Tessa’s Top Ten Tips for Graduation

Commemoration Day at Imperial is pretty well labelled, signposted and explained, and it’s pretty difficult to fail to do any of the essential parts. But as with anything else, it’s good to be aware of any potential stumbling blocks so that you can streamline your day. And so as a voice of potentially embarrassing experience, here are some tips that I wish someone had given me.

1. Get your gown as early as you can. It might seem like overkill to get there the full three hours before the start of your ceremony, but with your parents and younger sibling in tow, all good intentions can go out the window, and you’ll end up leaving late. They’re grown adults, and can (probably) make their way to Imperial by themselves, so why not run ahead and pick up the gown by yourself? It gives you more time to run around pretending to be a bat/wizard before their judgemental eyes arrive, and you can make them super proud by meeting them at the tube in your full regalia. The key thing that you want to avoid is going the cross-London sprint in your graduation clothes. I had to make this run in heels, and the race induced sweating made my hair go frizzy. Your proud parents are going to whip out the photos from your graduation for the rest of your life, so it’s important to make sure that you look your best.
2. If you do manage to wrangle your whole family to College nice and early, leave the ‘rents outside the Great Hall while you pick up your gown. Ede and Ravenscroft dress you in it, so you don’t need your parents to do anything, and they’ll really just clog up the system. While Mother Hen might still love to help, the faster everyone can get through the Great Hall, the more time you have to take jumping pictures in front of the Albert Memorial.
3. It can’t be emphasised too much that girls need to bring safety pins to secure their gowns. Bring lots, bring spares for your friends! Unless you can pin your gown, it’s going to be a pain in the arse all day. The staff giving you the gown can’t pin them for you, so get a friend to help you (unless you’re exceptionally skilled and can do it yourself, of course), or head out of the hall to get your parents to do it. It gets pretty frantic in the Great Hall, so the last thing you want to do is add to anyone’s stress by getting in the way. You should also remember that you’re going to be wearing an extra layer of heavy material all day, so ditching your jacket with your parents is a good option. It gets pretty warm in those gowns, so don’t forget to put on deodorant!
4. In the Royal Albert Hall, you’ll be seated alphabetically by degree type. As you’ve been studying with these people for years, you’ll probably know the people you’re sitting on either side of you, who you can nudge and giggle with throughout the ceremony. But if you don’t, it’s never too late to meet new people. If the person you’re sitting next to looks a bit sad and lonely, or if you need to talk to someone new out of necessity, you can still have a great time. Can’t think of anything that would necessitate overcoming your social awkwardness to talk to someone new at this point? I happened to be sat next to my recent ex-boyfriend, who didn’t seem to be overly keen on chatting with me. (If you’re not graduating yet, I recommend avoiding this at all costs. If you must date someone in your class, try and stay away from your end of the alphabet) I’ve never been more grateful for the sort-of-acquaintance on my other side, who kept me entertained the whole way through. Just because you’ll never speak to them again, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be graduation BFFs.
5. You might be worried about falling over on stage. You’ll be trying to juggle a lot of things: keeping your gown straight, the handshake-walk (at all costs, do not pause!), and possibly inconvenient clothing like heels, or a sari. It’s a big ceremony, and a lot of pressure. But what I find reassuring, is that if you trip, it will be with all eyes on you, in the Royal Albert Hall, one of the most well known buildings in the world. That doesn’t sound like a good thing, and while most Imperialites will find that kind of attention terrifying, after a few years (or a few pints) it will be a fantastic anecdote. If you do stumble, and someone will, remember to style it out. A full-on fall requires a bow, and if you pull it off, you’ll be a hero. Almost worth doing it on purpose, isn’t it?
6. After the ceremony, there is the highlight of the day: the champagne and canapé reception. I can’t remember the canapés, but I can remember the champagne. My key advice here is to remember that while it is free alcohol (woo) and you’re with all your friends who you might not have seen since exams finished (double woo), your parents are also there, and it is not appropriate to attack the champagne with your usual zeal. You will be very overexcited, and may not have managed to fit in breakfast, so it will go to your head. A bit of good spirited tipsiness is perfectly acceptable, but getting full on wasted is not. I managed to drink enough to do my usual 2 or 3am drunk texting… at around midday. Classy.
7. There are photographers in Beit Quad all day, but as anyone who’s ever braved the Union on Commemoration Day will know, the queues for graduation photos are insane. There is plenty of time to get one taken either before or after your ceremony, but if you’d rather not stand around for ages, regressing to a sulky child who wants to go off and play with their friends, there are also photographers in the Queen’s Tower Rooms the day before, where they lend you a gown for the photo. For less traditional photos by camera wielding parents, classic spots are the steps in front of the Albert Hall, the lions by Queen’s Tower, and in front of RSM.
8. It’s tempting to keep wearing the gown as long as you possibly can, just to make the most of it. As long as you return it by 8.30pm, there don’t seem to be any restrictions with running off with it. Whether you want to take a whistlestop tour of London in your bat-cape, or just go out for dinner with your parents, you have to make the all-important decision of whether or not to return it before you leave. Especially if you’re coming back in the evening, it might be tempting to keep it on, just to let your parents eke out the pride a bit longer. Remember that you will attract a lot of attention outside of South Kensington, and you might get a bit fed up of it after a while.
9. A lot of people will go out with a meal with their family on Commemoration Day, which is a minefield of things to watch out for. As there are several ceremonies, this could be lunch or dinner, and either before or after the champagne reception. Although you might just want to go and hang out with your friends, your graduation is also for your parents, and so you’re fairly honour-bound to spend a bit of time with them. After all, they’ve probably paid for the tickets, right? Deciding not to brave the Eastside “celebratory menu”, I had to find somewhere to eat that wouldn’t cause my father to grumpily mutter, “it’s all the same anyway, foreign food, isn’t it?”, which is surprisingly challenging in London. With that decided in advance, I just had to navigate the non-perpendicular streets of Covent Garden to the restaurant in Covent Garden while suffering the aftereffects of the vast quantities of champagne, which was enough of an achievement for the day.
10. Going to the Union in the evening can be a fun way to get all your friends together when you might not have seen them in a while. Most people will still be in fancy clothes from graduation, and anyone who can drink from a tankard will be drinking from a tankard. It’s really nice to see everyone, but expect the Union to be like a sports night, but worse. The queues at the bar will be horrendous, and as well as the recent graduates, there will be a lot of too drunk athletic types in ties. I wouldn’t recommend the Union if you just want to chill out with your close friends, but if you want to bump into every acquaintance you’ve made during your time at Imperial, and make vehement promises (that you won’t keep) to add them on Facebook and stay in touch, then it’s the best place to be.

Commemoration Day marks the end of your stint as an Imperial student (or at least an undergraduate one) and you should absolutely make the most of it. It’s a difficult combination of friends and family, but with a bit of care you can easily appease your parental responsibilities and catch up with all your friends. Massive congratulations to everyone who’s graduating this year, and good luck in whatever you’re doing with yourself next!