Commencement

Yes. Each student participating in the in-person ceremony must have a ticket. A MyUCLA notification was sent by the Central Ticket Office around May 20. Students will not be allowed to participate without a ticket.

Your guests do not need tickets. (You can bring up to two guests.) However, your guests must be with you when you check in at Wilson Plaza.

All students are required to show either a vaccination card or proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours, in addition to a valid government-issued ID, prior to entry.

Yes, you can. Please make sure you bring this to the commencement director’s attention so your name will appear in the program.

You can count on it, so we ask that you allot extra time to travel to campus.

The closest parking structure to Annenberg Stadium and Wilson Plaza is Lot 4, which is located on Westwood Plaza just south of Sunset Blvd. All parking lots and structures on the UCLA campus will be open and staffed throughout commencement weekend. You can purchase tickets in advance via Bruin ePermit System.

There will be house staff on-site who can assist with seating needs for any wheelchair-bound guest.

Graduates need to be at Wilson Plaza at least an hour before the ceremony start time to begin the COVID-19 verification process. The gates to the Los Angeles Tennis Center will open for students 30 minutes prior to the ceremony.

After you have checked in at Wilson Plaza and have your reader card, proceed to Gate A at the southeast corner of the tennis center.

Graduates who have successfully checked in at Wilson Plaza, but who arrive late to the tennis center, may still be seated, subject to availability.

There’s no dress code for the graduation celebration (other than your cap, gown and hood). After the ceremony concludes, you should return your gown and hood to Grad Etc., so make sure you’re wearing something appropriate underneath.

Your degree tassel is always worn on your left side. When in doubt, remember that you wear your degree over your heart.

Your name will be given special notice in the program.

There is no formal processional for your ceremony. Simply proceed to the Los Angeles Tennis Center as soon as you’ve finished the check-in process at Wilson Plaza.

Sorry, but pets are not allowed at the ceremony. They can, however, watch it live from the comfort of their beds via our livestream.

While we understand that the consumption of alcohol may help enhance the celebratory mood of the day, it is not allowed at our ceremony. 

If your name is not easy to pronounce, please make sure to print it phonetically and legibly in the section provided on the reader card located on your seat.

Personal messages and speeches from our dean, keynote speaker and your student class speaker will take up the first 30 minutes of the ceremony. Following that, students will line up on stage, where their names will be read and photographs taken. We estimate the ceremony should take approximately 75 to 90 minutes.

Staff from Graduation Etc. will be stationed outside the entrance to Annenberg Stadium to accept your regalia. If you decide not to turn it in that day, you will have one week to drop it off at the Grad Etc. office in Ackerman Union.

Because the venue must be cleaned and prepared in time for the next ceremony, all students and guests must vacate Annenberg Stadium immediately after the ceremony concludes.

Due to COVID restrictions at UCLA, there will be no reception for our graduates.

GradImages will email you at the address you provide on your reader card, so make sure you print clearly. Log in to the GradImages website and type in your last name, followed by UCLA and 2021 in the lower sections, and you should see your photos.

The registrar's office will mail out diploma information approximately six weeks after the end of your degree term (winter graduates will receive their information in June; spring graduates will receive their information in August). Diplomas can be picked up in person at the registrar's office approximately three months after you graduate (winter graduates can pick up their diploma in June; spring graduates can pick up their diploma in September/October). If you would like your diploma to be mailed to you, go to the Graduation and Diploma website and download and print out the form. Fill in the required information (including your payment preference) and send it to the address on the form.