Beach:<\/strong> I WENT TO TEXAS A&M!<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> That\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> DON\u2019T YOU JUST LOVE IT? (At the beach, people scream when they see their college on a T-shirt.)<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> I think it is one of the greatest large universities in the US.<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> WAIT. DIDN\u2019T YOU GO THERE?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> No. I\u2019m a college counselor; I visit lots of colleges.<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> Combination of eye roll and mild disgust.<\/p>\n

That was OK, but when I wore shirts from smaller colleges that may not be as well known, it was almost like spotting Idaho on a state license plate bingo trip. People got REALLY excited:<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> I went to Gwynedd Mercy!!!!!!! I NEVER see shirts from there! My husband went to Alabama, and when he wears HIS shirt, everyone yells \u201cRoll Tide\u201d at him. No one EVER has a Gwynedd shirt! \u00a0When did you graduate?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> I actually didn\u2019t go there, but I visited last year on a tour of Philly colleges. It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

Husband:<\/strong> (muffled laughter)<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> Just ONE time, I wish I could meet an alum of my college.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> I have a picture of the campus when I took the tour; it\u2019s absolutely beautiful. (Shows her the picture.)<\/p>\n

PAB:<\/strong> To her husband: I told you! (And then she hit him.)<\/p>\n

At the end of the week, I was wearing my Central Washington T-shirt, and a young man started chanting something that at first made me fear that he did not have enough fiber in his diet. Then I realized that it was a cheer from his college. He looked crestfallen when I didn\u2019t know the chant, but since I had recently been on campus, I told him that the mascot, Wellington, would have been proud of him. He screamed and picked me up and said \u201cYou know WELLINGTON!\u201d<\/p>\n

After he found out that I didn\u2019t know Wellington very well, he was also very disappointed.<\/p>\n

Maybe college T-shirts should come with warning labels:<\/p>\n

Warning: The person wearing this shirt may not have attended this college. Proceed at your own risk.<\/p>\n

NACAC member Steve Peifer serves as director of college counseling at The King’s Academy (FL). He is a recipient of the CNN Heroes Award for Championing Children (2007) and the NACAC Excellence in Education Award (2010).\u00a0Peifer is the author of \u201cA Dream So Big.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This column was first shared on the NACAC Exchange. Like many college counselors, the only T-shirts I own are college T-shirts. Last week, I wore lots of them during a beach vacation. Since the only time I usually wear them is at the gym at 5 a.m., I don\u2019t usually get many reactions. … Continue reading College T-Shirt Beach Etiquette<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[356],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-college-admission-humor"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Steve Peifer","author_link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/steve-peifer\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peWmJq-jv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}