It’s not what bar to go to later (although hopefully you don’t have to make that choice every day).

It’s a process that starts at the very beginning of the day: what to wear.

What we pick out of the closet to start our days could be based on many things: the weather, our mood, our obligations later that day.

But there’s an even more important factor to what we wear: how that clothing makes us feel, and what sort of image it projects to the world.

Clothing should exemplify the best in people. It should be able to take someone from place to place without a second thought.

It should look polished, crisp and situationally appropriate — there’s little that an outfit fitting these parameters won’t accomplish.

That’s why, with the start of another semester, it’s always disheartening to see what people chose to wear before they step out of the door.

Wearing sweatpants down to the basement of a dorm for an 8 a.m. class is understandable.

Myriads of students trekking across campus in pajamas is something that’s all too common this time of year, but why?

Is it time? Effort? Ease of wear?

Sure, some don’t want to sit in a class for multiple hours while wearing jeans, listening to someone like Professor Binns drone on about history. But the notion that being in class gives people an excuse to dress poorly is misguided.

School, work and social obligations make everyone busy. But those things aren’t reasons to dress poorly; they’re reasons to dress better, and it can start with little improvements.

No one’s way of dressing is the end-all, be-all (except for maybe James Bond), and no one dresses perfectly all the time (guilty as charged), but little steps ahead can prep you for rigorous college courses and beyond.

Case in point: there’s a reason professional workplaces have a dress code. If people lounged around in pajamas all day, not only would the general office environment suffer, but work would suffer.

That doesn’t mean a three-piece suit should be standard class wear on Monday; something a bit more polished could do the trick.

Plenty already put an effort into the way they dress, and it shows.

Mastering the small upgrades before the big ones (like that three-piece suit) works best.

Small changes to the way we dress can go a long way. Trading out sweatpants or pajama bottoms for jeans can set someone apart from a decent chunk of people on campus at any given time. Wearing a collared shirt with those jeans can go even further for guys.

Menswear legend Tom Ford notes that what we wear in a way becomes a part of someone’s view of the world, whether that’s within a room or at an event. Shouldn’t that view generally be a positive one?

Putting some measure of effort forth can help someone feel better; it can brighten the day of someone around you, and it can even grab the attention of professors. Plus, you never know who you might meet in class.

Taking the time to care about dress helps you start out the day ahead in a small way. By dressing better, you’ll feel more alert, even by a small amount. That alertness can help with attention; wearing pajamas to class moves people toward slipping back into sleep, and with that comes potentially poor grades or performance.

And dressing better can (anecdotally, from the experience of my friends and others) lead to better performance and better grades, if the requisite work is put in, of course.

Dressing a bit better doesn’t have to be rocket science. Making some small changes has extreme intrinsic value, as well. The upgrade from pajama bottoms to jeans and a polo or a nice pair of shorts isn’t huge, yet it seems many have failed to make the jump as of yet. Doing so can pay dividends in the long-term.

And it starts with opening that closet door.

It takes a long time to brush off past mistakes and habits, and not everyone will feel inclined or motivated to do so. But failing to realize that dressing better can lead to larger improvements is short-sighted.

Over time, changes and improvements to personal style will come. The biggest thing for people to recognize is that making a slight effort at the start leads to other changes down the line.

The next time you make that big decision (no, not what bar to go to), think of not only where you’ll be going, but how you want to feel when you get there.

Beau Hayhoe is managing editor at The State News. Reach him at bhayhoe@statenews.com.