Graduates: Please review the Grad checklist to make sure you have completed all required tasks on time in order to participate in your ceremony.
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Participation in Commencement is not mandatory. However, to participate in Commencement and the Graduate Hooding Ceremony, all graduates must wear appropriate academic regalia.
- Appropriate and APPROVED academic regalia is available for purchase only through UCI Alumni Association.
- Members of religious orders or commissioned U.S. military officers may wear their customary habit or dress uniform.
- Caps & gowns must be pre-purchased. They are not available for purchase at the Bren Events Center on Commencement day.
- Regalia gowns may not be altered or decorated.
- Caps can be decorated but must not block the view of any audience members behind the graduate.
- Cap and Gown sales will begin in April 2025. Graduates will receive an email with information from the UCI Alumni Association.
Cap and Gown - UCI Cap and Gown »
GradExpo
Tuesday, April 22 - Friday, April 25, 2025
10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily
Newkirk Alumni Center
For questions regarding cap and gown purchases, please email alumni@uci.edu.
UC Irvine graduation sashes and stoles representing UC Irvine organizations or proclaiming a vocational aspiration may be worn with cap and gown. Wearing multiple stoles is permitted.
Recognition cords, pins and medals awarded by UC Irvine organizations and academic departments may be worn with cap and gown.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED to participate in Commencement.
Registration for Commencement opens the first week of April and will closes on April 11 at 5 p.m. Late registration is accepted ONLY if the ceremony has not reached capacity.
Please email commencement@uci.edu if you are unable to register online once registration opens.
Tickets are required for all guests at all ceremonies. All guests over the age of 2 will need their own ticket. Children who are under the age of 2 and can remain on an adult's lap for the duration of the ceremony do not need a ticket. If a child or baby occupies a seat of their own, they will need a ticket.
All Commencement ceremonies have assigned seating. Section, row and seat location is specified on each individual ticket.
Tickets are limited and must have been reserved in advance by the graduate.
Gradautes will need to print copies of their reserved tickets to distribute to your guests prior to entering the graduate check-in and line-up area.
Guests and animals (with the exception of trained service animals) are NOT ALLOWED in the graduate check-in, line-up, and seating areas. Only graduates will be allowed entrance into graduate areas.
Tickets are not available at the door, nor will any be held for guest pick-up. Please download your guest tickets early. Seats are assigned to your guests when you download tickets. If graduates wait to download tickets until a few days before the ceremony, guest seats may not be assigned together at that time due to limited availability.
Graduates are required to check-in to line up in their appropriate location 75 minutes (one hour and fifteen minutes) prior to the start time for your ceremony. Graduates will need to use their registration QR code to check in. Graduates will receive an email one week before the ceremony with specific instructions for check in. Be prepared for a faster check-in process by having your QR code ready ahead of time.
Arriving 75 minutes before the ceremony allows time to clear security, check in, prepare your graduate name card, make final adjustments to your regalia in preparation for the ceremony, find friends to sit next to and line up for the processional.
- Directional signs will be posted throughout the area to help you get to the correct location.
- NO GUESTS or animals with the exception of trained service animals will be allowed in the graduate-only areas.
- Graduates must be wearing approved appropriate regalia to participate in Commencement.
- Graduates will be given a wristband once they are checked in. The wristband must remain on the graduate through the end of the ceremony.
All graduates will pass through security magnetometers to enter the graduate check-in area.
Graduates need to be dressed in regalia with the robe unzipped until they pass through security. Once through security, please zip up your robe before the start of the cermeony.
Cell phones and wallets are permitted. Bags, Backpacks, Purses will NOT be allowed in the Grad Check-in area or into the facility.
- Graduates will need to return prohibited items to their vehicles before entering the graduate check-in area.
- There is no place to store items. All small items (wallet, phone) will need to remain on the person at all times.
- Graduates will not be allowed to leave items at their seats when they go on stage. Graduates are not guaranteed to return to the same seat after they exit the stage.
- Graduates line up by school and degree. Graduates can line up with their friends in the same school and degree. We do not line up graduates by alphabetical order.
- Staff will be on site to assist graduates and there will be signs to show where specific school/degree lines are.
- Water stations for graduates will be near the lineup area.
- Restrooms will be available nearby for graduates. Graduates will need to exit security and go through the security process again when they return.
Once you’re checked in, you will not be able to leave the area to meet with guests until after the ceremony. The ceremony is expected to be about one hour and 45 minutes long.
After the ceremony, UCI Alumni Association will hand out license plate frames to all graduates that exit the Bren during the graduate exit at the end of the ceremony. This is the only time a graduate can receive this item.
