My daughter skipped commencement. It was good for me to read the details. I still feel kind of sad that she didn’t value the ritual of it, but she just doesn’t like the pomp and circumstance. I especially felt badly about the house lunch. Ah well, that was several years ago and all is well.
@compmom, and mine is horrified that we are planning to spend “too much money” to fly out and celebrate with her. I hope I can convince her to round up tickets for our group!
I found the graduation in the yard to be awful - although this was a few years ago. We got there at 8:00 and did not have the best of seats. We could barely watch the ceremony on a large screen and as the sun started going up, we got bad sunburn. On the other hand, the house ceremony and lunch, in my DD’s case it was in Kirkland, was wonderful. There are very few schools that give you a real diploma on the commencement day - most just give you an empty diploma case - and it was really nice to have the house master give each individual student her/his diploma.
^^Both my daughters (Harvard and Dartmouth, respectively) were handed their real diplomas at Commencement instead of empty cases.
For D1’s Harvard commencement the official speaker in the afternoon session was JK Rowling. she gave the best, most eloquent, graduation speech I have every heard anywhere.
To all the freshman, congrats and good luck on Monday, moving into your new “home”.
Welcome Freshman parents! this is going to prove to be an exciting and fun time for all. I pray for success and happiness for all the students and peace for all the parents 
Best of luck!
Freshman parents, welcome! I hope your children enjoy the “Camp Harvard” experience and their entire first year. I still remember fondly and vividly the frenzy of her move in that first year and then the reports of new friends and activities and classes. It goes by too fast. In a blink of an eye, my girl is a senior and already thinking about next steps.
Thanks to those who posted welcome messages to Freshman and parents. The move went well and we felt very welcome at Harvard Kiddo already has a campus job !
Hello Parents, is everyone looking forward to graduation? It seems like so long ago for me. My son graduated in 2012 from the college and 2015 from Harvard Law School. My suggestion to the parents of the graduates is to book your reservations soon! The hotels get booked early.
I feel as if we just dropped her off for her freshman year and now she’s graduating. It’s an exciting, emotional time.
3girls3cats, I know exactly how you feel. Enjoy the graduation experience. What is your student doing after graduation? Going into the work force or grad school? Best of luck!
She is going into the work force. The location details are hazy still; right now all her energy is focused on completing the big thesis.
I have a rather large party I’m trying to accommodate for dinner graduation evening and have no idea where to even start. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
One of our favorite restaurants in Cambridge (actually Somerville) that is not in the square, but just ten minutes away. Dali has many side rooms, which can accommodate large parties: https://dalirestaurant.com/information/
We had our dinner two years ago (2017 - the year of the graduation monsoon!) at Bambara in the Hotel Marlowe - it has good food and I appreciated the calm atmosphere after such a frenetic day.
We also have a 2017 grad. Henrietta’s Table has a private room in the back. We were too late to reserve the room, but we booked a table for a party of 14 for the night of the graduation monsoon. We originally booked for 8 and kept adding. They were very nice about it.
I second Dali. Just ate there for Junior Family weekend and it was delicious!
Welcome to the new students and parents! Wishing everyone a very successful and happy school year!
Hello Harvard Family, is anyone already planning for graduation?
Time really does fly. This time last year, I was trying to figure out graduation (that the S ended up missing anyway!) and now it’s already a year later. Congratulations to the parents of 2020 graduates!
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