How long will the large graduation last and is it worth going to?
Why do they not give me my diploma at the department graduation, but that you must wait to get it in the mail?
what is the point of going to 2 different ceremonies then?, not that I wouldn't go because of that
After I graduate, how long will I have to access the ncsu portal account, like to get transcripts, etc.?

[Edited on November 29, 2011 at 2:09 PM. Reason : ]

11/29/2011 1:54:36 PM

I did not go to my college wide graduation, but I know it is long. They have to make sure everybody gets to say something, and the keynote is always long winded. I would look up who the keynote will be, that will indicate if it is worthwhile, because everything else is just sitting and waiting and being bored. I went to my sisters big graduation at UNC, it was so hot and boring and they just called my sister's whole department and she stood for maybe 5 mintues with her classmates and that was it, that is why I decided to skip mine. The 2 ceremonies are essentially the same, the department ones (depending on size) are more personal and are more tailored to the students in your field, so it is much more interesting. Honestly with my family, I knew graduation would be chaotic enough with one ceremony, so I think it depends on you and who is coming to see you. Also consider who you will not see if you choose to only attend one. I didn't get to see other friends in other departments, however I am not sure if I would have found them in the crowd.

They don't give you a diploma, from what I understand, because there are still things that some students have to clear up financially, and since they don't have to pay until like the night before, there would be too much confusion (if you owe money you do not get a diploma until you pay). Also, I remember I had one grade that did not come in until literally the night before graduation, which drove me crazy, I think that is common enough, that it would leave the staff scrambling to get everything in order on time.


As far as I know you can use your unity stuff for 6 months after graduation.

11/29/2011 2:27:36 PM

Thanks

generally do a significant number of people skip the large graduation?
what would happen if not all of my grades have been turned in before graduation? I expect one of them to not be out before graduation.

[Edited on November 29, 2011 at 3:01 PM. Reason : ]

11/29/2011 2:45:09 PM

I know that almost 1/4 of my department skipped (but that only equaled 4). Again, imo you are only missing out if the speaker is someone you actually want to listen to (sometimes they nab cool speakers, many times they are not well known, but it may be someone in your field). I know when I went to my department graduation everyone asked "did you go?", clearly there are a lot of people that attend the big one, so much so that none of my classmates knew whether I was there or not. I was slightly like aww man, because everyone asked me that, and I felt lame saying no for some reason. But then I remembered that I got 2 more hours of sleep, way less traffic, and a family that was still in tact. When my sis graduated, and we attended both, there was a rush to get to cars, to get out, and to get to the department grad. location, and then it was like 'here we go again'. Same thing only this time we actually heard her name called and she walked the stage.

As far as the grade thing, if your graduation is depending on that one class... and it turns out you failed, then you still walk the stage (because you will not know that on grad day) and then get to find out after that you still have to make up one credit. My sister's BF actually did that, it was a weird situation, but basically he had another class that he needed to finish, which he did during summer classes and then received his diploma. So even if you are not sure if you are technically "graduated", if it is one class, don't sweat it, you can take it later (it is a pain in the ass, but manageable)..... just enjoy the day. I realized after the fact that I was entirely too stressed over the one class that did not get grades in on time. I was like "how can they not have a grade and let me graduate", it is not as serious as I thought it was.

11/29/2011 3:57:25 PM

I only live 15 minutes away so not a big deal but how early do you need to get there? The program says the address is given by Rajendra K. Pachauri , so is that who will be the main speaker?

I'm not gonna fail or anything I know I'll get an A+ in the class and it is a free elective, its just that the teacher has serious health issues and only taught 3 classes all semester, so i'll bet he is going to take his time to grade the exams and the exam is only 2 days before graduation. I heard that you could email them that you will be graduating so they get your grade sooner but i'm not sure if that works because I believe they submit all grades for a class at the same time so it wouldn't matter. I just don't want it to delay me getting the diploma or anything.

11/29/2011 4:15:37 PM

hmm I think Pachauri is a member of the IPCC, that should be interesting. But I think his work is more of an interest, the best speakers imo are ones that can incorporate humor, the others, while respected and very intelligent, often are a tad dry because they take it more seriously. And whoever is giving the address should be the keynote or whatever, main attraction I guess.

as far as how early you should get to the RBC, I have no clue because I didn't go. I can only guess from my sister's grad, and if you get there 30 minutes or less before the ceremony, it will be a zoo. I would say an hour, but I really have no idea. Maybe you could check with someone who will graduate with you and see when they plan to get there. I know some of my friends had a system where one person agrees to arrive the earliest and informs the group on the status of the crowds every so often, and then someone else does the same at the department, although I have no clue how well that was executed.

As for the late grades, it wouldn't hurt to just ask the prof if he can do something like that. But I wouldn't worry about it if he can't, like I said I didn't get one of my grades until midnight before graduation, and it didn't affect my diploma or anything, and someone who was near me told me that they still hadn't got a grade for one class. It seemed like it was a common issue. For these reasons, most schools issue the diploma weeks after graduation to ensure that all pending issues are corrected and no one freaks out that they are not getting their diploma like everyone else.

11/29/2011 4:54:21 PM

do you know how long after you graduate will your degree post on the transcript now? I know the holidays are coming but I may need to submit an official transcript for employment soon.

12/5/2011 10:36:43 AM

So, I really am not sure, you will need to contact registration and records for a definite answer, but I think it is 4 weeks after final exams, which gives time for students to clear up anything before it is posted to the official and final transcript.

Quote :

"If you are asked for a copy of your transcript, 9 times out of 10 -- the unofficial copy meets their needs. Employers will let you know if an official copy is required."

