<p>I'm just wondering (after hearing about graduation stories and the like). My family doesn't celebrate anything (besides no one else cares), nor does it really care about any values of any sort. I'd imagine being bored out of my mind at graduation - and the cap and gown are really wastes of money. Is the Diploma handed via different means or something?</p>
<p>At my university, you have to attend graduation or write a letter to the President (or maybe the Dean of your college?) explaining why you will miss it...I seem to remember there being something about needing a good reason (meaning "I don't feel like it" wouldn't cut it), but I'm not sure about that part.</p>
<p>At my school it was not required that you attend or participate in the graduation ceremony, no matter what you would get your diploma in the mail after you paid all of your money to the school.</p>
<p>At my university, it's not required to participate. In fact, I think many people choose not to, rather than wait through 3 and a half hours of other people's names and such (graduating with 3000 other people is rough). All you have to do is pay your graduation fee and any other outstanding fines, and you can do whatever. Everyone has to go and get their actual diploma in the registrar's office or either have it mailed to them anyway.</p>
<p>At my school attendance is optional, just have to let them know ahead of time that you won't be there. I think you can get it in the mail or pick it up, I really don't know, but I do know attendance isn't mandatory.</p>
<p>I like that we don't have to sit through all 5000+ diplomas being handed out, because we have a all-college session Friday morning and then the individual colleges have their own degree ceremonies either Friday or Saturday.</p>
<p>Cards4life, where do you go to college?</p>
<p>iowa state</p>
<p>at my college, you dont have to. alot of people dont actually.</p>
<p>I don't think you have to for most colleges, its optional. Even if you don't feel like it, most universities let you pick up send you the diplomas.</p>
<p>I also think most universities have individual college graduations as well. Noway in hell they are reading through 3000+ names (OH its gonna take much longer than 3 hours. It takes an hour to go through like 300-500 names) when it took people an hour to sit down (i went to the cornell graduation)</p>
<p>My high school class had over 550 people and the actual names couldn't have lasted more than 40-45 minutes, if that. </p>
<p>I don't know my school's grad policies, but there's only 700 people in my class (which will probably fall for graduation) so there's no real reason not to go. Plus we generally have decent speakers.</p>
<p>Optional here, plenty of people skip. And we don't get our formal paper degrees at commencement anyway -- just a degree holder with the president's charge inside -- since the trustees don't vote on conferring degrees until the first meeting after the completion of courses, which usually comes after commencement. Commencement is held about a week after final grades are submitted, and then the trustees meet the week after commencement, giving the Registrar enough time to confirm that all 750 or so did in fact complete their degree requirements by the end of the semester.</p>
<p>So if it takes an hour to call 600 people or so, after 3 hours only 1800 names would have been called. Most colleges have 3000+ people in one class so it should still take ridiculously long.
I had 450 people in my high school class and it did take an hour or so to get through all the names.</p>
<p>You can skip at my school. You don't actually get your diploma at graduation, just a diploma holder with a note reminding you that you need to pay all outstanding fees.</p>
<p>My school has alot of Graduations</p>
<p>CSE Graduation
Engineering Graduation
General Graduation.</p>
<p>You are supposed to go to the 3 of em, I think I will.</p>
<p>I had to sit through commencement this year cause a few friends were graduating and I was in the Wind Ensemble which plays for Spring commencement...yeah, we only had 874 graduates, but I'm pretty sure it lasted around four hours from start to finish.</p>