All seniors who submit graduation applications are invited to participate in the commencement ceremony.  Any senior who will not complete their graduation requirements by the end of the spring semester must petition the Scholarly Standing Committee to be able to "walk" in the commencement ceremony.  Petitions to the Scholarly Standing Committee would include appropriate assurances that arrangements have been made to complete all needed course work and graduation requirements prior to September, 2013.

When you "walk" in the commencement ceremony, you wear a graduation gown and receive a diploma cover when you walk up to be acknowledged for graduation, but the diploma cover does not contain a diploma.  In the commencement program, your name is listed with a small symbol, which indicates "may complete graduation requirements in the near future", but nothing is announced that you are not actually graduating that day.

If you "walk" in a graduation ceremony, you do not participate in another HMC graduation ceremony after you actually graduate.  You can participate in a HMC commencement ceremony only once.  After you actually graduate, you are mailed your graduation diploma, which you can then put in the diploma cover that you received when you did "walk" in the graduation ceremony.