<p>The diplomas are handed out at the House ceremonies.</p>
<p>Does anyone know when Harvard does an open house for accepted students?..</p>
<p>Any clue as to the possibility of getting extra tickets (for extra family) for the morning ceremony?</p>
<p>Your kid should ask around, including her profs.</p>
<p>Profs get tickets? Do TFs?</p>
<p>collegeinusa: Yes, they come out via email on April 1st after 5pm. (That is if the student provided their email; otherwise it is via mail.</p>
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<p>Not only that but they actually hand out the real, signed diplomas on the spot - not an empty holder pending that final transcript or payment fo library fines like every other graduation Iāve ever seen.</p>
<p>As I recall, the only things handed out at the main ceremonies where all graduates are assembled are the honorary degrees.</p>
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<p>Book your reservations as soon as you can. With both Harvard and MIT commencements happening with a few days of each other, Cambridge restaurants fill up fast.</p>
<p>For the benefit of the parents going to Commencement this year, here is the description of the "08 graduation I wrote two years ago:</p>
<p>"My daughter graduated on Thursday, and I thought the main Commencement speaker, JK Rowling, gave a great speech - much more entertaining and inspiring than the one Chairman Bernanke gave on Class Day the day before. Plus I thought Ms. Rowling looked kind of cute decked out in Harvard doctoral regalia when they gave her the honorary degree.</p>
<p>And of course the whole proceedings were full of the rituals and traditions that Harvard does so well. Commencement began exactly on time at 9:45 AM with the huge bell in Memorial Church being rung by hand, followed by the High Sheriff of Middlesex County coming out in a silk top hat and banging his staff three times on the stage and in a booming voice officially calling the āpublic meetingā to order.</p>
<p>I was impressed with the graduating senior who gave the traditional Latin oration. In centuries gone by, graduating Harvard seniors traditionally gave three speeches: one in Latin, one in Greek, and one in Hebrew. The Greek and Hebrew orations have long since transformed into regular English speeches, but the Latin oration continues to this day. This year twenty-two seniors had written speeches in Latin and entered the competition for the honor, and this young woman was the winner. I listened and tried to figure out what she was saying without reading the translation provided in the program. When she exclaimed " Gaudete! Vincimus!" I whispered to my wife that she had said āBe joyful! We have won!ā The official translation was āRejoice! We conquer!ā Close enough. Throughout the speech she smiled broadly and gestured āad locutioā in true old Roman rhetorical style.</p>
<p>Another nice ceremony was when each of the deans of the various schools came forward and formally presented their graduating seniors to President Faust for her to confer their degrees. Each dean would doff his/her mortar board cap three times and bow three times first to the president, next the Board of Overseers, and then the other high officials seated on the stage, and then turn and make the formal presentation of the graduates.</p>
<p>The various schools of Harvard University had their degrees conferred in reverse order of age. So the School of Design got their degrees first, and Harvard College, being the oldest part of Harvard, got theirs last.</p>
<p>Around noon the High Sheriff came back out and closed the meeting, and we all retired the Houses for lunch and the presentation of the diplomas."</p>
<p>JK Rowlingās commencement address is wonderful to read and Iām sure was marvelous to listen to:</p>
<p>[The</a> Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination | Harvard Magazine](<a href=āhttp://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination]Theā>http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination)</p>
<p>You can watch the speech by Rowling on youtube, her presention is wonderful.</p>
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<p>Thanks for rubbing it in, Coureur - the class of 2010 gets ex-Justice Souter. 
Iāve got to wonder how David Souter is as a speaker - Iāve never heard him say a single word! (Iām betting that they thought they had a bigtime Democrat - maybe Obama - who then had to bail once Scott Brown got elected and health care reform became imperiled.)</p>
<p>BTW Coureur, are individual names called in Tercentenary Theatre when the degrees are conferred for each school or are they conferred on each school with a single proclamation?</p>
<p>No. Individual names are not called. That would take forever with every school on campus. Assuming that a speaker can speed read and get 30 names in per minute, that would still take 50 minutes just to get through the College!</p>
<p>^^Correct. The Dean presents them to Pres. Faust as a group and certifies that they have each completed the requirements for their degree. Pres. Faust then formally confers the degree in question. And in the case of the College graduates receiving their BA she also welcomes them into the ranks of educated people.</p>
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<p>Maybe youāll have an entertaining Class Day speaker to make up for it. We reversed the usual order by having a dull Class Day speaker and an entertaining Commencement speaker. We found out from my daughterās roommate, who was on the organizing committee, that Ben Bernanke was a desperation last resort as Class Day speaker, since a series of previous choices backed out for one reason or another. The thrust of Bernankeās talk was a technical economic explanation of why the coming recession wasnāt going to be so bad. How wrong that turned out to be.</p>
<p>It was from the same roommate that we found out that 22 seniors had tried out in the competition to give the Latin Oration.</p>
<p>Last year the ceremony opened with a fabulous solo trumpet rendition of āAmerica the Beautifulā and closed with āWhen the Saints Go Marching Inā. Wynton Marsalis received an honorary degree.</p>
<p>As I remember, the house festivities were over by 2. There was a speaker in the afternoon of interest and you were free by 4 or 5. You might have to allow for move out of the house time. I canāt remember if it was 5pm that day or the next day - it has been 3 years.</p>
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<p>Christiane Amanpour. Maybe they thought they had Wolf Blitzer, and then he had to bail to cover the health insurance bill?</p>
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<p>Now, something like THAT could cover for Justice Souter! An honorary degree for Lady Gaga would appease the undergrads! :)</p>
<p>We had Steven Chu; he was quite good. (Matt Lauer for Class Day . . . meh.)</p>
<p>some people at harvard are disappointed that they have christiane amanpourā¦ personally, she is one of my heroes. so i would love to hear her speech :)</p>
<p>^^Some were also disappointed with the selection of J.K. Rowling too. Thought she was too much of a pop lightweight for a Serious place like Harvard. That thinking all went away when Ms. Rowling actually spoke. After that everyone agreed she was great.</p>
<p>^ <em>sigh</em> I bet sheās brilliantā¦</p>