Whether students spend an hour getting ready for class or only five minutes, some people assume personal appearance will make some sort of direct impression on the professor and on other students.

This is not always the case. English professor Jim Machor said the way students dress does not give him an impression of who they really are, but their choices do baffle him sometimes.

"Some young women manage to wear flip-flops on a snowy day – I just can't figure that one out," he said as he laughed. "It's not like the styles have really changed since I was an undergraduate, but it was a little more formal back then. Now it has gotten more informal on both sides of the desk, the professors and the students."

He also said he does not feel he pays more attention to any particular students because of the way they dress. He focuses on who has their hands raised.

Though some may say the way students dress does not matter, Melissa Glaser said it does in certain situations, such as interviews for on campus positions. Glaser is the coordinator of Pilots Lab, a K-State program offering academic structure and support during a student's first year of college.

"If a student comes into an interview for a peer adviser position dressed in sweats or jeans and a T-shirt, which some have, it gives off a bad first impression," Glaser said.

Glaser also said at times it does not matter how formally or informally people dress if what they represent in their outfits — like a shirt with an inappropriate phrase or profanity on it — makes a bad impression.

The faculty at K-State are not the only ones who feel strongly about diversity in the fashion area. Kara Bowman, senior in kinesiology, said most people make more "relational" decisions about others instead of basing them on outward appearance. She said when people dress according to their own personal styles, it adds to K-State's ability to show its diversity within the personalities on campus.

Machor said sometimes the actions of students are more important than what they wear.

"A pet peeve that seems to happen all the time is that students like to talk to me or ask me questions with their earbuds from their iPods still in their ears," Machor said. "This really bothers me, I notice this more than what they wear."

Glaser said it comes across as a sign of disrespect and lack of interest.

"If you do this, I think you are telling me that you are not interested in what I am telling you, and that what I am saying, is not important enough for you to take the earbuds out," she said.

When students use strong body language, whether it is negative or positive, it overshadows any fashion statements they were trying to make with the way they dress. The simple act of failing to remove earbuds while talking to another person can be louder than a hot-pink shirt.

"Students who ask a lot of questions and are more attentive to the lecture being given in a class are more likely to be seen by the professor," Bowman said. "But then again, it could also be negative for those who have their heads down on their desks or wearing hats in order to fall asleep. They can also, unfortunately, be seen more by professors."

So whether a student wears sweats to class or decides to dress up and wear heels, the fact is their actions and the way their body language is interpreted are the most important factors to a professor or fellow student trying to form an opinion of that person. It is said that actions speak louder than words, and apparently, they do.