May 2020 Commencement Information

The COM undergraduate commencement ceremony will take place Friday, May 15, 2020 at 9am at Agganis Arena 925 Commonwealth Avenue.  The all-University Boston University Commencement ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 17 at Nickerson Field.

How to Apply

All students must apply for graduation one year in advance. Forms are available outside of Undergraduate Affairs, room 123.

Boston University has three graduation dates: September, January and May. There is only one Commencement ceremony held each year in May. Graduates are invited to participate in the ceremony held during the calendar year in which they graduate. For example, if you graduate in January or September 2020, you can walk in the May 2020 ceremony.

If you are aware that you will be unable to complete your requirements by your anticipated graduation date, please contact Undergraduate Affairs as soon as possible.

It’s important to double check your courses against your graduation application to ensure that you will graduate on time.

Latin Honors

Among graduating seniors in each school and college, five percent will be awarded degrees summa cum laude, 10 percent degrees magna cum laude, and fifteen percent cum laude. “Break points,” which are the grade point averages (GPA) corresponding to each of these categories, will be determined for each graduating class in each school and college at the end of the seventh (penultimate) semester by applying these percentile ranges to the list of eligible graduates arranged in order of GPA. Students falling in the designated percentile ranges on the basis of their GPA after seven semesters will be certified for degrees with the corresponding Latin honors. Students who, by virtue of strong academic performances during their final semester, advance their GPA’s beyond a breakpoint will be awarded degrees with the correspondingly higher Latin honor. Students whose academic performance during the final semester causes their GPA’s to fall below a break point will retain the Latin honors as originally determined after seven semesters. In no case will students be awarded Latin honors for grade point averages below 3.0. This is a University-wide policy.

Latin Honors are for undergraduate students only.

Undergraduate Graduation Requirements

  • Minimum of 32 courses/128 credits (not including physical education)
  • Overall GPA of at least 2.0, COM GPA of at least 2.0
  • Completion of freshmen/sophomore requirements
  • Completion of major requirements
  • Completion of CAS concentration, minor or dual degree
  • No more than a total of 16 credits of ‘D’ grades

Please check with your department and/or your curriculum for specific department requirements.