Internships are about gaining experience and networking. So, you would automatically assume that you want to be sociable and dressed in a presentable manner.
You are there to set an impression, not a first impression--but, a lasting impression. Maybe they are looking to hire someone, or they know someone that is hiring. If you leave a negative impression, then you may have just missed out on a great opportunity.
I am currently at my third internship, and it has never occured to me that it would ever be acceptable to wear jeans and a tshirt or extremely tight or low-cut tops into the newsroom. Every day I wake up and get dressed in business professional attire (not necessarily a dress suit--but sometimese it is best to be overdressed than underdressed). I never wear anything that is wrinkled, and I never wear flipflops. I never realized that interns actually think it is okay to wear things to an internship that they would wear to the club.
Today as I walked into the newsroom, I got several compliments on what I was wearing. This caught me very off guard because I was not wearing anything exceptionally nice or something out of the ordinary. And after we got to talking, I understood why I received the compliments.
Apparently, a new intern came the day before dressed inappropriately. They said she wore a very low cut top with a short skirt and stilleto-like heels. And, not only were her clothes inappropriate, but so was her attitude. They said she said things like "why are people staring at me? is somethings wrong? (apparently she didn't realize that her boobs were hanging out)," "I have been doing beauty pagents all my life, so I know I will start out as an anchor and not a reporter," "how did she become an anchor, she does not have the look."
If I could give an intern advice about interning, it would be: take advantage of the opportunity, introduce yourself to everyone, dress appropriately, have a positive attitude and never tell people that you want to be an anchor (people hate to hear this), usually, you don't start out as an anchor, it takes times).
