Hooding and Commencement FAQs

As you start your last academic term with us, you should file 2 forms: 

• A statement of intent to graduate form 
• A hooding and commencement attendance form 

Both forms are fully digital and available to you in your Canvas Academic Progress Workflow in the Statement of Intent to Graduate Module in your Canvas Program Page. A reminder: Your Student ID can be looked up in your Student Center should you not remember your ID number. Once you file those forms, you will hear from the Biomedical Graduate Programs office. 

Delays happen; sometimes our writing takes a little longer than we planned or we decide to change our plan of study in some way. It’s not a big deal, as long as you stay in touch with us in the Biomedical Graduate Programs office. Simply reach out to the Biomedical Graduate Programs office by emailing us. Staying in contact with our office is the best way for us to keep you on track.

The academic calendar is your reference with regard to specific defense deadlines, chiefly, the last day to defend for the term. Your Canvas Academic Progress Workflow modules in your Canvas Program Page will step you through the processes for your Defense and your Exit from your graduate program. Dissertation and thesis students, who are required to defend their work, should be especially aware of the timeline required for each step of your defense, remembering that the Graduate Bulletin articulates specific gaps in time between:

• The distribution of your dissertation/thesis to your committee for review 
• The distribution of your defense memo 
• The preparation of your ballot
• The polling of your committee
• Your defense  

Please email the Biomedical Graduate Programs office with any direct questions. We maintain a spreadsheet that can help dissertation and thesis student ensure that all of these elements are appropriately scheduled.

Our office will contact all biomedical alumni who graduated in the previous September or January and all biomedical students who are scheduled to graduate in February to offer one final opportunity to indicate a desire to attend Hooding and Commencement. Your response is critical to ensure that we notify our regalia vendor of your intent to participate. You will receive a link to order your regalia directly from our vendor. You will place an order through that vendor, and your regalia will be shipped to an address of your choosing. It is critical that you respond by deadlines noted in our communications. Failure to do so will, unfortunately, result in our inability to assure that you have regalia for the ceremony. You cannot participate in the ceremony without regalia. No late orders can be accepted or processed.

Ordering directly from our regalia vendor, as described in the previous FAQ, will ensure that your regalia will be mailed directly to you. Your regalia order should include a gown, hood, cap, and tassel. Your hood will be shipped directly to our office for the ceremony. Please note: You are responsible for bringing your regalia to the ceremony. The Biomedical Graduate Office will not have extra regalia available for any student.

You should receive your regalia well in advance of the ceremony. Should you not receive your regalia within 2 weeks of the ceremony, please email our office.

You don’t. The cap, gown, tassel, and hood are all yours to keep.

If you order regalia, the expectation is that you will attend the ceremony. However, if you have ordered regalia and are unable to attend the ceremony, we can mail your hood to you after graduation. Should this be the case, please email our office.

All graduating students will receive a diploma cover at our Hooding and Commencement Ceremony. If you choose not to attend the ceremony but still wish to receive a diploma cover, you may come to the Biomedical Graduate Programs office (525@Vine, Suite 150) to pick up your diploma cover as soon as whichever final outcome is most relevant:

• You successfully defend your dissertation, thesis or capstone project
• You successfully participate in your capstone project presentation day, or  
• Your final grade is posted 

If you are a student in an on-campus program, you should plan to pick up a diploma cover prior to your departure. If you do not pick up your diploma cover, but still want one, we can ship it to you. You will, however, be required to pay shipping and handling (~$15) for the diploma cover. If you are a student in an online degree program, a diploma cover will be shipped to you at no cost.

Provided that you have completed all “Graduate School Exit” requirements, including the paying of all outstanding fees and submission of required surveys as detailed in your Canvas Academic Progress Workflow, you will receive a Digital Diploma at your personal email or your cell phone number immediately after your degree is conferred. In addition, a hard-copy Diploma will be direct mailed to you after your degree is conferred. Please allow 6-8 weeks for your diploma to arrive. For this reason, it’s important that you provide an appropriate forwarding address on your Hooding and Commencement Attendance form in Canvas.

Typically, we hold our Hooding and Commencement ceremony on the Saturday that precedes the Commencement ceremony for Bachelor’s level degrees held by Wake Forest University. That ceremony is typically held on the 3rd Monday of May. For the exact schedule of events, please review the information found on this webpage. Our Hooding ceremony is listed as “Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Hooding and Commencement Ceremony.”

While we do confer degrees, i.e., award diplomas, 3 times a year in September, January, and May, we only hold a formal ceremony in May. Those graduating in September and January are invited and welcomed to attend the Hooding and Commencement ceremony in the subsequent May. We sincerely hope you will attend.

As long as we have enough notice to ensure your regalia can be ordered, we would be delighted to have you and your guests join us to celebrate. Please send us an email and let us know of your change in plans.

Typically, no tickets are required for our Hooding and Commencement ceremony. In fact, seating is plentiful and there is typically no limit on the number of guests that you may invite to the ceremony. Should a limit on attendance be required for any reason that information will be communicated to you well in advance of the ceremony.

Parking information will be sent to you as we approach the ceremony. Parking passes are not generally needed for the Hooding and Commencement ceremony. A parking map is available for your download and reference. The parking lots in close proximity to Wait Chapel/Divinity and Religious Studies Building will have ample parking during our ceremony.

You will receive an email communication with instructions that will describe all the relevant details, including information on the exact time of the ceremony, your arrival time, location, parking, ticketing (if needed), what to wear, where to gather to line-up, the arrival time for guests and the processional and recessional process. Faculty and student marshals will guide you during the ceremony itself.

To a limited extent, yes. Should one of your guests need accommodations for the ceremony, please email the Biomedical Graduate Programs office as early as possible.

On your Intent to Graduate form, we require you to add a “phonetic spelling” of your name. This will be used to ensure that we pronounce your name correctly. In addition, you will receive an email with a link to the “Name Coach”, which will also allow you to record an audio file of the appropriate pronunciation of your name. The Senior Associate Dean is committed to a correct pronunciation. If you remain concerned about the pronunciation of your name, you may email our office to make sure that we have a phonetic spelling on file.

In short, no. Our Hooding and Commencement ceremony is considered the more meaningful event by most biomedical graduate students. You will process at our ceremony, be hooded, and will have your degree conferred. At the Monday Commencement ceremony, graduate students are not recognized, and do not process across the stage. The Monday ceremony is specifically for the recognition and awarding of bachelor’s level degrees. In addition, tickets are required for the Monday ceremony, with a maximum of 8 tickets per graduate.