Penn Graduate Information
Class of 2025
Congratulations on your upcoming Penn graduation!
Penn's 269th Commencement ceremony will take place on Monday, May 19, 2025 in Franklin Field at 10:15 a.m., and is preceded by student and academic processions to the stadium. The ceremony will end at approximately noon and will feature the conferral of degrees, the awarding of honorary degrees, greetings by University officials, and remarks by the Commencement speaker, Elizabeth Banks, actor, director, producer, and Penn alumna.
1. Instructions for Student Assembly
Details about the student assembly for the procession will be provided in the spring. Please check back for additional details.
Candidates for degrees in May, as well as graduates who completed degree requirements in August or December 2024, are invited to march in the procession and attend the Commencement ceremony. Students participating in the procession should wear academic regalia.
Degree candidates will assemble at a designated location according to School. Please be prompt and bring your PennCard. School assembly points will be designated by banners. The identifying sign for PhD, MA, and MS candidates will be "Graduate Faculties." regardless of school. Marshals will be on hand to direct you. Those who are not at the assembly points, in academic regalia, when the procession is formed will not be able to march with the procession.
2. Instructions for Student Procession
The procession of degree candidates will form and move in four columns as directed by Commencement marshals (identified by lanyards). The procession will enter Franklin Field at the North entrance.
If you wish to sit with friends on the field, you must line up in front of or behind each other in the same column of the procession. Do not stand next to each other, as each column is directed to a different section of Franklin Field. Once the procession begins, be sure to follow the person in front of you and stay in your original column. Please walk briskly, and make sure there are no gaps in front of you. Do not leave the procession once it is underway. Candidates will be seated on the field according to School (diagram below).
When you reach the row to which you are directed, please move into it quickly, leaving no vacant seats in the row, and be seated immediately. An end seat in each row will bear a stack of Commencement Programs; the person occupying that seat should pass the programs along the row. Bottled water will be available on the field for the degree candidates.
3. Instructions for the Commencement Ceremony
Upon the entrance of the academic procession into Franklin Field, all graduates and guests should rise and remain standing until after the invocation.
Caps are worn during the procession and removed for the singing of the National Anthem. When the Deans present the candidates for each degree, graduates rise, and remain standing until the end of the presentation. After the degrees have been conferred, graduates lift their caps in salute, and the tassel is then shifted to the left side, front.
The Provost will acknowledge those receiving various honors, prizes, and awards, as well as membership in scholastic honor societies. All persons who have earned these honors will be asked to rise for recognition and to remain standing until the completion of these remarks.
Conferral of Degrees
Your dean will present the candidates for the degrees in your school. When your dean presents your degree, rise and remain standing until the President confers your degree. After all the degrees from your school have been conferred, lift your cap in salute to the President. Then place the cap back on your head, and move the tassel from right to left.
Franklin Field Policies and Prohibited Items
Prohibited Items
The following items are strictly prohibited within Franklin Field (ceremonies):
- All bags and packages (wallets and small clutches are acceptable)
- Artificial noisemakers, including airhorns or bullhorns
- Signs, banners, posters, or flags
- Large golf-style umbrellas (small collapsible umbrellas will be permitted)
- Sticks or poles, including tripods or selfie sticks
- Glass bottles, soda cans, and all outside food / beverages (bottled water ok) (Note: concessions are sold inside the stadium)
- Alcoholic beverages
- Coolers
- Firearms, knives, scissors, needles, razor blades, or weapons of any type
- Multiuse or similar tools or screwdrivers
- Toy guns, toy weapons or similar props
- Fireworks and open flames
- Pepper spray / mace
- Laser pointers
- Aerosol containers
- Hazardous, chemical, radiological, or biological materials
- Sports balls or sporting equipment of any type
- Animals or pets – except for service animals
- No face coverings or ski masks. KN95 style masks for health reasons are permitted.
Guests attempting to enter with any prohibited item(s) will be asked to dispose of such items prior to entering. Security personnel reserves the right to deny access to any individual who does not comply with such policies.
Anything brought to the stadium will be pre-screened before entry. Please do not bring items with you that are not needed for the ceremony – leave them in your car, hotel room, dorm, or apartment. Pre-screening items slows the entry of guests into the stadium.
Inclement and Severe Weather Plans
Commencement will be held rain or shine. However, for the safety of graduates and guests, severe weather conditions may require the cancellation of the student procession across campus or the delay of the ceremony.
In dangerous weather conditions, the ceremony may be relocated indoors to the Palestra, where seating would be limited to the academic procession and graduating students. In the case of this relocation, students should report to the Palestra no later than 9:30 a.m. Please know that the decision to move the Commencement ceremony indoors would be made in only extreme conditions.
If weather requires changes to the Commencement ceremony schedule, information will be found on:
- A notice on this website
- Announcements on (215) 898-MELT and radio station KYW (1060 AM)
- Signs posted around campus
Address & Phone
1 College Hall, Room 211
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 898-7006
Event Contact
Media Contact
Email Amanda Mott