Graduation and Commencement

Eloriel
Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:23:04 +0000

You don’t get your degrees anywhere. Your diplomas come in the mail a few months later. All you get is a ceremonial scroll.

You have a choice, you don’t “need” to attend anything. You can go for either, none, or both. General is for the whole school, department is only for your major department and will be more intimate. People usually go to both, although many also only go to their departmental one and skip the general one (it’s really long - about 3+ hours with lots of speeches, etc.)

So yes, you can just go for the general and go home, no problem. Most departmental graduations aren’t even on the same day.

commencement.berkeley.edu will tell you everything else you need to know.