You can get an unofficial one on mypackportal. The official one costs $10 fyi, and you can order it online and have it emailed to you in 24 hours.

http://www.ncsu.edu/registrar/faq/transcript.html

hope that helps

12/5/2011 10:57:38 AM

i'm going to contact them but I hope it does not take longer for the fall graduation than the spring one. if I am going to use the unofficial one I would prefer to have it say the degree is earned on there after the graduation date. its supposed to look like this when they post it on your transcript right? example:

Quote :

"" - - - - - Degrees Awarded - - - - - Degree : Bachelor of Arts Confer Date : 2006-05-13 Plan : Philosophy - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Degree : Master of Confer Date : 2011-05-14 Plan : Public Administration""

after graduation and finding out grades could I just change the words and dates and put it on my unofficial transcript and it would be exactly what they would post?

12/5/2011 12:55:32 PM

I expected this to be a thread about how to make graduation easier & which graduation ceremonies require the least work

I wasn't far off

12/5/2011 1:04:53 PM

the unofficial transcript is free and you can request as many as you want, and it takes like 5 min. However it will not state "degrees awarded" since it just gives a cumulative total of your undergraduate career. It states what classes you took, the grade you received and whether you made the Dean's list. You do not have to enter your grades as you can just request a new one when the grades are in fact posted.

Do not buy your official transcript yet, I had to since the graduate school I applied to wanted one. But my last semester's grades were listed as 0.00, because they were not entered yet. But if you really need one now you can buy one and tell them it is incomplete (like I did), if you are fresh out of school, they will have to understand you will not have your entire transcript just yet. Make sure you explain it to your employer that universities do not give out complete transcripts until usually a month after finals. In Jan. you can purchase a 2nd one (that is what I did), however I am not 100% sure this is the best way to accomplish your goals.

12/5/2011 1:12:07 PM

it won't state it? but I thought they put your degree on your unofficial transcript too where you go online to get it.

12/5/2011 1:55:08 PM

it doesn't say that you have completed the degree, but it will show which degree you are working toward

12/5/2011 1:57:44 PM

Then how do explain this:
http://nourse.site40.net/docs/transcript.pdf
see the bottom

12/5/2011 2:00:42 PM

well, then... I don't know

I just know the unofficial transcripts I had from the past didn't have a part where is said "degree earned", perhaps because I was still earning that degree. I do not think you can get anything that says "degree earned" until you have in fact completed the semester, but I could be wrong

12/5/2011 2:05:34 PM

did you remember to go online to get your unofficial transcript from the website after you graduated? usually people get that and paste it onto a document and it is basically exactly what the official one says. if you hadn't that means you would not have seen the degree awarded part at the bottom.

12/5/2011 2:17:51 PM

Anyone know if they recognize valedictorians at department ceremony? by valedictorian I don't mean having 4.0 gpa but they are just highest ranking gpa out of the students in the program? because I am pretty certain I'll be the valedictorian since I know no one has a 4.0, plus would they note this on the official transcript?

12/12/2011 11:05:43 PM

^ Departmental ceremonies are highly variable. Check in with your department to get a definitive answer. I think valedictorian is noted on the physical degree and transcript, but I don't know that for sure. Registration and Records should be able to give you an answer.

12/14/2011 1:28:10 PM

alright, well if it ends up not being noted it isn't a big deal i'll just write on my resume that i was top of my class if it turns out I did have the highest gpa.

I read somewhere the fall graduation is a lot different from the spring one, whats the difference between fall graduation and the spring one? is it basically the fall one quicker and usually a lot less people?

12/14/2011 10:57:13 PM

^ I've attended both. They're about the same. Fall commencement is smaller, but not by much. Departmental ceremonies are usually noticeably smaller, but remember that different departments ceremonies can be very different from each other anyway.

12/15/2011 3:01:18 PM

damn when the hell are they going to update the transcripts to reflect the Masters degrees conferred on the 17th

12/29/2011 9:52:38 AM

i was wondering that too. they say your degree will post to transcript approximately 2 weeks after graduation day so in 2 days? but in the fall it might be longer because the holidays

does anyone else who graduated in the fall before know exactly when they post

12/29/2011 11:58:03 AM

I've emailed the question to some admin people, but haven't been answered yet, so I guess they are not working this week

12/29/2011 12:45:08 PM

what i want to know is if they have to individually go through each person's name and post the degree or if it will automatically show up after a period of time.

12/29/2011 2:06:32 PM

R&R emailed and said they should be up by the end of the week.

1/3/2012 11:14:37 AM

got my degree today yes, now all that is left is to wait for my diploma to come in the mail.

1/5/2012 10:25:26 PM

nice, mine updated too

one less thing to worry about

1/6/2012 6:43:44 AM

diploma arrived today !

do I bring my diploma to job interviews?

[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 5:20 PM. Reason : ]

1/26/2012 5:11:10 PM

are you shitting me?

1/26/2012 11:20:32 PM

lol

1/27/2012 9:56:39 AM

I don't know i'm not that good at interviews maybe I thought it would impress them enough since I had highest honors written on there.

1/27/2012 10:53:09 AM

your resume should have all that information

1/27/2012 12:37:10 PM

yeah it was a joke, relax lol.

1/27/2012 10:04:19 PM

Who is the keynote for this shit? If its not an awesome comedian or someone who has done something useful then I'm not going. I don't really get graduation- what do you get out of going?

I'm Krallum and I approved this message[i]

1/29/2012 12:15:24 PM

students get nothing really

parents get pictures

1/29/2012 3:08:11 PM

well you get a commencement book with the names of graduates in it to take home to read.

[Edited on January 30, 2012 at 6:08 PM. Reason : ]

1/30/2012 6:07:45 PM