Frequently Asked Questions

Tickets are not required for guest admission to the Commencement ceremony. Graduates may invite an unlimited number of guests to attend. All seating is first come first serve. To ensure fairness and accommodate all attendees, saving seats is not permitted. We appreciate your cooperation in allowing all guests to find seating as they arrive.

Graduates must wear the official cap & gown to participate in the ceremony. We encourage students to wear appropriate footwear. While there are no restrictions on footwear, be mindful that you will be walking on many different surfaces and navigating stairs or a ramp. Undergraduate students will be walking outside.

Once Master and Doctoral students arrive to campus they will want to enter the North, South or West Entrance. See Entrance Map below. They will be required to walk through a metal detector when entering the building.

Undergraduate students will be allowed to enter the Wellness Center. Undergraduate students will be required to walk through a metal detector.

All students are required to keep all items on themselves, NOTHING will be allowed to be in your hands but a reader card. You will NOT be returning to the same seat during the ceremony. Anything left at your seat will have to be collected after the ceremony.

Doctoral and Master student will be able to leave items in their line up location to retrieve after the ceremony. Undergraduates will NOT be allowed back in the Wellness Center and any items left will need to be picked up at the Dean of Students office.

Commencement is a celebration! We invite our degree candidates to decorate the top of their mortarboard (graduation cap) but ask that they respect the dignity of this occasion and be considerate of accepted university standards regarding appropriate content. If a student’s cap does not meet the academic standards they will be given a replacement cap to wear across the stage. Students unwilling to comply with these guidelines may not participate in the Commencement ceremony. 

Diplomas will be mailed to students approximately 10 weeks after the end of the semester. An email notification will be sent from the diploma company Michael Sutters once your email has been printed and shipped. All diplomas will be going to the CURRENT MAILING ADDRESS on file.

Spring graduates will receive their diploma in July

Summer graduates will receive their diploma in October

Fall graduates will receive their diploma in March

You should see your degree reflected within 5 weeks of graduation.  You can look in your DegreeWorks or your unofficial transcript via your MyInfo account.

To check your DegreeWorks you will want to check for the Degree Application Status box to be switched from Degree Candidate to Awarded.

To check your unofficial transcript via your MyInfo account  

1. Log in to MyInfo 
2. Click “Student Services” 
3. Click “Student Records” 
4. Click “Academic Transcript” 
5. Select level, click “Submit” 
6. Once your degree has been awarded it will reflect like:  

For framing purposes, diploma measurements are as follows:

Undergraduate – 8.5 X 11

Masters – 11 X 14

Doctoral – 12 X 17

Please visit your MyInfo account to view your graduation application for the address your diploma will be mailed too. If this needs to be changed please email graduation@montana.edu Diplomas for all successful graduates will be mailed out in the following timeline:

• Spring Graduates – Mid-JULY
• Summer Graduates – Mid-OCTOBER

After careful consideration, the administration has determined that a student may only process, cross the stage, and recess for one of their degrees per commencement ceremony. If a student is graduating with two degrees within the same ceremony, students will be required to choose which of their degrees that they would like to walk with. Dual degree candidates will still have both of their degrees acknowledged in the following ways:

1. Dual degree candidates will receive two diplomas upon successful completion of degree requirements as well as two diploma covers on commencement day.
2. Both degrees will be posted on student transcripts upon successful completion of degree requirements.
3. Dual degree candidates’ names appear twice in the commencement booklet – once for each degree.
4. If a dual degree candidate is graduating from two different colleges, they can attend the college celebrations for each of the colleges that they are receiving degrees from.

Students who are finishing their undergraduate degrees (Bachelors, Associates, Undergradtuate Certificates, etc.) in the summer will participate in the Spring commencement ceremony prior to the completion of their degree requirements. 

Students who are finishing their graduate (Masters or PhD) in the summer will participate in the Fall commencement following the completion of their degree requirements. 

Tickets are not required for guest admission to the Commencement ceremony. Graduates may invite an unlimited number of guests to attend. All seating is first come first serve.  To ensure fairness and accommodate all attendees, saving seats is not permitted. We appreciate your cooperation in allowing all guests to find seating as they arrive.

We expect about 1100 graduates to be recognized at each ceremony. Please show consideration for all graduates of our campus community by arriving and getting to your seats in a timely manner. Showing up close to start of processional time you will have trouble finding a seat and may be stopped from finding a seat as graduates are walking through the building into the fieldhouse.

The ceremony will last approximately 90 minutes.

No. We are contracted with the Grad Photography Team who will be taking photos of every graduate crossing the stage which will be available to purchase after the ceremony.