Tickets
Information
To enter Commencement or School Convocations, all guests must have an e-ticket displayed on a device or a hard copy printed ticket. Graduates DO NOT need a ticket for themselves, only tickets for their guests.
Please note, children 3 and under who will sit in a caregiver’s lap do not need tickets; every one of your guests who will use a seat needs a ticket.
Tickets for Ceremonies
- Graduates are invited to 2 ceremonies: the all-University Commencement ceremony and your school convocation (or departmental ceremony for some graduate programs). If you are a dual degree student, you may be invited to an additional ceremony.
- Your school convocation is where you will cross the stage and hear your name read; no one crosses the stage at Commencement. You need separate tickets for these ceremonies because they are two separate events.
- If you are a graduate student whose program has a departmental ceremony instead of participating in a school-wide ceremony, your department will communicate arrangements with you directly.
Please only take the number of tickets that you need for your guests and donate back tickets that your guests are not going to use.
Dates & How to Order
The ticket website will open in the Winter Quarter 2025.
Log-in instructions for the NU Graduation ticket website are sent to eligible students via email. If you have not received instructions when the ticketing website opens, please send an email to the Graduation Office (graduation@northwestern.edu) noting your school name.
Inside the ticketing system you will be able to order tickets for all of your eligible ceremonies.
Only eligible students are able to order tickets. Please review the details below about each ceremony before ordering your tickets.
Waitlist Tickets
You may request additional tickets through the Waitlist Tickets feature. The pool of waitlist tickets is made up of tickets not claimed during the initial ordering period or returned by graduates whose guests can no longer attend.
Waitlist tickets are directly tied to capacity, and it is not guaranteed that you will receive the requested waitlist tickets.
Once you receive notification that you have been awarded waitlist tickets, you have 72 hours to log into your ticket account and complete your cart to accept the tickets. Tickets not claimed within 72 hours will be returned to the waitlist pool to be distributed to another student.
Instructions on how to accept your waitlist tickets can be found here.
How to Transfer Tickets to Your Guests
Accessibility Accommodations
Requesting seating for a guest who uses a wheelchair
All tickets are general admission. When ordering tickets, the system will prompt you to enter how many guests in your party require accessible seating for a guest who uses a wheelchair. Please note: every wheelchair space has one companion seat included. Because these spaces are limited and in high demand, we are not able to seat entire parties.
Requesting other accessibility accommodations
Northwestern University is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all events and programs. Accommodations such as sign language interpreters, accessible seating, and presentation materials in alternate formats may be provided upon request. Please contact the Graduation Office at graduation@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3600 by June 1, 2025. Every reasonable effort will be made to implement accommodations in an effective and timely manner.
Questions
Please contact the Graduation Office for any questions you may have.