<p>Gonna be the party pooper here and say that the Honors Convocation- while nice- is not really worth the drive in my opinion. You get invited for one of two reasons:</p>
<p>1) Top 10% of junior class/5% of senior class (Those numbers may be a bit off, may be 8 and 5, I forget)
2) Special scholarship awardee (i.e. you are getting a scholarship from an alumnus of your department, etc.)</p>
<p>RARE 2.5) You are in a special honors society (ex. Lambda Sigma officer for sophomores).</p>
<p>The ceremony itself: About 2 hours long, a few people give speeches (Nordy, the guest of honor, plus a student or two). Only one or two students “walk the stage” to receive a special award, these are “big name” students who have done some sort of amazing work or contribution to the school while still being a good scholar (something like junior of the year or so, I forget the details…)</p>
<p>Everyone else is recognized as a massive group, that is you just stand up for your “type” of award, everyone claps, and you sit back down in your seat.</p>
<p>The plus side of attending:</p>
<p>–You get a booklet with your name in it
–Sometimes the speakers are cool
–The after-ceremony “banquet” (heavy hors d’oeuvres) in the Cathedral has great food</p>
<p>A lot of students will go and parents do show up. Mine never bothered because it was (for me) a ceremony for something I had already gotten and needed to stay in college (i.e. I was under a scholarship from an alumnus that made attending Pitt possible, nothing new or exciting for them). In their opinion, not worth the 4 hour driving and taking a day off of work (because the event is on a Friday) and getting a hotel.</p>
<p>BUT anyways if you are into that sort of thing, do go! I did attend as a student myself, it was a nice event to go to, but my parents never bothered to go with me. (I should mention however, beyond moving me in and out every year, my parents have only visited twice (besides graduation) in the 6 years I’ve been here, so maybe they’re an outlier).</p>