FAQs

May 18, 2020 at 7 p.m. EST.

You may watch the ceremony live starting at the scheduled time and date.

The video will also be available to watch on Youku. We will post the link on go.wfu.edu/wfugrad20 as it gets closer to the event.

The ceremony is expected to be under an hour.

Yes, the ceremony will be recorded and will available on the Commencement Archive page.

We received information that seniors were planning to come back to Winston-Salem en masse to be together in/through May. Knowing that campus is closed, that suggested that students would be rooming with others in existing off-campus houses and apartments or at Deacon Place, which is not keeping with public health recommendations for social distancing. It is very important to keep students safe and to limit the potential for COVID-19 on campus and in our local community. We strongly discourage students from coming back to Winston-Salem for in-person social interaction or post-exams. In addition, students currently approved to live in Deacon Place cannot allow non-approved students in their residence. Doing so is a violation of their on-campus living agreement and is subject to consequences, as outlined on Wake Forest’s COVID-19 website.

Not at this time. We will announce when students can come back to campus in a safe and controlled manner. Consideration must be given to when both the State of North Carolina and City of Winston-Salem stay at home orders are no longer in effect.

Note: during the structured move-out process, students are asked not to walk around campus or congregate in groups for photos; due to social distancing, students will be allowed access to their rooms and will be encouraged to leave campus promptly after they retrieve their belongings.

Visit the Information for Undergraduate Students page to learn more about these topics.

Please contact Herff Jones directly regarding refunds or email Wake Forest’s Herff Jones contact, Barry Waseleski.

The graduate and professional school deans will contact their graduates directly about their respective hooding ceremonies.

The Commencement ceremony will be held on October 31, 2020.

The Virtual Degree Conferring in May is a symbolic acknowledgment of what graduates have accomplished. It is a moment when they can officially celebrate, “I have graduated.” This will take place online. For additional information please visit the Virtual Degree Conferring page.

The October Commencement will serve as a more traditional ceremony that will take place on Hearn Plaza.

Both will be fun and meaningful moments, and we hope you will participate in both.

Much consideration was placed into date selection. Many factors including hotel and flight availability, weather, other local, and Wake events were all evaluated. Student focus groups also indicated a strong preference for a fall date.

How was this decision made?

The recent stay at home orders implemented for both the City of Winston-Salem and the State of North along with continuing public health guidance, weighed heavily in this decision. It became increasingly clear that our normal ceremony could not take place as scheduled. Please note this decision to postpone the ceremony was made after much deliberation.

Yes. Undergraduate and Graduate School Commencement will take place outside on Hearn Plaza. Please note these plans are weather and public health conditions permitting.

These are complex decisions made even more complicated by the evolving public health crisis.

Summer graduates will be able to take part in the on-campus ceremony in October.

You will need to contact your hotel to discuss adjusting existing reservations. If you did not have reservations yet, a list of hotels is available on our preferred hotels page.

Each student receives the traditional 8 Commencement Ceremony tickets; the graduate does not need a ticket. Please note the number of available tickets may be adjusted to conform with federal, state, and local regulations surrounding public health guidelines.

Ticket registration will open the last week of July. Students will be notified by email with a link to register. Only students can register for tickets. Emails with instructions will be sent to the student’s Wake email address.

Student Wake emails will remain active until November 6th.

The graduate and professional school deans will contact their graduates directly about their respective hooding ceremonies.

The dean of each respective school will make the decision about when and how to hold their hooding ceremony.

We don’t have that information at this time.

We don’t have that information at this time.

You may order your cap and gown through the Herff Jones website for the October 31 Commencement ceremony. Orders should be placed by Thursday, October 1, 2020. Orders placed after this date may incur additional fees.