{"id":56,"date":"2025-08-25T18:25:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:41:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:41:28","slug":"commencement-graduation-a-quick-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/commencement-graduation-a-quick-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Are “Graduation” and “Commencement” the Same Thing? A Quick Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the end of a school year, the words \u201cgraduation<\/a>\u201d and \u201ccommencement\u201d tend to be used a lot. Many people use these two words interchangeably. However, the two words are different and distinct. We\u2019ve outlined these differences below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"difference<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

According to Merriam-Webster.com, Graduation is defined as \u201cthe award or acceptance of an academic degree or diploma<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Graduation is the diploma\/degree itself<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The moment when a student is handed their high school or college diploma<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Create custom diplomas for this special moment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Many schools require students to complete an official graduation application with a minimum number of units, before they can receive their diploma<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022 Technically, graduation happens when you finally complete your degree<\/a> requirements<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \u2022 We recommend submitting this application at the beginning of your last term (or sooner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.\u201d
Edward Koch<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Commencement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"commencement<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The official definition of commencement<\/a> on Merriam-Webster.com is \u201cthe ceremonies or the day for conferring degrees<\/a> or diplomas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Commencement is the actual ceremony<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Usually takes place at the close of the spring term<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The event that celebrates the completion of your degree program<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 A ceremony where students, family, and faculty celebrate their accomplishments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cCommencement is not an end, but a beginning.\u201d
Duke University 2009-2017 president, Vincent Price<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\n
\"receiving<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Commencement is the ceremony; graduation is actually receiving the degree. That difference shows up in the graduation announcement and invitation<\/a>\u2014you announce your graduation, but you invite people to the commencement ceremony. These two words are very powerful for students. When you know the difference, you can use them correctly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of a school year, the words \u201cgraduation\u201d and \u201ccommencement\u201d tend to be used a lot. Many people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,1],"tags":[6,7,5],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commencement","category-graduation","category-uncategorized","tag-commencement-day","tag-graduation-ceremony","tag-graduation-diploma"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graduationauthority.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}