Commencement

Students can graduate (complete all requirements for their degree) during any quarter of the year. Commencement ceremonies occur only once per year in the Spring and you are invited to walk through these ceremonies, whether or not you are actually graduating in Spring Quarter. This is the time for you to be publicly recognized by the university, as well as your friends and family, for your scholastic achievements. Participating in Commencement activities does NOT guarantee that you will actually earn a degree. You should consult a UCLA College and/or departmental counselor for detailed information on satisfying degree requirements.

Neuroscience majors and minors who graduated in Fall 2025 and Winter 2026, as well as degree candidates for Spring and Summer 2026, may participate. Fall 2026 degree candidates can file a Special Inclusion Petition to participate in Spring 2026 commencement activities via MyUCLA, beginning March 30, 2026. More information can be found here.

Caps & gowns, announcements, diploma plaques and frames, Alumni Association memberships, and graduation gifts can be purchased from Grad Etc. online at https://www.uclastore.com/students-graduation-resources or call (310) 825-2587.

If you have a privacy restriction, you will still be able to participate in the Commencement ceremonies. However, if you would like your name to be included in any of these materials for your upcoming Commencement, please make sure to update your privacy restriction status in MyUCLA as soon as possible (https://registrar.ucla.edu/student-records/student-rights-privacy). Once you have done this, please send a confirmation to neurosci@ucla.edu so we can include you in our program materials. If we do not hear from you, we will respect your privacy request and not include your name in our Commencement materials.

Graduating students will receive an email from the Neuroscience Undergraduate Advisors with two short surveys to complete. One survey will ask you for your preferred name to be listed in the program, the phonetic pronunciation of your name to be read as you walk across the stage, and a brief personalized statement (20 words or less) to be featured in the program. The other survey will ask you for information on your post-graduate plans. Please be on the lookout for this email from neurosci@ucla.edu for more details.

Graduates must order their own ticket and their guest tickets via MyUCLA.

Please note that College Commencement tickets and Neuroscience Commencement tickets are ordered separately. They are NOT the same set of tickets.

Yes, please be sure to order a graduate ticket for the Neuroscience Commencement Ceremony. The cost is $0.

Please note that guest tickets are only available through the graduating students ordering tickets for themselves and their guests. Guests cannot independently reserve or purchase tickets.

Each graduate will be able to order up to four guest tickets and waitlist four additional guest tickets. The first four guest tickets are free of charge. Each additional guest ticket, in excess of your four free guest tickets, is $20, charged to your BruinBill. It is our hope that we will be able to accommodate as many waitlist ticket requests as possible, but our ability to grant the waitlist will depend on the venue capacity and total guest tickets ordered. You will be notified if your waitlist ticket request was granted by the end of Week 9.

Ticket ordering will begin on Friday, May 8, 2026 at 12:00PM PST and conclude on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 11:59PM PST. No tickets will be sold at the ceremony. Entry to the event will be restricted to ticket-holders only.

All tickets for the Neuroscience Commencement Ceremony will be electronic.

Beginning on Friday, May 29, 2026 students will receive their tickets from tickets@cto.ucla.edu.

Please be on the lookout for two emails:  

1.       One email will contain your graduate ticket.

2.       The second email will contain your guest tickets.

Please be sure you check your junk folder for these emails. Tickets will be sent to the email listed in MyUCLA.

The Neuroscience Commencement Ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 9:30AM in Royce Hall.

The Neuroscience Commencement ceremony typically lasts about 1.5-2 hours.

Graduates should arrive no later than 8:30AM. Students should proceed to the Registration Table to check in.

Guests should arrive at least 45 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. Guest seating is first-come, first-serve.

Tickets will be scanned for entry. Guests will not be allowed to enter without a ticket.

At the Registration Table, graduates will check in and receive two cards: a GradImages card for the photographer and a Name-reading card (which will include your name and phonetic pronunciation) for the faculty name readers. Please hold onto these cards and bring them with you when you walk up to cross the stage.

Graduates will sit in the first few rows directly in front of the stage.

Guest seating is first-come, first-serve, behind the graduates.

There will be a Chair’s welcome, a student singer performance, a student speaker address, a short celebratory video, congratulatory remarks from Neuroscience faculty, and a processional across the stage. For the processional, you will walk across the stage while your name is read by a Neuroscience faculty member. Graduates will then return to their seats for the remainder of the ceremony. Please only get up when a staff volunteer tells your row to stand.

Your diploma will not be handed to you at the Neuroscience Commencement Ceremony, but will be available a few months after you graduate from UCLA. You can learn more about receiving your diploma on the Registrar’s Office website.

Guests will be able to take photos from their seats. Grad Images will be present to take pictures of the ceremony and each graduate. Grad Images is our official photographer.

Please wear your cap and gown to the ceremony. Bring safety pins and/or bobby pins for your cap and gown just in case!

Graduates CANNOT leave behind any belongings in the check-in/lineup area (West Lobby) and should bring nothing but their cap and gown.

No rehearsal will be held. Graduates will receive details in advance of the ceremony from the Neuroscience Undergraduate Advisors. Keep an eye out for emails from neurosci@ucla.edu.

Please review the Clear Bag Policy for Guests and Graduates, as well as the list of Prohibited Items here: https://commencement.ucla.edu/faqs.

The recommended parking location for Royce Hall is Parking Structure 5.

Students and guests attending 2026 Commencement ceremonies will be able to purchase a parking permit online and in advance through the Bruin ePermit Event Parking portal beginning in early May.

To avoid long lines at the self-service pay stations on campus, it is recommended to purchase your parking permit in advance of attending the Commencement ceremonies.

To learn more about commencement parking, please visit: https://transportation.ucla.edu/campus-parking/commencement-parking

For more information about the College ceremony and other departmental ceremonies, please visit https://commencement.ucla.edu/.

UCLA graduates needing accessibility accommodations should contact the Center for Accessible Education. Please also convey any special accommodations to the Neuroscience Undergraduate Advisors as soon as possible by emailing neurosci@ucla.edu.

Please note that there is a small staircase that graduates will use to ascend and descend the stage during the processional. Please let the Neuroscience Undergraduate Advisors know as soon as possible, if you will need help accessing the stage, so we can work with the venue to accommodate you.

If you have guests with disabilities, call the Office for Students with Disabilities at (310) 825-1501 (voice), or (310) 206-6083 (TDD), ASAP to receive information about parking and other assistance at the Commencement. Sign language interpreters are available upon request. Guests with wheelchairs, disabilities or strollers are encouraged to arrive early.

For guests needing ASL or audio interpretation accommodations, the graduate should contact the Neuroscience Undergraduate Advisors on behalf of their guest to initiate the request. Please email requests to neurosci@ucla.edu.

While all venues are accessible, the university is not able to provide transport or mobility assistance devices to guests to facilitate moving through the campus or getting to a venue. There are two locations on campus (Gateway Plaza and the Dickson Plaza Flagpole) where guests can be dropped off curbside which might lessen traveling time. Due to space limitations, these guest drop-off areas should only be used when a guest has limited mobility.